The Board’s Role in Enhancing Performance
The nonprofit Board of Directors can play a variety of roles in fostering a high performance culture and enhancing performance of a nonprofit. This presentation outlines critical areas for board engagement with the nonprofit such as organizational mission, relationship between board and executive, monitoring of programs and finances, fundraising, operational governance issues, and values and ethics. Benjamin Hodes, Dean Emeritus, School of Leadership and Professional Advancement, Duquesne University and Principal of Hodes and Associates, presented the keynote session which focused on the Board’s role in shaping organizational mission, positive board-executive relationships, program monitoring, financial oversight, fundraising, governance and values and ethics.
Performance Management for Nonprofit Results
What is the main motivation for entering the nonprofit sector? Some may say that it is for furthering the particular cause they are working on. Others express an aversion to the ‘rat race’ in the corporate world. Some enjoy the work environment of a nonprofit. Still others appreciate the high levels of responsibility and cross-cutting roles they can experience in the sector. There are a wide variety of reasons. One thing few people focus on or think about in making the decision is the need for business acumen and strategic planning – considered hallmarks of the corporate sector. Unfortunately, as the old cliché goes- good intentions do not keep the lights on. Performance management and measurement are the necessary evils in the nonprofit sector- those ‘business’ skills that ensure organizational stability and advance mission success. Let’s take a brief look at them.
What Business Execs Don’t Know- but Should- About Nonprofits
Business leaders and executives often play key roles in nonprofits, as board members or executives. Yet many fail to recognize several key differences between management realities in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. This lack of knowledge in the nonprofit sector tends to lead to frustration, burnout and miscommunication. These differences include a lessened command role and function in the nonprofit CEO; a wider range of stakeholders to answer to; a lack of concrete performance measures to demonstrate results, more scrutiny from donors and the public, and lower levels of resources and capacity in comparison to the for-profit sector.
For Gates Foundation and Buffett, Charity Isn’t a Soft Touch
What does the recent move by Warren Buffett to contribute the bulk of his fortune to the Gates Foundation mean to the nonprofit sector? The move created a philanthropic entity with more assets than 70% of the countries in the world. That amount of wealth combined with the entrepreneurial vision of Gates and Buffett should serve to maximize efficiency and allow for the greatest levels of impact. That change will definitely cascade to smaller foundations and nonprofits, as the Gates Fundation will clearly be at the forefront of public attention for a long time to come. The overall goal of the Gates Foundation is to achieve true global change for the poorest and most underserved but will have the subsidiary effect of changing the way the nonprofit sector operates.
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