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Board and Staff Relationships in Nonprofit Organizations

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Title: Board and Staff Relationships in Nonprofit Organizations


1
Board and Staff Relationships in Nonprofit
Organizations
  • Presented by SCORE of Santa Fe and Northern New
    Mexico
  • In collaboration with the Small Business
    Development Center and Los Alamos National Bank.
    Generous support provided by The Messengers of
    Healing Winds Foundation

2
Create Alignment
Rewards Consequences
Behavior
Incentives
Performance Plan, Coaching
Job Descriptions Hiring Practices
Policies
Strategic/Business Plan
Vision, values mission
3
Why Alignment is Important
  • It multiplies your resources.
  • It amplifies your brand and name recognition.
  • It creates synergy and opportunities for
    growth.
  • It reduces time and energy spent on conflict
    resolution.
  • It encourages newcomers and resistors to work
    with the team.
  • It helps deal with those who resist change.

4
Fundamental Changes in a Tough Economy
  • Boards and staffs of nonprofits must look at ways
    to change and remain relevant and effective.
  • The floundering economy is forcing nonprofit
    organizations to trim budgets, cut staff, or make
    plans to do so. Because economic prospects for
    next year are even worse, nonprofits cant view
    these as temporary measures. Instead they have
    to think about basic adjustments that will allow
    them to operate in a leaner, tighter, more
    disciplined manner for the foreseeable future.
  • -Susan Gross, author, Seven turning Points
    Leading Through Pivotal Transitions in
    Organizational Life

5
Fundamental Changes
  • To move to the next level effectiveness,
    nonprofits must periodically adjust their
    leadership, management, structure, governance and
    operating style. Gross calls these adjustment
    periods turning points.
  • Each turning point creates tension within the
    organization. These tensions should be managed as
    growing pains and not be allowed to devolve into
    blame, perhaps even escalating into full blown
    crisis.

6
Turning Points
  • Do we need to get organized?
  • Do we need infrastructure?
  • Do we need to let go?
  • Do we need to focus?
  • Do we need to decentralize power?
  • Do we need to recapture our core?
  • How do we move on?

7
Fundraising in a Recession
  • Marc Pitman, author of Ask Without Fear, cautions
    against fundraisers making these deadly
    mistakes in a recession
  • Spend less on fundraising
  • Become pessimistic
  • Apologize when youre asking

8
Fundraising in a Recession
  • According to Anisha Robinson Keeys
  • Diversify income streams
  • Honor your volunteers
  • Keep in touch - often
  • Be art of your own solution
  • Dont stop asking for money

9
Basics of Who does What
  • The Board establishes mission, vision, strategic
    plan,
  • policies and by-laws to establish governing
    principles.
  • The Staff implements policy and procedures
    according
  • to the mission, vision, strategic plan.
  • The Board has oversight responsibility, usually
    through
  • a committee structure.
  • The Staff executes day-to-day operations.
  • The Board has fund raising responsibilities.
  • The Staff has support functions for effective
  • fund raising, i.e. maintenance of donor
    records,
  • prospect lists, support for special events,
    etc.

10
Board Responsibilities
  • Preserving the public trust through legal and
    fiduciary responsibilities for the mission,
    vision, strategic plans, fundraising, advocacy,
    and financial well-being of the organization
  • Hiring and firing the Executive Director
  • Setting Executive Director goals and evaluating
    his/her performance.
  • Creating and enforcing by-laws, policies and
    procedures, not day-to-day management
  • Attending Board and committee meetings
  • Approving budgets, contracts, E.D.compensation
  • Signing leases, assignments,

11
Board Responsibilities
  • Ensuring compliance with regulatory agencies,
    i.e., local, state, federal agencies, IRS, etc.
  • Making personal financial commitment
  • Introducing new Board members/donor prospects to
    NPO
  • Serving generally without compensation, according
    to the Standards of Philanthropy by the National
    Charities Information Bureau. An exception might
    be if an architect serving on the Board bids on a
    contract for the organization, that person must
    recuse himself from any and all votes related to
    that contract. This action must also be duly
    recorded in the minutes of those meetings.

12
Limited Staff or No Staff
  • Board members must wear two hats
  • As a Board member, one must see big picture for
    whats best for organization
  • As an employee, one must be willing to do
    day-to-day operational tasks to provide services

  • They may even hold regular, unpaid volunteer jobs
    with job descriptions and scheduled hours.
  • If Board members are acting as staff, the NPO
    must build in practices that create checks and
    balances

13
Limited Staff or No Staff
  • For example, for better financial oversight and
    control, one person approves bills for payment, a
    different person signs checks, and third person
    reviews the canceled checks and monthly bank
    statements.

14
Board Recruitment
  • Prepare job descriptions and expectations for
    prospective Board members - time, work and
    financial commitments
  • Board candidates
  • Backgrounds should include accounting, law, real
    estate, information technology, architecture,
    investments, marketing, etc. - whatever you need
    to effectively fulfill your mission
  • Personal experience or professional background
    with the mission and/or work of the NPO
  • Established philanthropic leaders/fund
    raisers/networkers
  • Ethnic, cultural and geographic diversity
  • Community leaders

15
Board Recruitment
  • Conducting a gap analysis

16
Board Recruitment
  • Board should keep list of potential Board
    prospects cultivated by members of the Board
    and/or the Executive Director
  • Prospect pool is often drawn from major donors,
    volunteers, or those in community with skills
    needed by organization
  • Cultivation should include invitations to NPO
    special events, lectures, celebrations, etc.
  • Prospects may even serve as community volunteers
    on a standing or ad/hoc committee

17
Board Orientation
  • A board manual brings much needed information
    together all in one place.
  • Likely contents include mission(who you are)
    vision(who you aspire to be) strategic plan(how
    you will get there) the financials by-laws
    recent minutes and reports board member bios and
    contact information NPO staffing structure,
    etc.
  • Board members should be trained in any regulatory
    requirements to fulfill the mission of the
    organization

18
Board Orientation
  • A board position description stating what is
    expected of all board members and what specific
    strengths the individual brings to the table is
    helpful to the NPO.
  • It is useful for the board to have set an amount
    or financial range it expects all board members
    to contribute to the NPO annually and to
    occasional capital campaigns.

19
Board Orientation
  • One is either an asker, an advocate or an
    ambassador for the organization.
  • Board members should know specifically what their
    term of service is.
  • Establish a term rotation system so that no more
    than one third of members rotate off each year.
  • Helpful to have a buddy system or mentor system
    pairing new board members with established ones.

20
Effective Boards
  • Schedule board meetings well in advance with a
    frequency that is useful.
  • Send reports out well in advance. Use meeting
    time to engage the expertise of the board members
    so they will be and feel useful.
  • Periodically review the mission(every three
    years), the vision(every three years) and create
    a new/revised strategic plan and assign
    roles/responsibilities for achieving it.
  • Recruit board members to appropriate committees
    and change assignments from time to time to
    encourage breadth and vitality.

21
Effective Boards
  • Whenever possible, have NPO clients/beneficiaries
    or appropriate staff speak at board meetings
    for first hand reporting on how well the NPO is
    succeeding and what its needs are.
  • Annually provide a self-assessment mechanism in
    which board members can reflect and comment on
    satisfaction with their role on the board, the
    work of the board, etc., and have it submitted by
    them to the board chair or head of nominating
    committee for review/discussion
  • Strictly enforce term limits

22
Build Manage Key Relationships
  • These skills, when applied correctly, can help
    you leverage your resources, brand, products and
    services.
  • When applied incorrectly, poor skills can result
    a dysfunctional organization.
  • Success is achieved when all the stakeholders in
    your organization are working in harmony and
    pulling in the same direction.

23
Identify Your Stakeholders
  • Clients
  • Customers
  • Patrons
  • Donors
  • Board members
  • Volunteers
  • Advisory committees
  • Employees
  • Nonprofit community
  • Vendors
  • Alliance partners
  • Business partners
  • Advocacy groups
  • Community leaders
  • Opinion leaders
  • Legislators
  • Government Officials
  • Other resources

24
Relationships
25
Keys To Better Relationships
  • Identify your key stakeholders.
  • Understand the relationships among them.
  • Define their roles and responsibilities.
  • Understand the value proposition (reciprocal
    benefit) for each of them.
  • Relentlessly communicate the same vision, values
    and mission.
  • Provide multiple opportunities for their input.
  • Issue progress reports and successes regularly.
  • Address problems immediately.

26
More Keys
  • Align people to the organizations vision
    connect their success to the organizations
    mission
  • Be aware of individuals bringing their own agenda
    that may not be in alignment with the
    organizations
  • Cultivate a sense of urgency among all
    stakeholders
  • Empower action and eliminate barriers to achieve
    goals
  • Create a culture of openness from the start
  • Be present both physically and emotionally
    use MBWA technique
  • Motivate, energize, and reward quickly
  • Seek help and be willing to change
  • Work collaboratively with your stakeholders to
    maximize productivity

27
More Keys
  • Hold new member orientations and where practical
    assign mentors.
  • Create handbooks for stakeholders where
    practical.
  • Gather stakeholders together whenever possible
    let them get to know each other

28
Potential Relationship Problems
  • Board members who are volunteers and employees
  • Non-supportive political and governmental
    leaders
  • Change resistant cliques
  • Board-staff conflict
  • Micromanagers
  • Competitors
  • Staff/Board/Volunteer burn out

29
Increase Management Effectiveness
  • Start with including staff in developing
    strategic plans
  • Prepare relevant job descriptions
  • Establish performance plans and evaluate
    annually
  • Reward and discipline quickly
  • Instill the basics of organizational structure to
    make clear the importance of a good relationship
    between the Board and the staff
  • Give your staff the tools and resources they need
    to do their job - time, equipment, training,
    etc.
  • Ask what you can do to make their job easier

30
Increase Management Effectiveness
  • Delegate effectively
  • Organize teams where practical
  • Communicate organization results often
  • Celebrate success - even small ones
  • Manage difficult employees quickly
  • Establish weekly or monthly progress
    meetings/reports
  • Good management grows out of respect and
    cooperation among managers and their employees

31
Increase Management Effectiveness
  • Problem solving is one of the most important
    aspects of good management
  • Define the problem
  • Develop strategies to eliminate the problem
  • Implement and monitor problem-solving strategies

32
CONTACT NFORMATION
  • SCORE - 988-6302
  • www.santafescore.org
  • Judith Nix - jknix_at_cybermesa.com
  • Mary Ellen Degnan - med_at_cybermesa.com
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