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  • Licensed Consultant Journey: Patricia G. Hanberry, MA

    Licensed Consultant Journey: Patricia G. Hanberry, MA

    The Standards for Excellence® Institute continues to build a national network of qualified nonprofit consultants licensed to provide training, consulting, and support on the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. Standards for Excellence Institute Licensed Consultants come from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. In anticipation of the upcoming Licensed Consultant Training, we’re highlighting the journeys of some of our consultants.

     

    “The Licensed Consultant Training was incredibly valuable. It confirmed and enhanced my knowledge of all things nonprofit. I had been a nonprofit executive for 22 years at the time I participated in the training, so I thought I was pretty knowledgeable! The Licensed Consultant Training confirmed that my existing knowledge was current, and filled in the pieces of information I didn’t have already. Since becoming a Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant I am certain that I am coaching my clients on widely accepted best practices. I am confident in the knowledge I share with my clients, and know that I am not simply relying on the experiences and training of my own nonprofit career. The materials you gain access to as a Licensed Consultant are just awesome. Absolutely awesome! I adapt the Standards for Excellence Institute training and educational resources and use them with every client in my consulting practice. Having the Institute’s PowerPoints and documents in an easily useable and adaptable format is just priceless. Even after the Licensed Consultant Training and access to the Institute’s materials and resources, I occasionally have questions. The staff at the Standards for Excellence Institute continue to be incredibly helpful. I know they are here to help all along the way.” – Patricia G. Hanberry, MA, Standards for Excellence Institute Licensed Consultant

    The Licensed Consultant Training is an exclusive, professional development initiative available annually to a limited number of qualified applicants. To participate in this three-day licensing seminar you must successfully complete an application and screening process, including a review of professional experience conducted by Standards for Excellence Institute staff, and be accepted to the program. Learn more here.

  • Ten Years of Advancing Excellence

    Ten Years of Advancing Excellence

    The Standards for Excellence Institute’s Licensed Consultant training program is an exclusive professional development initiative for independent nonprofit consultants. The training offers the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to work with nonprofit organizations across the country interested in learning about the Standards for Excellence, implementing the code of excellence, and becoming accredited by the Standards for Excellence Institute.
    In May 2016, the Standards for Excellence Institute’s Licensed Consultant program celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Institute has been celebrating this milestone with our “Ten Years of Advancing Excellence” series, featuring blogs authored by Licensed Consultants and highlighting various standards outlined in the Standards for Excellence code. The posts below were written by Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants as part of the series.
    As we conclude the celebration year of our tenth anniversary, we look forward to the next ten years of excellence! The Standards for Excellence Institute will offer the next Licensed Consultant program in the fall of 2017.  For information on the Licensed Consultant program, visit standardsforexcellence.org/become-a-licensed-consultant.

     

    Ten Years of Advancing Excellence

    Will the Millennials Be Our Next Great Generation of Philanthropists? by Jane Stein

    Even Full Plates Can Be Rearranged: 5 Questions To Evaluate A Change In Plans by Susan Detwiler

    Fair Compensation, Mission Engagement and Tom Sawyer’s Fence by Elizabeth Galaida

    Extending Your Reach Through Public Engagement by Signe Bell

    Nonprofit Strategic Planning for Sustainability by Debra Thompson

    The Board’s Mission (should they choose to accept it): Empower Their Nonprofit CEO by David Kubacki

    Nonprofit Board Effectiveness: Making Every Board Better by Modelling and Monitoring a Culture of Integrity by Bill Musick

    Back to Basics: Charity Transparency, Trust, and the Board by Carmen Marshall

    Ask a Simple Question for Nonprofit Impact by Elizabeth Galaida

    Planning Strategically Through Process Thinking by Arshad Merchant

    The Big 4: Transform Fund Development with Exceptional Donor Care by Carmen Marshall

  • 5 Key Documents Your Board Members Must Have at Every Board Meeting

    5 Key Documents Your Board Members Must Have at Every Board Meeting

    Are you looking to revamp your board meetings? Do you need help bringing life and purpose to your board? Begin by ensuring that
    each member of
    your board
     has the five documents listed below at every board meeting. The results will amaze you.

    Before I became a nonprofit consultant, I spent years navigating the process of running a small not-for-profit community arts organization.
    Many small nonprofits start with the heart, and my organization was no different. It’s a common story: someone sees a need in their community
    and takes the initiative to address it by starting a nonprofit. Rarely do leaders of start-up nonprofits have knowledge of the intricacies of
    running an organization. And how could they? Running a successful, accountable nonprofit is a maze of best practices, standard compliances,
    and regulations that can wither the spirits of even the most inspired leader. Things can get sloppy, and fast without some critical structures in place.

    I am passionate about working with small (and often new) nonprofits and strive to demystify the nonprofit process. I believe in creating
    simple-to-follow structures, scaffolds and processes that lead my clients to success by making sometimes difficult concepts accessible and manageable.

    Board meetings, in particular, tend to be trouble spots for small nonprofit organizations. Time and time again I see board meetings become disorganized,
    without concrete purpose and nebulous in outcome. The board chair runs through the order of business like a to-do list, often leaving board members
    wondering why they are needed in the room. It’s not surprising many organizations report low attendance at board meetings when they feel boring,
    pointless, and like a tired mechanism for delivering reports! Create a scaffold for successful meetings using these five documents:

    1. Stay On Track With a Board Meeting Agenda

    Your board brings a diverse set of experiences and expertise to the table. Keep your meetings on track and mission-minded with an agenda.

    This sounds obvious…but it’s not! Create an agenda for every board meeting. I encourage my clients to START WITH MISSION because it’s
    both inspiring AND clarifying. Include your mission and vision at the top of the agenda, and begin each meeting by reading them out loud.
    Every subsequent item on your agenda should feed directly back into your mission and vision. If it doesn’t…why is it there?

    It’s so easy to get stuck in the weeds and waste an entire board meeting discussing minutiae like deciding on what type of fundraiser rather than
    what drives the need for funds. Your board must make the most of their time and energy. By keeping your mission top of mind, you will streamline and focus
    your organization. As an added bonus, conclude every board meeting by reading your mission as well. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all
    about: delivering on mission and vision.

    2. Embrace Accountability With Easy-To-Read Financials

    Provide every board member with an easy-to-digest snapshot of where your organization is financially. This must include a one-page only profit and loss
    statement, a one-page only balance sheet and a one-page board-approved annual budget that includes budget-to-actual comparisons. At the very least, these
    financial statements should be reviewed quarterly, but I encourage you to provide them at every board meeting. The treasurer and executive director should
    prepare to summarize any expenses that jump off the page and bring them up so no board member is left in the dark about the expenses. Few people enjoy looking
    at financial documents, so make it as easy as possible for them and be proactive about predicting questions and providing answers. Your financial
    documents are the hard evidence that you are spending money in the right places.     Small nonprofits, in particular, must be extremely accountable,
    as upsetting one or two large donors can be catastrophic for your bottom line. The more streamlined, accurate, presentable and accessible your financials,
    the more effectively you will operate.

    3. Dust Off Your Strategic Plan

    Just like your financials and agenda, your strategic plan must be easy to digest. Emphasize plain, common language and a format that is easy on the eyes.
    Larger organizations sometimes emerge from strategic planning with a 50 to 60-page plan. I believe the most effective strategic plans are no longer than 10 to
    15 pages. Smaller nonprofits tend to fall around five to six pages long. Even at this length, people stop reading around page three or four.

    For maximum impact, make a simple summarized version of your strategic plan. Include your mission and vision, goals, the rationale behind your goals, your
    objective, and your performance indicators. Strategic planning is an expensive process, and finalized plans are expensive to produce. Don’t let your
    strategic plan sit on the shelf until the next planning session comes around.

    Your strategic plan should be a living working document that you refer
    to at every board meeting.

    Every activity of the organization must be benchmarked off the strategic plan. Especially for smaller nonprofits that
    will sometimes “chase” money and grants, referring to your strategic plan will keep you on track.

    4. Embrace The Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector

    The Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector is a set of objective standards
    and best practices on how nonprofits should operate. It identifies six major areas of nonprofit governance and management which contain 27 different topic
    areas. Each topic area includes specific benchmarks and measures that provide a structured approach to building capacity, accountability, and sustainability
    in your organization. (
    Sidenote: Members of the Standards for Excellence Institute and its sponsor organization,
    Maryland Nonprofits, gain access to an
    extensive library of educational resource packets
    aligned with the Code. Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants like myself can also provide you with these
    educational packets during a consulting engagement.
    )

    I advise my clients to provide every board member with a copy of the Standards for Excellence Code. Listen in on any board
    meeting and you’ll hear “We can’t do that! The last board I was on did it this other way…” Dissent like this at the
    board level can sink an organization and takes critical mission discussions right off track. Rigorous discussion can be effective, but argument is not
    productive. The Standards for Excellence Code is an objective measure, so dissent and contention is removed. It depersonalizes what can become hot button
    issues and you don’t have to rely on a board member to be a governance “expert.” The Code answers questions (i.e. what is the relationship
    between the board and the executive director?) in a clear and concise way.

    5. Don’t Let Bylaws Be Bygones

    Bylaws describe how organizations operate and are governed. Each board member should have a copy of the bylaws in front of them during meetings. Questions
    inevitably come up: “Can she serve another term?…Do we have to vote on this decision?” Having easy access to the bylaws empowers all board members
    to answer questions about governance on the spot.

    Tip: Choose a different item on the bylaws to review briefly at every meeting. You’ll get on the same page, encouraging understanding about how the
    organization is governed. Don’t just pull out by-laws when you are desperate for them. Use them as a functional and oft-referred to document.

    BONUS: Incorporate MISSION MOMENTS into every board meeting. Being a nonprofit is tough, and we must celebrate every victory. Make it a
    priority to share a success story, a powerful statistic, a fundraising success, or a positive program outcome. These successes will empower and inspire your
    board and yourself as you take on the tough topics.

    Even if you are an inexperienced board (which is common with small nonprofits) you don’t have to go it alone! Ensure that these five documents are
    sitting in front of every board member at every meeting. With these powerful documents, you create the structure for your meeting, and incorporate scaffolding
    for it to run professionally, regardless of your own experience. Follow this list and you’re on your way to running a tight meeting!

    Rob Levit is a Standards for Excellence® Licensed Consultant.




  • Build a More Engaged Board

    Build a More Engaged Board

    Do your board members feel responsible to one another?

    Responsible to the organization should be a given. But do the board members feel responsible to each other?
    On two recent occasions, I asked board members of very different organizations

    “What does it look like when you feel engaged?” “What actions do engaged board members take?”

    Both groups generated long lists of excellent responses. Perhaps you see yourself in these: 

    • They are reflective / evaluative
    • Work where help is needed
    • Contribute their resources / time / $$ / social capital
    • Contribute to discussions
    • Accept responsibility and following through
    • Evangelize for the organization / actively open doors
    • Communicate respectfully, candidly
    • Have the confidence to speak up
    • Are visionary / forward looking
    • Energetic

    But when asked
     “Why are you engaged with THIS organization?”
    the importance of relationships came through in answers that included: 

    • It offers committed intimate relationships
    • “I don’t want to let down my peers”

    I don’t want to let down my peers.

    When the board member said this, the others around the table started nodding.  They said things like, “I know they’re counting on me.”
    In the rich discussions that followed, many commented on the relationships they each have with others around the board table. They know they can count on each other. They know who the others are – personally, not just by title.
    Getting to know each other as individuals leads to a greater investment in the success of the others around the table. Looking for the success of the organization should be a given. But seeking success for your peers implies relationships that are built upon trust and personal knowledge of each other. Seeking success for your peers leads to a greater ability to work together in both good times and bad.
    When Google analyzed their teams to find out why some teams worked better together than others, they discovered that it wasn’t the composition of the teams that made the difference, it was whether they created a shared purpose and shared culture. The team leaders took the time to allow team members to know each other as people, not merely functions.
    “Google’s intense data collection and number crunching have led it to the same conclusions that good managers have always known. In the best teams, members listen to one another and show sensitivity to feelings and needs.”
    When someone joins a board, there is the expectation of spending several hours a month working with others. Making those hours worthwhile from a personal as well as professional standpoint increases the satisfaction they get from the work, and enhances their enthusiasm for doing it.
    In a board or staff setting, making time for conversation and getting to know each other creates relationships that work like a web among the participants. Individuals feel responsible to each other, and “don’t want to let down my peers.”
     Boards are not monolithic. Acknowledge that each member is an individual, and create time for sharing life.
    What would it make possible if you started the meeting with, what good things happened in your life since we were last together? 

    This article was originally published by Detwiler.com on Feb. 28, 2017.

  • When is last time you asked, “Why are we doing it this way?”

    When is last time you asked, “Why are we doing it this way?”

    I was reading an article from the Harvard Business Review the other day, and could not help but make a connection between the way highly successful for-profit corporations and highly successful nonprofit organizations deal with change.
    Successful organizations usually embrace change. Less successful for-profits and nonprofits tend to fear change. They rarely – if ever – ask themselves,“Why are we doing it this way?” After all, if folks question the status quo, there just might be, oh no…change!
    If we want our nonprofits to grow and thrive, leadership must be transformational. This is scary on many levels! First of all, just who should be part of this “leadership?” Secondly, will these transformational leaders actually step up and take action? Lastly, and perhaps most terrifying of all, how will this change be paid for? We all know vision and transformation are costly.
    Let’s look at our three fears:

    1. Who is your leadership? The answer goes further than your executive director/CEO and the chair of the board of directors. Leadership is different in every organization. The only definite thing is if there is to be transformational change, it should not be implemented by only one or two people. Each nonprofit must decide who comprises the leadership team. This gets very complicated, as nonprofit boards are primarily responsible for governance and support. Professional (and paid) staff are responsible for implementing day-to-day operations. Everyone on your team has a part in ensuring that your strategic goals and priorities are met, bringing you closer to achieving your mission.So, just who should be on your change-oriented leadership team? Only you and your team can decide. Having this conversation is imperative for having any hope of moving toward transformational leadership.
    2. Now that you have identified your transformative leaders, will they step up to the plate and do what needs to be done in day-to-day operations, in strategic thinking, and in raising funds for success?
    3. No money, no mission. Leadership – both board members and professional staff – understand there must be a cohesive, comprehensive, all-encompassing plan to raise funds to pay for a transformation. Additionally, there must be a complete commitment by every member of the board of directors to raise that money. And I mean every member.

    Once the three fears are conquered, your organization is ready to begin an examination of why you are doing things in certain ways. These conversations must have a few rules:

    • The most successful businesses and entrepreneurs question all of their existing strategies. Create an environment where everyone feels comfortable to ask questions and stays curious.
    • Embrace the concept of leadership being more than one or two people. Many situations will arise when teams would lead to better thinking. Adjust these teams for different situations.
    • Think about the benefits of collaboration. There at least 10 nonprofit organizations in Hampton Roads, VA working on the similar community goals: eliminating discrepancies in education, eliminating food insecurity, finding safe and secure housing for everyone, and ensuring the wellbeing of our veterans. I could go on, but you get the idea: we have many well-intentioned folks caring for those who need the most care. Transformational leadership requires looking at doing things a different way. That could very well mean collaboration with similar organizations. Sometimes one plus one really does equal so much more than two!
    • Always challenge the status quo, and do so in a positive manner. Again, the goal is not to just get the job done, but to have greater impact.
    • Make a habit of putting ideas into bigger contexts. Look at the way you have done things historically and at the result of those actions. Look at your strategic imperatives, and note whether your previous efforts created positive outcomes and a better way to reach and exceed future goals.

    That is what we all want: the very best way to reach and exceed our goals!
    This article was originally published by Inside Business Hampton Roads on 8/17/16.

  • Foundations Reduce Uncertainty in Grantmaking

    Foundations Reduce Uncertainty in Grantmaking

    This article was originally published on the Grants Managers Network (GMN) Blog on March 1, 2017. Amy Coates Madsen, Director of the Standards for Excellence Institute®, is presenting at the GMN 12th Annual Conference on March 20, 2017 in Hollywood, CA. Click here to read more about her session, “Embracing the Best Practices: How Grantmakers Are Using the Standards for Excellence® in their Capacity Building and Due Diligence Efforts.” 

    As a foundation executive you have a multitude of nonprofits vying for your support. You must decide where your investments will have the greatest impact. What if you could be certain that grant applicants are operating in an upright, accountable, and ethical way? 

    Foundation executives are committed to ensuring each project they fund is successful, achieving anticipated impacts proposed in the associated grant application. No foundation wants to fund a nonprofit that shuts its doors the following month, or must severely constrict its services to the point where it lacks the capacity to implement a funded program. 

    Nonprofit organizations – and the rest of us – are living in uncertain times. Each day, we read articles about distressed nonprofits in the paper and on the omnipresent newsfeeds on our devices. Some stories focus on nonprofit organizations, for whatever reason, ceasing their operations. Other articles provide detailed reports on improprieties, conflicts of interest and nepotism in nonprofits. An article in this morning’s paper described an international organization closing its offices in five US cities due to the current environment. Other nonprofits close shop because they have difficulty fundraising, because their boards are asleep at the wheel, or because they have been unsuccessful at ensuring their organization’s sustainability. 

    You, as a foundation executive, can eliminate uncertainty of whether the nonprofits you support are operating in an upright, accountable and ethical manner. There is a way for you to know if applicants have appropriate internal controls in place, have a comprehensive advocacy policy, and do all they can to avoid conflicts of interest. You also want to be confident that you are working with nonprofits that are treating leadership succession, sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion with the seriousness they deserve. Would you like to know these things without adding six more questions to your grant application? 

    One leading grantmaker, the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama (CFNEA), has found a way to do this. The Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama, through its work with the Alabama Association of Nonprofit Organizations, has embraced a program called the Standards for Excellence. CFNEA offers training and coaching for organizations interested in being accredited by the Standards for Excellence Institute®. 

    The Standards for Excellence Institute helps nonprofits live by the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector, a set of 67 standards for good nonprofit governance and management. The Standards for Excellence Institute offers a host of high-quality educational materials and training programs to help nonprofits achieve and embrace these leading standards. Organizationsp demonstrate to funders (and everyone else!) that they live by these high standards by participating in the Institute’s accreditation and recognition programs. Nonprofits that earn the Seal of Excellence can display it prominently and it also becomes part of their GuideStar profiles. 

    “It is imperative that not-for-profits of all sizes be effective, efficient, credible and transparent as they strive to meet critical community needs,” says Jennifer S. Maddox, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama. “We believe not-for-profit organizations are our partners in achieving the mission of the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama. The Standards for Excellence® accreditation gives us confidence in the grants we make.” The Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama doesn’t just ask about grant applicants’ participation in the Standards for Excellence program and their status as a Standards for Excellence seal holder. In partnership with the Alabama Association of Nonprofits, CFNEA invests in special training, coaching and support available to local nonprofits interested in earning the Seal of Excellence. Additionally, each year the Foundation sets aside grant funds available exclusively to organizations that live by the tenets of the Standards for Excellence code. 

    The Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama is just one example of a small group of committed foundation executives utilizing the Standards for Excellence program’s voluntary accreditation program, therefore encouraging their grantees to perform in a stronger and more accountable way. 

    Other examples of foundation executives moving in this direction are plentiful. 

    Seven foundations in Pennsylvania (where the Standards for Excellence program is offered by the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations, PANO) encourage their grantees and other nonprofits to participate in the Standards for Excellence training and accreditation process (Phoenixville Community Health Foundation; Westmoreland County Community Foundation; Grable Foundation; Philadelphia Foundation; Montgomery County Foundation; Adams County Community Foundation; and the HBE Foundation.) 

    Eleven foundations in Ohio (where the Standards for Excellence program is offered by the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations, OANO) do the same (Richland County Foundation; Licking County Foundation; Dayton Community Foundation; the Cleveland Foundation; the Columbus Foundation; Toledo Foundation; Greater Cincinnati Foundation; Findlay-Hancock Foundation; Gund Foundation; Gar Foundation; and the Mathile Family Foundation). In Oklahoma, numerous foundations ask whether potential grantees have completed Standards for Excellence comprehensive training programs, which are offered through Standards for Excellence replication partner, the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. 

    It’s time to take a simple step toward eliminating some of your uncertainty about potential grantees. Begin asking applicants about their participation in the Standards for Excellence program. Join the growing ranks of foundations of all sizes asking one simple additional question – a question packed with assurances of the grantee’s strong management and governance practices.

  • Standards for Best Practice Ministry

    Standards for Best Practice Ministry

    Peter Denio, Program Manager for Standards for Excellence Replication Partner the Leadership Roundtable, was recently featured on the Catholic Campus Ministry Association Leadership Podcast and discussed the Standards for Excellence and how “management is significant part of any role of any ministry.” Listen here. 

  • Make a New Year’s Resolution to Strengthen Your Nonprofit

    Make a New Year’s Resolution to Strengthen Your Nonprofit

    Happy New Year! There are so many things that mark the beginning of the calendar year for me. Choosing or designing a new calendar, enjoying the holiday decorations for a few more days (or perhaps, weeks) after the rush of the holidays is behind us, and generally, having that feeling of a fresh start. 

    There are symbols of “fresh starts” all around. Setting goals for the year, renewing commitments to exercise, getting enough sleep, eating better and taking those vitamins—these are all things that I focus on this time of year. 

    For some, their “fresh start” is evidenced by joining a gym (or, in my case, actually attending the gym that I’ve been paying for!). There is a huge number of articles, tweets, and posts this time of year about how valuable it is to get your 30 minutes of exercise. Gyms, weight loss programs, and fitness regimes are in the midst of their busy seasons. 

    But gyms and weight loss programs are not the only folks who experience a surge in activity this time of year. For me and my work at the Standards for Excellence Institute (a project of Maryland Nonprofits), I find that the new year brings out lots and lots of folks interested in starting a nonprofit. While I have no empirical data to support this, I have found that in the first few weeks of the new year, I always get lots of calls and emails from folks who want to start a new nonprofit. I had multiple calls on this topic in a single day last week, during the first week of the new year. Perhaps everyone has spent the holidays reflecting on their lives and have found that they want to make a difference in their communities over the course of the coming year. Maybe folks are fed up with a problem in their communities or maybe folks have a renewed sense of hope around finding a solution to a difficult problem. 

    What they may or may not realize is that starting and sustaining a nonprofit organization is hard work. Oftentimes, it’s actually smarter NOT to start a nonprofit at all, but to connect with other existing nonprofits to work together. I actually spend a good part of conversations with folks interested in starting a nonprofit encouraging them to partner up with an existing organization rather than take all of the deliberate steps to start an independent nonprofit organization. For those that end up deciding to take the plunge and establish a nonprofit organization, websites of state associations of nonprofits, like the Maryland Nonprofits website, is chocked full of great information, checklists, and weblinks in its “Starting a Nonprofit” resources list. This web page is a great place to start for folks interested in starting a nonprofit organization. 

    For those who successfully establish nonprofits, there is no better place to start than with a plan to live according to the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. 

    The Standards for Excellence code provides a consensus model for how the most well managed and responsibly governed organizations operate. The code serves as a great road map for any new nonprofit that wants to get its “house in order” so that it is in the best position to survive and thrive in the months and years to come (It is also a great tool for existing organizations interested in ensuring that their management and governance are as excellent, accountable, and strong as they should be.). Nonprofits can reference the Standards for Excellence code and make a New Year’s resolution to build their capacity and strengthen their governance and management. If they start right away, by the time they are ready to celebrate their one-year anniversary, they may be in a position to apply to earn the Standards for Excellence Basics recognition. Over the course of the next year, we plan to use this space to talk more and more about how nonprofits old and new can use the resources of the Standards for Excellence Institute to bring their work to the next level.  Happy New Year everyone!  We look forward to working with all of you!

  • Will the Millennials Be Our Next Great Generation of Philanthropists?

    Will the Millennials Be Our Next Great Generation of Philanthropists?

    nonprofit_consultant
    The following post on nonprofit strategic planning was written by Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant Jane Stein and is part of our “Ten Years of Advancing Excellence” blog series, celebrating ten years of the Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant program. With vast experience in the nonprofit sector, Jane Stein has been providing consultation and training services to nonprofit organizations for more than twenty years. Jane became a Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant in 2016.  

    If you google “generational mindsets” you will be awarded with 755 models, studies, articles….all manner of information.  Most of it can be boiled down to several facts:

    1. According to Wikipedia, “Millennials are the demographic cohort following Generation X.” There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use birth years ranging from the late 1970s to early-2000s. Not so precise, but let’s use this as our working assumption.

    2. At first the millennials were assumed to be lazy, entitled and over-confident.  This is simply not true!

    3. According to Time Magazine, this could be our next “Great Generation”.  But this is really up to us Gen-Xers, Boomers, grumpy old guys.

    4. Millennials want their philanthropy in a different way than the above mentioned Gen-Xers, Boomers, grumpy old guys.

    Each generation, according to all of those models, studies, articles, have their own mindsets.  The Gen-Xers have a skeptical outlook, a kinda free-agent work effort, were (not so much as they age!) ever so comfy with debt, are self-reliant, work-to-live and love the computer.  Boomers are more optimistic, driven, work-is-life, and pay-your-dues kind of folks.  And we grumpy old guys, never heard of work/life balance, are practical, dedicated, and never saw a print article we didn’t read….in print!
    The Millennials are now characterized as confident goal-setters who believe in egalitarian leadership, want integrated work/life balance, and do all things using “mobile” as their preferred medium.  But can we take the passion of the political and civic engagement of the millennial and make this, philanthropically speaking, our “greatest generation” ever?  I believe that we can, as long as we make sure that our nonprofits incorporate these characteristics of the millennials when engaging them in our work.  And here is the startling statistic that should insure that each and every one of the nonprofits that you love pay attention right now!

    If every millennial in the U.S. donated just one percent of his or her income to a charitable organization each year, $16,000,000,000 will be raised.

    Yup….that was 16 BILLION.  Do I have your attention now?  I sure hope so, because that number from the Giving Circles Fund, got my attention but good.  And now, in the spirit of all of my philanthropy columns, here are some handy dandy sure-fire ways to get the job done.

    1. Millennials want mobile.  Duh…make sure you give them all information they need in a mobile format.   And for you Boomers and old guys in nonprofit leadership, don’t figure out how to do this yourself…you will never ever get it right no matter how social media savvy you are.  Get a brand new committee together of, yes, you guessed it, millennials. In the past we called this a “young leadership” group. Give the new committee the mission of creating (and maintaining) the very best possible social media presence.  This will accomplish more than just the goal of better communication all round; it will begin to truly engage a whole new group of future volunteer leadership and donors.  And use the on-boarding techniques that you use for new board members for this handy dandy committee as you recruit them for committee membership.

    2. Find the very best way to create experiences.  Millennials want more than the traditional gala/dinnerdance/writingacheck that satisfied so many of the earlier generations.  (Maybe this is why it’s getting so hard to fill those tables at your gala.)  Millennials want to touch the mission, they want to engage on a very personal level, and they want to do it more than once. Make it happen!  And while you are doing this for the millennials, it ain’t such a bad idea to be sure that every single one of your board members, key volunteers and donors have an opportunity to get personal, too.  Dinner at the shelter, riding along with the mobile pantry, sitting at lunch at the school program, reading and mentoring.  You know the opportunities at your nonprofit…and by the way….go do it again yourself!

    3. Educate, educate, educate.  Really….does anyone in this generation know who you are, what you do, and the way you impact the community?  Probably not.  Millennias need education (this would be a good plan in general if you suffer from the “best kept secret” syndrome!).

    4. Make it easy to give.  That great new millennial committee you created can tackle this and tell you just how to do it!  And remember, just giving one-off is not enough for millennias.  So all of this needs to be tied into the plan for creating ongoing experiences.  I think that the new millennial committee is going to be very busy….and that is very, very good for your organization!

    5. Bring all of this together by getting the current more mature (my euphemism for old) board members to make a wonderful financial gift to be matched by the millennials.  Or better yet, get a brand new donor to make a major commitment to set up a challenge gift.  Then let the millennial committee decide where they want to see all of that new money go.  But – offer them a set of funding opportunities to choose from….you know…you can choose to save the whales (not such a bad opportunity if that is within your mission) but they must be at-risk whales living in Park Place between the ages of 0-five.  You get what I mean.  Mission creep is not useful.  New money for new programs does not help to meet the bottom line.  New money to fund, improve and expand the proven areas of impact does just that.

    So, back to the earlier question, can we make this, philanthropically speaking, our “greatest generation” ever?  Our at-risk kids, our hospitals, all human services, educational and cultural organizations….in other words the best in our civilization…demand that we must!

  • Even Full Plates Can Be Rearranged: 5 Questions To Evaluate A Change In Plans

    Even Full Plates Can Be Rearranged: 5 Questions To Evaluate A Change In Plans

    nonprofit_consultant The following post on nonprofit strategic planning was written by Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant Susan Detwiler and is part of our “Ten Years of Advancing Excellence” blog series, celebrating ten years of the Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant program. A seasoned consultant, Susan Detwiler specializes in working with nonprofit boards and administration. She is a catalyst for boards in transition, aligning governance, resource development and planning with values and mission. Susan became a Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant in 2011. Subscribe to her blog at detwiler.com/blog/

    Sometimes in life, we have a really full plate of things that we’re focusing on and need to deal with. And it’s at that moment, that something happens that demands that we switch focus, so that we need to move things around. From this we learn that the items on the plate are always movable–we just need to realize that we can move them. – Rabbi Elisa Koppel

     

    Although Rabbi Koppel was writing about life events, the lesson is also pretty valid for work. The lesson is even valid for things we view as solidly in place for the next 3 years, like a strategic plan. Circumstances change as the world changes, and we have to rearrange the things on our plate to accommodate these changes. 

    A lot of talk right now focuses on how a single election can change the trajectory of the country. But changes abound in the world regardless of whether it’s an election year. We see it in the rapidly changing social media landscape, which transforms how people take in information and make decisions. We see it in the swiftly changing transportation industry, in which car ownership is no longer a non-negotiable rite of passage, and people share rides with strangers instead of warning against hitchhiking. We see it in the gig economy becoming the norm for a generation. 

    The cascade effect of all these changes is real. 

    What does that mean for your organization? That’s up to you. The world may have changed, but that doesn’t mean that your vision has changed. 

    Your vision remains how you want the world to be because you exist. 

    But the world moves too quickly, and things change too rapidly, for a five year strategic plan to be viable. Even 3 years may be too long. 

    That’s why we build expansion joints into the plans; specific times to reevaluate. Circumstances change all the time, but we don’t always pay attention. Or our plates are so full of the ‘stuff’ that has to get done, that we don’t pick up our heads to look around at what might be different now. 

    Putting calculated milestones into our plans make us stop and reevaluate the progress. These are specified times when we check to see whether the plans and assumptions are still valid. 

    Yet even with the calculated milestones, it may feel as if you’re in a groove and you just want to keep going, despite the new information. 

    That’s when it’s important to remember that “the items on the plate are always movable – we just need to realize that we can move them.”

     

     

    5 Questions for making decisions

    How do you get out of the groove? Here are five questions to ask yourself and the others around the table.

    1. “What is our vision? Do we all still agree on the vision of where we’re heading?”

    Now that we have new circumstances:

    1. “What does staying in our current groove make possible, in our quest toward that vision?

    1. “What does changing our direction make possible, in our quest toward that vision?”

    1. “What is the downside if we stay in our groove, relative to our vision?”

    1. “What is the downside if we change our direction, relative to our vision?”

    These five questions are the beginning of looking objectively at the effect of new circumstances on our current plans. Instead of appealing to legacy or history or prior investments or a single person’s passion, these questions allow you to evaluate the proposals relative to the same point—the vision you are aiming for. 

    And isn’t your vision really why you exist? 

    The things on your plate are movable. All you need is the will to move them.