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Strategic Alliances: First Children’s Finance

Filed Under: management by admin — Comments Off
April 9, 2012

by Monica Duncan, Michigan State Director, First Children’s Finance

I’m looking forward to a great panel discussion about strategic and shared service alliances on Thursday, April 12, as part of NEW’s Get Connected workshop series. Join us at 1 p.m at the Hannan House on Woodward in Detroit for just $10. Check out this link for the details. I hope to see you there! Let me introduce you to some of the relationships we’ve formed locally.

First Children’s Finance helps children, families and communities thrive by increasing the availability, affordability and quality of early care and education. We accomplish this by providing financial and business-development assistance to high-quality child care businesses serving low- and moderate-income families, and building partnerships that connect these vital businesses with the resources of the public and private sectors.

That means everything we do requires strategic alliances!

Here in Michigan, we have dynamic partnerships with foundations and corporations, as well as government agencies and other nonprofit organizations.

Our Michigan Children’s Chamber of Commerce provides opportunities for business people to support high-quality child care businesses in their own communities, both financially and by sharing their experience and expertise through locally-designed volunteer programs. We are proud to have PNC Foundation, the Skillman Foundation and the Detroit Regional Chamber as founding members of the Michigan Children’s Chamber.

First Children’s Finance relies on a broad network of child care industry experts and business people to advise our organization and the businesses we support. Our Michigan Leadership Council provides strategic guidance and linkages to public and private resources, as we develop programs and services that complement regional economic development initiatives. Our Growth Fund Advisors screen program applicants and review draft business plans as they are developed by child care businesses participating in our Growth Fund Business Development Programs. We couldn’t do it without them.

 Register for Thursday’s Get Connected workshop:  Benefits of Forming Strategic and Shared Service Alliances.  Also on the panel with me:

  • Brooke Franklin, Director, K-12 Strategic Partnership, Detroit Regional Chamber
  • Israil Steen, Director of Education Development, Vanguard CDC
  • Jane Linn, Manager of Business Operations, Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan
  • Carolyn Burdi, Vice President, Apparatus Solutions
  • Tim Wintermute, Executive Director, Luella Hannan Memorial Foundation


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Can Nonprofits Do Good and Make Money?

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February 17, 2012

Yodit Mesfin Johnson, NEW’s Director of Business Development, says of course!  See her lead article in the current issue of NEW’s Notes, NEW’s monthly e-newsletter.  It’s not the easiest thing to start a profit-making enterprise within a nonprofit — but the rewards can be huge!  A combination of the right people and targeted goals can give your organization a foundation for sustainable growth and service.

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Start a Nonprofit Social Enterprise

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January 11, 2012

by Stephen Y. Nose, S|Y|N Associates LLC

NEW is hosting a panel of 3 on January 26 in Detroit at their Get Connected program entitled “Starting Social Enterprise Initiatives for Community Nonprofits.”   Join us for an informative session with two women who have created new funding sources for their nonprofits.  

Lisa Johanon, Executive Director of Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation  in the North End of Detroit, will talk about the community of businesses she’s started and runs. The most well known is Peaches & Greens, a fresh produce truck and store. This old-fashioned business model reimagined has gathered national media attention, including a visit by First Lady Michelle Obama. It fills a need—serving those who don’t have access to fresh produce by going to them—and employs local residents, fulfilling their mission to alleviate poverty.

 

 

In addition to Peaches & Greens, their other for-profit ventures include, Higher Ground Landscaping, Café Sonshine, Restoration Warehouse, and Central Detroit Christian Property Management Company. These were all bootstrapped, i.e., little or no outside money came in to start them.

Delphia Simmons, Project Manager/Program Director for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program at the Coalition for Temporary Shelter (COTS), learned about “streetpapers” from a conference her COO attended. These newspapers contain articles about homeless life, among other topics, and are sold by homeless people in other major cities as a way for them to earn some income. Detroit didn’t have one. Delphia saw the need and sought funding.  Her paper, Thrive Detroit Street Newspaper, was one of the first five projects funded by Kiva Detroit when it launched in July 2011. Like Lisa’s enterprises, Delphia’s serves her target population and aligns with her organization’s mission. Her relationship with Kiva Detroit continues, as she’s one of their two co-chairs.

I’ll be on the January 26 panel as well.  Read my lead story in January’s NEW’s Notes for some background on social entrepreneurship and the need for risk taking.  My consulting firm S|Y|N Associates LLC, has two portfolios of work—organizational advancement and social innovation. Our experience bridges the for-profit and nonprofit worlds and shows that each can learn from the other, and needs to, especially in these uncertain times. Our approach challenges old models and social silos that aren’t effective in these times of change, uncertainty, and opportunity.  Join us Thursday, January 26, 1pm for “Starting Social Enterprise Initiatives for Community Nonprofits.” Register now.

This session sponsored by

 

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Grantseeking for Nonprofits

Filed Under: Asides, Events, Fundraising, governance, Grants, Karen Downing, leadership, management, Notes on a Nonprofit, Social Enterprise by admin — Comments Off
December 2, 2011

By Karen Downing

During times of economic stress, grant seeking becomes a required activity for many nonprofit organizations within our communities. As need in the community increases, and public funding for social services, the arts, health and other nonprofit work decreases, nonprofits increasingly need to turn to other sources of funding to survive and thrive.

With so much need for funding, where can nonprofits turn to in order to get funding information for their organizations?  The Internet can easily overwhelm even savvy information users.  Libraries of all types are wonderful places to learn more about non-profit funding, and librarians who are knowledgeable about funding resources are great resources for non-profits.

In the greater Detroit area, there are several Foundation Center Cooperating Collections (satellite libraries for The Foundation Center in NYC), all of which provide access to an array of resources about foundation-based grant-seeking.

Cooperating Collections are free information centers that provide a core collection of Foundation Center publications and a variety of supplementary materials and services in areas useful to grantseekers.

At each Cooperating Collection, you will find access to Foundation Directory Online, a database that you can search that includes profiles of over 100,000 U.S. based foundations and public  charities, hundreds of thousands of grants that have already been made, and direct corporate giving programs. This massive database is searchable by your geographic area, the population(s) you serve, the area of emphasis of your non-profits’ work, and more.

The Foundation Directory Online is also available at NEW’s offices in Ann Arbor (734-998-0160 x218) and Detroit (313-887-7788 x300).  Call for an appointment.

Karen Downing  is the University Learning Liaison and Foundation Grants Librarian at the University of Michigan

As part of the mission of The Foundation Center to make grant-seeking information available to communities across the country, in conjunction with the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work and the U-M Detroit Center, the Cooperating Collection supervisors of the Wayne State University Library and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor will be co-presenting a free session on using Cooperating Collection information resources on Wednesday, December 14th from 10am-12noon at the University of Michigan Detroit Center, located at 3663 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. The session is now closed due to space limitations, but if you’d like register, you’ll be put on a list to receive follow up information from the event.

If you have any questions contact Dan Robin, drobin@new.org, 313-887-7788 ext 300.  For more information about NEW’s programs and other training opportunities, sign up for NEW’s Notes.

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(Excerpts from) Top Ten Fundraising Tips

Filed Under: Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Events, Fundraising, governance, Grants, leadership, management, nonprofit profile, Notes on a Nonprofit, Social Enterprise by admin — 22 Comments
November 2, 2011

*Note: All these tips and more can be found in Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals.

 

1. How to get your board more involved in fundraising:

Stage a Board Member Thank-a-Thon

Tons of nonprofits experience frustration with getting their boards to fundraise; in fact, it’s the second biggest reasons why E.D.s leave their post according to

CompassPoint’s “Daring to Lead” study. Any easy way to give board members a

chance to dip their toes in the waters of donor engagement is staging a thank-athon. The key is to make it easy for board members to participate, and to help them understand that fundraising is much more than making an ask. By inviting your board members to come together one evening or weekend to call and thank recent donors, they will get exposure interacting with donors and will leave feeling empowered and connected to your organization’s work. This will also help to improve relationships with your donors, who will be delighted to receive a thank you call without an attached ask. Read more from Bob Zimmerman in Chapter 31, “Getting Your Board to Fundraise.”

 

2. How to increase your chances of getting a grant:

Never Apply for a Grant Without Contacting the Foundation First

As much as you might want to believe that grants are awarded simply due to the fit of the program and the excellence of the application, it simply isn’t true. In fact in our experience the odds of getting a grant that you send in without contacting the foundation are about 5-10%. Just as in individual (and all!) fundraising, developing relationships is critical. There are people at these foundations, called program officers, who are directly responsible for deciding who gets money and who doesn’t. They care deeply about the work they are funding, and consider it an advantage to be able to scope out potential grantees. In person meetings with program officers are ideal, but even a short phone call with a grant manager or administrator can still yield the basic information you need, as well as getting your name in the mind of someone at the foundation. Sometimes these initial conversations can save you valuable time in applying for a grant program

that was not a fit—always do your homework on their funding goals ahead of time! But often, they are valuable knowledge gathering sessions: use the call or meeting to

identify their key priorities and desired language, which many times cannot be found on their website; figure out which of your programs or initiatives is the best fit, and determine how much money you should request. Finally, go out on a limb and ask if they would be willing to preview your LOI (Letter of Intent) or proposal before your official submission. This will give them a sense of ownership over your request and provide you with valuable feedback. Start today by calling the offices of your top foundation prospect and seeing if you can get on a relevant program officer’s schedule. Read more from Tori O’Neal-McElrath in Chapter 20, “How to Seeka Grant.”

 

3. How to secure a donation:

Make Specific and Direct Asks for Money

People give because they are asked–if you don’t ask, the answer will always be “no.” It can be tough to look someone in the eyes and ask for money, but somewhere in your pitch, some variation of the words, “I’d like to invite you to invest $100 in our work” need to find their place, ideally followed by as long a pause as it takes to get an answer. For fundraisers, you can’t make the mistake of not asking because you feel greedy or you think they will know what you want. Ask with pride for the cause you are so committed to raising money for, and be honored to be the potential bridge for that donor from need to impact–donation to solution. Be sure to ask for a specific amount (something that’s a stretch, but not unrealistic), and be clear on exactly what you will spend the money on and the impact it will generate. Tell the story of someone you’ve served who enjoyed the impact of these types of donations. Start today by calling a lapsed donor and asking for a small renewal gift, even if it’s $25! Practice this type of direct and specific ask on your board members, fellow co-workers, family, and friends, and in no time you will be a master fundraiser. Read more from Andrea McManus, CFRE in Chapter 18, “Fundraising: Knowing When to do What” and check out Tip 4 for more on this important topic.

 

4. How to build loyal, happy donors:

Map Donations to Impact

People don’t give to you because you have needs; they give to you because you meet needs. Donors and prospects don’t want to hear about the woes of the economy or your organizational struggles—no one wants to join a sinking ship. Instead, they want to know exactly where their donation will go, or has gone, and what impact your work is having on their community and the issues they care about. Use the power of personal stories to demonstrate how critical and important their support is to your work. Emphasize impact and stories in all your communications with donors, both in person and in your written materials. Make sure that you send timely thank you notes, reports on progress and success, and ongoing communications to build loyalty and trust with your donors. Start by sending a handwritten note to your best donor today! Read more from Kay Sprinkel Grace, CFRE in Chapter 19, “Individual Donor and Major Gift Strategies: The 83% Solution to Fundraising.”

 

Resources:

  1. www.Nonprofits101.org
  2. Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals.

 

Darian Rodriguez Heyman is the former Executive Director of the Craigslist Foundation and is Co-Producer & MC, Social Media for Nonprofits , Editor, Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals , and author of the article seen in the Huffington Post, “The Two Keys to Social Media Marketing Success”

Darian will be speaking at NEW’s October 18th Get Connected, Top Ten Tips for Fundraising.  If you have questions contact Dan Robin, drobin@new.org, 313-887-7788 ext 300.  For more information about NEW’s programs and other training opportunities, sign up for NEW’s Notes.  

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Still a Challenge: Performance Management

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — 19 Comments
October 5, 2011

Despite the passage of almost 20 years since the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and the subsequent emphasis by funders placed on development and utilization of performance measurement/management systems, most non-profit organizations have not yet implemented a system of performance indicators which are used for management and upon which their strategic plans are based.

 

Explanations for the general failure of non-profit organizations to embrace the model of management by performance derive from several areas. 

 

Organizational Culture

Perhaps the greatest impediment has been organizational culture.  Most executives in the non-profit world are a part of the pre-GPRA mindset, a time when supplying funders with numbers served was enough to insure continued financial support.  The shift to a system built on measuring organizational processes and outcomes and then using the resulting information for management has challenged long-standing practices.  An allied cultural shift has been to make “public” the indicators by which management actually takes place.  In order to implement a performance informed system, it is necessary to specify what real factors drive the organization.  While it sounds nice to say that the organization strives to improve consumers’ quality of life, for example, the true driving forces may lie in the area of financial stability, which doesn’t sound nearly as aesthetically appealing.  The fact that many funders have continued to work with organizations which have not shifted to a performance management system, trying to bring them into the fold, has only served to reinforce whatever beliefs remain among leadership that the old system is still viable. This often leads to a “paper-based performance system”, one that looks good on paper and can be distributed publically, but which does not form the basis of the true organizational decision-making. Changes in the culture of many organizations necessary to shift to a performance driven model may well need time until there is turnover in leadership, until those whose experience has been solely in the era of management by performance mature into leadership positions.

 

Added cost

A third barrier to initiation and utilization of a performance management system is the added cost.  In order to design and implement a solid system, organizations typically will need to contract with, or hire, someone who possesses expertise in the area.  Most agencies look at the short-term cost of this endeavor rather than the longer-term benefit of having developed the capacity to manage with more efficacy, which ultimately has more appeal to potential funders.  Together with this is the indirect added expense of data gathering.  While in program evaluation, it is not unusual for an evaluator to conduct the data collection, a performance management system depends on rapid time information, which often means increases in workers’ time necessary to acquire data.  Non-profits are ordinarily populated with staff who already are working at capacity, and this extra requirement, no matter how minimal, is perceived by all as an added burden.  Direct and indirect costs associated with incorporating a performance-based management system will likely remain a hurdle for some organizations until the benefits are recognized, and the accompanying tasks perceived as part of a persons job rather than an additional responsibility.

 

Understanding how to develop & implement

The final difficulty encountered by organizations is the general lack of availability of individuals who understand the development and implementation of performance-based approaches.  Because of the poor general implementation of these techniques in the non-profit world, the number of persons with experience is still not great enough to fill the need. This further delays the extent of utilization.  Borrowing from both the cultural and economic arguments above, the likelihood that the number of individuals with the necessary expertise will increase substantially is really dependent on a number of organizations making a commitment to address whatever barriers to performance-driven management exist internally.

 

Resources:

 

  1. The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox: A complete guide to program effectiveness, performance measurement, and results
  2. Bridgespan

 

Brian Dates is the Director of Evaluation and Research at Southwest Counseling Solutions.  Southwest Counseling Solutions encompasses a broad range of programs for children, youth, adults and families. All these programs provide services that enable and empower individuals and families to change their lives toward a healthier and more hopeful future. In each of these Centers of Excellence – Adult Counseling Services; Early Childhood & Family Literacy; Children, Youth and Families; and Supportive Housing – Southwest Counseling Solutions is recognized as an experienced leader, delivering proven and effective results.

 

Brian spoke at NEW’s September 27th panel on Best Practices for Measuring Social Impact.  Register now or, if you have questions contact Dan Robin, drobin@new.org, 313-887-7788 ext 300.  For more information about NEW’s programs and other training opportunities, sign up for NEW’s Notes.

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Power in Numbers: Learning from Evaluation

Filed Under: leadership, management, nonprofit profile, Notes on a Nonprofit, Social Enterprise by admin — 4 Comments
September 21, 2011

The practice of program evaluation has always been shaped by the demands of its many stakeholders, including nonprofit organizations, their clients, community members, and evaluators themselves. One of the most significant influences on evaluations’ purpose and practice in the field has been the demands from the paying customer—most frequently, public and private funders. Through their control of resources, funders have determined many of the goals, uses, and methodologies of evaluation. Interest in better self-assessment and a genuine desire for learning drive many nonprofits to undertake evaluation; however, the funders of these organizations often set agendas that predetermine—sometimes unintentionally, sometimes purposefully—the development of methodologies and choices around how evaluation is implemented.

 

FUNDERS

As funders’ demands shape evaluation in nonprofits, funders in turn are shaped by the changing climate and circumstances surrounding public and private funding of programs and services. At the federal level, the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) required government agencies to specify measurable results of their work in order to contribute to data and evaluation-based decision-making by Congress, improve public confidence and accountability of government, and strengthen internal management within public agencies. As a result of GPRA, evaluations of federal programs were designed to meet the new accountability requirements. The language of GPRA promoted use of logic models, and interest in logic models on the part of the evaluation community increased correspondingly. Earlier, Wholey (1987) helped to introduce logic models to program design and evaluation planning, but the demands of GPRA forced attention on application of this tool to better describe and measure pro- gram outcomes across federally funded agencies and grants (McLaughlin & Jordan, 1999).

 

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education issued “New Directions for Program Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Education” that identified four types of program evaluation they would support:

 

  1. continuous improvement
  2. performance measurement
  3. implementation  studies
  4. field trials

 

Field trials were defined as answering the question, “What works? What specific educational interventions lead to increased student achievement?” In the most controversial part of this statement, randomized controlled trials were defined as not only the best way but the only way to determine “what works.” This standard continues today and has been set across federal agencies and echoed within some philanthropic funding.

The investment of public dollars to achieve specific and publicly desired outcomes more efficiently and effectively will continue to drive demand for specific and measurable returns on that investment. The pressure of fiscal accountability has permanently raised the stakes for evaluation to assist in policy and decision-making.

 

NONPROFITS

For nonprofits, this emphasis on outcome measurement and fiscal accountability can feel like a bureaucratic exercise.  However, nonprofit leaders who look at this pressure to provide data as a gift are the most likely to be successful. The keys are using the right evaluation methods and then using the data for the nonprofit’s own learning and improvement.

 

For organizations whose work includes efforts to reform systems, standard evaluation methods miss many of the important types of outcomes.  Systems change outcomes – changes in relationships, resource allocations, policy, etc. – are important to measure and report.  In recent years, new evaluation approaches based on systems thinking tools that can help assess these types of outcomes have been developed. Appreciative inquiry, systems dynamics modeling, social network mapping and action-to-outcome mapping are a few of these new tools.

 

The learning cycle – sometimes described as “plan-do-check-act cycle” – is a useful framework for how to use data collected (by whatever method) for improvement.  The logic is simple: plan your program, carry it out, check to see if expected results were achieved and act on what you learned by revising the program.  In practice, making the time to reflect on the data – the “act” part of the cycle – often gets short shrift in the drive to collect every larger amounts of data.

 

As nonprofit leaders, being aware of your funders’ needs — and constraints — about data and its use is a necessary but not sufficient step in the evaluation process.  Choosing methods that meet your own data and learning needs is just as important.  Being able to use the data to inform practice – of both the funders and the nonprofits – is the real power of evaluation.

 

Resources:

  1. 1.     Evaluation and Foundations: Can we have an honest Conversation? 2006 Nonprofit Quarterly, Written by Tom David
  2. 2.     Idea Encore – Outcome Measurement

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Teresa R. Behrens, Ph. D is the Director of Special Projects at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy. Teri joined the Johnson Center in January 2009. Before joining the Johnson Center, Teri served as the director of evaluation for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, providing leadership for the Foundation’s overall evaluation program. From 1995-2001, Teri consulted in program planning and evaluation for organizations such as the National Science Foundation-supported Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers. From 1990-1995, Teri was a program officer for the Michigan Strategic Fund for the Michigan Department of Commerce.

 

Teri will be speaking at NEW’s September 27th panel on Best Practices for Measuring Social Impact.  Register now or, if you have questions contact Dan Robin, drobin@new.org, 313-887-7788 ext 300.  For more information about NEW’s programs and other training opportunities, sign up for NEW’s Notes.

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Fundraising: Science and Art

Filed Under: by Ann Gladwin, Fundraising, Grants by admin — 12 Comments
May 16, 2011

Let’s talk about the science part of the equation of finding support for your organization.  When it comes to finding grant monies (just one piece of the fundraising pie), the best resource we know is the Foundation Directory Online (FDO). NEW subscribes to this valuable tool and welcomes you to use it in our offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit.

You can spin your wheels searching the Web for foundation giving, but you’ll waste time, get frustrated and wonder if there isn’t a better way. FDO has it all in one place. It’s too expensive for most of us to subscribe to so you use it at a library or other subscriber location.  You can search by appropriate “field of interest” topics and geographic boundaries that will result in “tagged” records of funders who are likely to accept a proposal.

FDO includes profiles for over 100,000 foundations and corporate giving programs in the United States. Profiles include every bit of information included in the directory – no note taking necessary! You save them as pdf files and email them to yourself.  Also, the system allows you to export a spreadsheet of the contact information for your tagged list that is easily used as a work sheet for follow-up. How cool is that?

Foundation Center staff members have also cataloged over two million searchable grant records that provide factual data on exchanges of money and allow you to easily see what grants national funders have given in your area.

To use FDO at NEW’s offices, make an appointment with Ann Gladwin in Ann Arbor (agladwin@new.org, 734-998-0160 x 218) or Dan Robin in Detroit (drobin@new.org , 313-887-7788 x 300) for a two-hour slot of time.   If Ann Arbor or Detroit are not convenient for using the dynamic FDO database, look for Cooperating collections of the Foundation Center.

 

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Profits for People: The Case for Social Enterprise

Filed Under: by Tom Everill, Social Enterprise by admin — 1 Comment
May 9, 2011

In the face of government spending cuts compounded by sluggish and capricious charitable giving patterns, many nonprofit organizations have been forced to consider other more sustainable sources of funding.  For human services organizations whose daily work involves the health, dignity, and even the very lives of people facing severe challenges, the stakes are unimaginably high.

Most hybrid funding solutions involve social enterprise in which the nonprofit operates businesses that generate earned income. In ideal social enterprise applications, the profit-generating operations deliver mission value as well as earned income.  For example, our organization’s landscaping, building maintenance, commercial laundry, and document management businesses provide hundreds of jobs in integrated settings for people with developmental conditions – as well as unrestricted income for our vocational training, early education, and therapy programs.

The problem with social enterprise

A successful hybrid solution like social enterprise might seem like an intuitive and even ingenious solution to pressing social challenges.  But the specter of nonprofits making money the old-fashioned way raises eyebrows in some quarters.  A recent Harvard Business Review article argues that the urge to earned income is a dangerous trend that “can distract nonprofits’ managers from their core social missions and, in some cases, even subvert those missions.”  The problem with social enterprise, the critics say, is that nonprofit organizations are inherently unsuited to business.  Nonprofits have conflicting priorities that limit profitability, and they often lack business expertise and infrastructure.

 

Yet every for-profit business faces comparable issues in one form or another.  Bad business models fail every day, but for-profit entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and try again.  Free enterprise has emerged as the funding mechanism of choice for advantaged people in our society despite its inherent risks.  Why can’t free enterprise work for the disadvantaged as well?  The only real difference between nonprofit business and for-profit business is where the income goes and who benefits from it.  Why exclude the disadvantaged? Everyone deserves the dignity, autonomy, and satisfaction that come from working hard, taking risks, enjoying success, and recovering from failure.

Leveraging complexity

The challenge of nonprofit leadership is to manage multiple outcomes – to ensure that mission is accomplished by ensuring the means exist to accomplish that mission.  In my experience, the success of social enterprise organizations depends on leveraging the complexity inherent in hybrid solutions by paying attention to several critical factors.

 

  • Mission first. Business can enable the real work of a nonprofit organization, but it must not become the purpose itself.  Successful social enterprise organizations are very clear about why they exist (poverty, social justice, education, jobs, and so on) and use their business activities to support the real work.
  • Alignment. The more closely business activities are aligned with the real work, the more the conflicting sensibilities of business and mission can complement and even amplify each other.  For example, operating a light manufacturing or janitorial business can make a lot of sense for a nonprofit dedicated to vocational training and job placement – but not to a nonprofit devoted, say, to eradicating malaria.
  • Talent with a heart – Successful social enterprise organizations hire the very best business talent they can find.  Experienced business managers who have toiled for decades creating shareholder value in the corporate world often find social enterprise to be the best of both worlds – a uniquely satisfying place where professional expertise can intersect with heart to create human value.
  • No compromises – Social enterprise organizations face complex challenges that can appear to be stark “either/or” tradeoffs – business vs mission, profits vs inclusion.  However, successful hybrid organizations keep working until “both/and” solutions emerge that integrate all of the desired outcomes – mission through business, profits through inclusion.
  • Demand excellence – The success of a business matters even more when the ultimate bottom line is human value.  Do it really well, or don’t do it at all!

 

Risk and reward, like everyone else

It is easier to make profits than to make justice, and running a social enterprise nonprofit is more difficult than running a business or a traditional social services agency.  But even the HBR critics concede that “earned income is precious because it comes with no strings attached.”  As more and more nonprofit human services agencies master the skills of social enterprise, the urgency of their missions will make them formidable marketplace competitors. The concept of applying the proven techniques of business to serving real human need is a significant evolutionary step forward in the endless search for social justice.

 

Resources:

Social Enterprise Alliance

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Nonprofit Finance Fund

Tom Everill is President & CEO of Northwest Center, in Seattle, Washington.  At Northwest Center, the world we’re seeking is one where people with disabilities experience justice rather than charity, service rather than help, inclusion rather than pity.

Tom will be speaking via Skype at NEW’s May 17th panel on Best Practices for Starting and Managing a Social Enterprise. Register now or, if you have questions  contact Dan Robin, drobin@new.org, 313-887-7788 ext 300.  For more about NEW’s programs and other training opportunities, sign up for NEW’s Notes.

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Give your Board a Check-up

Filed Under: Assessment, By Dallas Moore, governance by admin — 31 Comments
May 2, 2011

The Job of the Board
The board of a nonprofit organization has a very important job, from setting the organization’s policies and strategic direction, to raising funds, to maintaining oversight of its operations. Such important functions need to be done by people who are committed to the organization’s vision and welfare. Nonprofit board members are generally committed to their communities, passionate about the organization’s mission, and very busy. It is up to them to do the high-level strategic work for the organization and leave the day-to-day work to the staff. The board is responsible for oversight and accountability of the organization, its executive director and its policies.

The Board’s Accountability
In addition to keeping the organization on track, the board needs to look in the mirror and keep itself on track. Every three to five years, or when a turning point comes to the organization, it is a good idea for the board to do a self-assessment. Turning points could be a change in leadership, beginning a strategic plan, collaborating with another organization, downsizing the organization, or starting a major fundraising campaign. You get the idea. Take a look at board performance on a regular basis to help improve efficiency and impact.

What to Look At
There are five important areas of board work to consider when evaluating  the board.

  • Board Operations

o   Do you have term limits? Do you have formal board orientation? How do you determine board composition?

  • Strategic Planning

o   Is there a plan? Does the board refer to it?

  • Resource Development

o   Do board members go on “asks”? Do you have 100% board participation in giving to the organization?

  • Oversight

o   Do you have a conflict of interest policy? Do board members know how to read financial statements?

  • Ambassadorship

o   Do board members get out into the community on behalf of the organization?

Board Self-Assessment Tool
NEW offers Board360™, a self-assessment tool that evaluates board performance in those five areas of board governance. With pricing based on budget size, it is affordable and full of impact.  Each board member responds to  survey questions that are reported out as an action plan with low, medium and high-priority action items.   Do your organization a favor and order Board360™ today!

 

Dallas Moore is Manager of Program Support at NEW. She has worked for the BoardConnect program for several years, being instrumental in the launch of Board360 and other online tools available from NEW.

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