Every year for the last five years I have written a Wishlist of Books for Nonprofit Folk at my blog – Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant. This is a curated list with recommendations made by thought leaders covering a wide range of topics including governance, finance, social media, board development, marketing,mergers and more.
The Nonprofit Finance Fund has released their 2013 State of the Nonprofit Sector report. This is the fifth year for this large and comprehensive study. Almost 6000 organizations responded to the survey. The report includes an online analyzer which enables you to analyze data by state, sector, size, and low income communities. Be sure to check out this aspect of the report.
A common situation in small organizations is this: the finance department consists of a bookkeeper, the executive director’s background is as a program manager and there are no accountants on the Board. Many of these organizations are continually at the edge of a fiscal cliff and deal with ongoing crisis with staff cutbacks or skimping in other ways that actually hurt the organization. Even small nonprofits need to have a sound financial strategy.
Some action steps should include:
If you are going to embark on a strategic planning process make sure that the plan will be meaningful and be a call to action. Many of the trends lead in the right direction to having this happen. When you are designing your process – either self -led or with a consultant make sure you are considering these issues.
Here’s a summary of the trends I have seen in the last year:
Timeframe
The strategic planning process has to be shorter than it used to be. I have a process I use with small organizations which calls for 2- 3 closely placed meetings, then a break from meetings as committee members complete interviews and then 2 -3 closely placed meetings culminating in a whole Board Retreat.
A new national study of nonprofit executive leadership provides a keen insight into and useful benchmarking statistics on the state of nonprofit leadership. Daring to Lead 2011 is a joint project of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and the Meyer Foundation. The report is based on responses from over 3000 executive directors and follows similar studies completed in 2001 and 2006.
Is your nonprofit publishing an annual report? If not, you may be missing a big opportunity. Funders are interested in this report and posting it to your website is becoming a more important part of accountability and transparency standards. Having an annual report is required by Guidestar to have their Guidestar Exchange seal. If you […]
I read an article today about and Executive Director of a non-profit in the District of Columbia, who is charged with embezzlement of $506,000. The man is accused of using the organization’s debit card to make withdrawals of cash while on personal cruise holidays and when out gambling. This blew me away. In my many […]
Finances Are Just a Symptom, Not a Solution When people think of financial sustainability, they usually think of getting enough money to pay bills for the long-term. Then they focus on strategies to keep getting enough money. That’s the wrong approach. 1. Strategy for Sustainability — Be Realistic If an organization is trying to do […]
Marion is a popular facilitator of workshops and Board retreats. Her expertise includes strategic planning, board development, governance and harnessing the power of technology. [Read more ...]
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organizational development, consultant training and Action Learning services, and is developer of the Free Management Library. [Read more ...]
