There are excellent resources available within the non-profit sector, i.e. Board Source. The website is located at https://www.boardsource.org; the Council of Nonprofits, http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/resources; the Foundation Center, http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/nonprofitlinks; and Nonprofit Resource Center, http://nonprofitresource.com. These are only four resources that come to mind. A cyberspace search will provide you with many, many more resources that also include individuals who provide consultation to non-profit groups.
Many individuals also provide development consultation and training that impact significantly on an organization’s effective governance. An excellent method to discover who these individuals are may include The Council of Nonprofits' most unique asset -- its national-state-local network that operates through the 36 State Associations across the country. Every day the Council’s State Associations are working to build the capacity and organizational effectiveness of more than 25,000 local community-based nonprofits that collectively serve tens of thousands of individuals and communities. Begin by reading 10 Reasons to Join Your State Association. Find out how to become a member of your State Association under your State Association's listing. [See more at: http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/find-your-sa#sthash.9jzfglzB.dpuf]
An additional resource that helps to explain the critical importance of effective Board governance can be found at http://nonprofitanswerguide.org/faq/boards-governance.
In my experience as a professional development officer in each of the organizations where I worked, not one Executive Director [ED] and/or Board fully understood the Board’s fiduciary role that is instrumental in achieving effective non-profit governance. Additionally, as a Development professional, I, apparently alone, understood how important it is for the development professional to establish a strong working relationship with the ED and the Board. As a consequence, due to the ED's preventing the dynamic interaction among senior management, the Board AND the development officer, each organization was unable to achieve economic sustainability. Either blatant inexperience and/or ego-centered management practices impeded the ED’s unwillingness to create an effective fundraising milieu – to the detriment of ensuring the viability of the programs offered to its ‘clients.’
I was dismissed after twelve months from the last two development positions I held. Having been terminated from two successive organizations, I subsequently had the devastating experience of being unable to secure a development position. Since I was in my early 60s at the time of my latest dismissal, it was necessary for me to file for early retirement. Unfortunately, throughout the interview process, I experienced a case of ‘shoot the messenger’ when I attempted to ‘explain’ my basic philosophy of fundraising. I am an avid proponent of donor-centered development, believing that it’s vital for any non-profit organization to invest the all-important time and energy to establish meaningful donor relationships. Donors and any non-profit the agency do NOT benefit when senior management views the donor and/or funder as ‘deep pockets’ and/or cash registers. However, because each of the last three organizations where I worked failed to understand, much less embrace, fundamental fundraising best practices, economic viability was not ensured. Consequently, all programs offered to the community were at-risk of ending due to improper allocation of resources and a failure by the senior management and leadership to embrace the principles of transparency and incorporate this fundamental practice into grant and other funding report policies.
This failure, of course, negatively impacts the very population the organization was established to serve. When a community is unable to rely on the solvency of any organization, the subsequent frail relationship between the organization and the community weakens the overall community.
Please make it your commitment to effective governance to check the available resources to lay YOUR foundation for understanding how capacity-building funding may strengthen the non-profit organization’s infrastructure that you have chosen to support. This is an invaluable asset -- both to you as a potential Board member and/or community member who may rely on the programs provided by the non-profit organization you otherwise support.
Stephanie Doty
Discouraging NP Dysfunction
January 23, 2013 [Revised from November 2, 2013]
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