January 2010

January 2010 Newsletter - What’s Inside

• Recruiting board members
• Is your nonprofit board fulfilling its purpose?
• Staff leadership development
• Nonprofit Leadership Institute Information

With board members as with staff, it’s important to know what you have, what you need, and what you can do to fulfill those needs. Is it training? Is it recruiting? Is it both?

This month we have great information on how you can use these economic times to your benefit to move your organization forward. Believe it or not this is the best time to recruit those board members you’ve always wanted and to get the RIGHT training for the RIGHT staff. Assessment is the key for your board members and your leadership staff.

Good news: recruiting board members to your nonprofit board is easier in a down economy.

That’s right - we said easier. How can that be?

When we have a heart for helping others but we can’t give money, we want to give time.

To find the right people with time to give, consider these basic rules for recruiting board members.

Don’t be afraid to point out there is an expectation of financial support, but in today’s economy, be willing to ease off on the amount you expect - and do give “credit” for board service.
Think about what talent you need on your board. Legal advice, bookkeeping and accounting advice, personnel management advice, large circles of acquaintances and fundraising creativity are among the key skills and qualities needed on every board. Your organization may have other needs as well. Too many organizations make the mistake of looking only for people with money, well-known names, executive titles or expertise in the organization’s purpose and thereby overlook some terrific talent in areas that are helpful.
Recruit with purpose. That is, make an appointment to meet with each person you want on your board. Plan to spend 45 minutes with them, talking about your organization, your current board and - most importantly - exactly what you expect of this person. Tell them the time commitment and why you thought of them at this time, for this board. Be honest - and then if they say ‘no,’ you’ll at least know that they said ‘no’ to “the real deal” and you won’t have to second-guess if you approached them correctly.
Take along a friend of the prospect’s to the recruiting meeting. It’s harder to say ‘no’ to a friend. In addition, the friend will be able to read the recruit and provide appropriate pressure - push the right buttons - or advise that it’s time to back off for now.
If the prospect says, “Maybe next year,” do ask again next year. It’s hard to say ‘no’ to a friend and almost impossible to say ‘no’ when you’ve all but promised that next year is the time to ask.
Look at your bylaws to see what the term limits are and be sure you stick to them. Align recommends three-year terms with no more than two consecutive terms permitted. This has two advantages: it gives the recruit a knowable time commitment and it ensures that your board gets fresh ideas at least every six years. Too often boards have open-ended terms (either by rule or by practice) and people don’t want to commit, or troublesome board members aren’t easily removed.Acquiring and maintaining a diverse and multi-talented board doesn’t happen by accident. Use this time when money is tight to begin building a board with the talent you need. A well-run organization attracts donors with greater ease than the organization with a board populated by people that can’t help with great advice and ideas.

Is your nonprofit board fulfilling its purpose?

The purpose of a board of trustees or advisors or directors - whatever you call your board - is to help the organization meet its mission of service to others. Board members should advise about how the organization can be more effective; and they should offer their skills and talents to help the organization achieve its vision. If your board meetings bog down in too much detail “You spent how much on bottled water last month?!” when the board’s job is to note if the organization’s budget is in line) or too much time is spent finding fault (”I don’t know why you don’t just solve the problem the way I would” when the advisor’s job is to give positive advice), then you have board members that are counterproductive. With others looking for ways to be of service, you should do your organization, the staff and the other board members a favor and let the “dead weight” resign. Need tips on firing volunteers? Call us or email us from our website (www.alignwslc.com).

Giving May Be Down, but Staff Development Must Go On

As with recruiting board members, now is the time to ensure your organization’s staff - from the executive director to your development director to your support person - is ready for the economic upturn with 21st Century skills.

But wait! Don’t start signing them up for free and low-cost classes just yet! First, do these three things:

Conduct an organizational needs assessment. When you recruited and hired your staff - whether it’s one person or two dozen people or more - you knew what you needed just at that moment. Things have changed since then, even if they were hired just last week. The employees know more, the organization has adapted to having the employee’s skills in house, and new board members have come along that bring talents they will give to the organization so that the employees don’t have to. These are just a few of the ways the world has evolved. Besides that, an annual needs assessment is necessary to keep staff and board aligned with the realities of the “the real world.”Your needs assessment should consider what factors are important to your organization’s future. Some factors to consider, for example, are impacts of technology, external influences (such as competitors and economic considerations) and the services your organization offers. Once you know your top three, place them in order of importance.
Assess the talents and knowledge of your personnel against these key environmental needs of the organization. For example, if yours is a one-employee organization, that one person may have been hired for her fundraising ability, but your needs assessment shows that the greatest threat to the future of your organization is not using technology effectively. Now you’ve had an “Aha! Moment”. Your employee needs to take a class on using technology effectively in the nonprofit sector.If you employ two dozen staff members, assess the key personnel or assess everyone - but no one goes to school until you know what they need to be learning.
Develop learning outcomes before an employee goes to class. Most training classes are built to generally accommodate a wide range of knowledge and expertise. This general information may not be helpful to your organization. Say for example, that you send a support person to a fundraising class. If she comes back with the same ideas and approaches that your key fundraiser is already employing, the outcome for your organization is only that the support person got to attend a class. So before she heads to school, determine and agree with her what she is to bring back to the organization. In this case, sending a support person to a fundraising class may have the purposes of a) helping her build a network; b) building her confidence in a crowd; and c) having her choose one idea from the class that she will personally pursue on behalf of your organization.Training dollars are in short supply for all nonprofits. Maximize the dollars you spend rather than simply not sending staff to training. The world is evolving; make sure your organization’s staff is ready with the right skills for your organization.

Nonprofit Leadership Institute

If you are looking for more information about training for nonprofit staff members, look no further! Align created the Nonprofit Leadership Institute and will hold the first class, Foundations of Leadership, in February. Classes will be held in Cheyenne (February 12) and Casper (February 26).

If you have a more immediate need (based on your needs assessment, of course) for other classes, here are some tips for finding them.

Call Align at 800-999-6541, extension 9146 or email us from the website ( www.alignwslc.com) - we literally eat and breathe nonprofit training, so we can help you find a solution.
Review the fliers and catalogs you get. Some credible organizations are coming in to the rural West to provide valuable training. Of course, we don’t want you to be lured by “nearby and not expensive.” Call Align and let us help you determine if the training organization is reputable and if the outline for the hours of training seems likely to provide a good learning experience for you.
Be aware that online courses can be tempting but that many providers are still trying to iron out the bugs in true online learning. Resist the urge to be penny wise and pound foolish.
Ask the colleagues in your network what classes have been helpful to them.

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