Dan Charobee

Powerful stories can advance your mission and enable others to share your vision. Ann, the ED of a Family Resource Center brought a picture to our planning meeting. It was of a child in a complicated wheel chair made up of knobs, rests, and the intricate structure required to assist him in his everyday life. All eyes were riveted on the photo. You could hear a pin drop in the room while we all thought about his situation. Then she began. “He is the happiest child you ever want to meet”.

Ann proceeded to talk about his personal growth, his smile, and the sparkle in his eyes. Her stories were of his joy, excitement and experience as a child in the program. She could have asked for and gotten anything from us that she wanted.

The magic of the human experience; overcoming tremendous physical, mental, and financial obstacles; is so compelling that it opens hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. Added to an “ask” along with “what we need” can keep the hardest numbers person to move from being a roadblock to funding. This enables them to become an advisor on how to “make the numbers work”; providing a door opening for an organization.

So, how do you make the best of this concept? Ann asked me to coach her through a presentation before a County Supervisors meeting. She was to follow the presentation of another organization known for their strong business presentation skills and comprehensive research and numbers analysis.

I advised her to go with her strengths. So, after the agency completed the exceptional multi-media presentation that was everything that she feared, Ann began by giving everyone in the room a rock.

A simple, smooth stone with an “S” painted on one side and a “C” painted on the other. While we held the stones, looked at the letters and sometimes rubbed them like worry beads; she told stories of children and families passing through the Center. She talked about the “S” and the “C” which were part of the name of the Center, but also about other powerful concepts they utilized that also started with those letters.

Yes, she included the numbers, but I think most people forgot them or used them to calculate resource usage like they should be used. We remembered the people that the Center was helping.

Ann’s organization received everything it needed.

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

Adrianne DuMond

I recently attended a presentation by a very successful Executive Director who was speaking about the selective qualities which they use to nominate board members. I have often mentioned in prior articles, the importance of NOT selecting board members just because they are friends, or prominent in the community. There are other factors to be considered. I would like to share with you her ‘Board Member Candidate Profile’. Note that there are attributes and expectations.

BOARD MEMBER ATTRIBUTES:

• Mission-driven influencer
• Dedicated, innovative, and strategic thinker
• Advocates and a community connector
• Financial and fundraising steward

EXPECTATIONS OF MEMBERSHIP

Engagement and active participation as a member of the Board of Directors includes:

• Attending four board meetings per year, plus the annual board retreat, and joining one standing committee  task force per year.
• Attending key events, such as fundraising, each year.
• Encouraging the involvement of friends, and enhancing the organization’s public image throughout the community.
• Assuring best practices for governance, strategic planning, fund development and financial controls.
• Making a meaningful personal gift to the organization on an annual basis.

I am indebted to Ms. Dawn Reese, Executive Director and Co-CEO of The Wooden Floor, Santa Ana, CA. for allowing me to publish parts of her presentation.

Robin Noah

Change is constantly in the air and at our sides. Like a ghostly apparition that most of us do not welcome. Not only is change happening faster than ever before, but just about every move that is made requires people to do something differently. Most people tend to resist change. However, when change happens for the right reasons and is introduced in the right way the desired results from the change will work to the organizations advantage.

When people take advantage of the change and begin doing the new; there is an opportunity for the entire organization to benefit. New ideas and new ways of doing things begin reaping new results. Without careful managing of the period of change, the change will always cost more than it gained.

Change follows the same, predictable pattern for organizations, teams, and individuals. When you learn how change works, you can get ahead of the curve and get better results.

Organizations don’t change, people do. Failures happen because people either oppose the change or are confused as to what they need to do to make it happen.

Change needs to reach a plateau where people can make adjustments to accommodate the changes. Consider the degree of difficulty of the change and how much disruption it will cause before the change is introduced. When change is introduced with a clear vision of how the organization will benefit and how each individual will benefit the entire organization benefits.

Author:  Robin Noah, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

Bob Cryer

John Kotter had a great post about management and leadership on his Harvard Business Review blog (http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/ ). He says people often use the words interchangeably, which means they probably don’t understand the crucial difference between the two terms.

Management is, in fact, a set of well-known processes like planning, organizing, delegating, coordinating and controlling which enables organizations to predictably do what it knows how to do, and do it well. Good management enables nonprofits to keep the flow of funds coming in from donors while delivering the right mix of high quality services to the people who most need those services. In most nonprofits, this is an enormously difficult and complex task to do well, week after week, year after year. So good management is crucial…..but it is not leadership.

Leadership is different. It is about taking an organization to a different place, transforming it to take advantage of new opportunities and maneuvering around barriers that might otherwise block its ability to serve. It is about vision, getting people to buy in, empowerment them and producing meaningful change. Leadership is not about attributes, it is about behavior. It is not as much about the CEO as it is about encouraging people in the organization to lead. In this world that keeps moving faster, we need more leaders to enable our nonprofits keep pace with the rest of the world.

And of course, we also need good management to enable us to keep doingl the good things we are currently doing as well as we know how.

Author:  Bob Cryer, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

Dan Charobee

It’s morning. You walk in, and “BAM”, there it is. Someone did something that will shape your day, week, month; even year. And, it’s not in a good way. So, you begin as a firefighter, with damage control, thinking “how could this have happened”?

Having recently worked with an exceptionally gifted executive going through damage control, I found the OneOC presentation by Jennifer Farr, CPA, MBA of Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C, listing Best Practice Policies Disclosed in Tax Return so compelling that I wanted to share them with you:

• Executive Compensation – Board reviewed comparability data (compensation survey)
• Conflict of Interest Policy – including procedures for determining whether a conflict exists; Require directors, officers, and key employees to disclose potential conflicts annually
• Fundraising Policies – ensuring solicitations meeting federal/state law requirements and solicitation materials are accurate, truthful, and candid

They come from, of all places, the Tax Form 990 that 501(c)s fill out each year. And like most questions on forms, they are answered and forgotten until next year. Jennifer put them in her Best Practice pocket and so should you. She consults nonprofits on finance and tax issues; hinting that they represent major red flags possibly launching an audit for organizations that don’t meet better standards. This can be a painful and possibly status ending experience for an organization.

Making them an integral part of your culture avoids most fires that take you off mission for an uncomfortable time period. So, outside of your finance office, here is the list of relevant questions:

• 12a Did the organization have a written conflict of interest policy?
• 12b Were officers, directors, or trustees, and key employees required to disclose annually interests that could give rise to conflicts? 
• 12c Did the organization regularly and consistently monitor and enforce compliance with the policy? 
• 13 Did the organization have a written whistleblower policy? 
• 14 Did the organization have a written document retention and destruction policy? 
• 15 Did the process for determining compensation of the following persons include a review and approval by independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision?

Each, in itself is a developmental concept well worth the time and effort, making sure your organization stays on mission. Combined, they may make you less of a firefighter, but a better overall service delivery agency.

Author:  Dan Charobee. Executve Coaches of Orange County. www.ECofOC.org

Adrianne DuMond

I recently sat in on an interview for a potential new board member. I was more impressed with the interviewee than I was with the board members asking the questions. That’s because the interviewee had questions of her own and showed that she had prepared well. These are some of the questions she asked. And it is important for those interviewing the candidate to be equally prepared to answer.

* Why are you interested in me as a board member?
* What role do you see me playing on the board?
* What do you feel is unique about your board?
* What are the major issues the board is facing?
* What weaknesses does the board have working together?
* How well does the board work with staff?
* If I were to join the board, what would you expect me to do my first year?

It is a good idea for those interviewing a potential candidate to meet beforehand and to review these questions so they are on the same page and have thought through the responses. They should also be prepared to give the candidate a timeline so she/he knows when to expect an answer.

Selecting the appropriate candidate in the beginning is far more effective than making a mistake and dealing with the fallout later, even if it takes a little more time.

Author:  Adrianne DuMond, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

Robin Noah

On several occasions I have mentioned HR issues and the importance of employers managing their risks by being compliant. The year of 2012 introduced many, many new and/or revised labor laws including updates of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (www.eeoc.gov) and sections of the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (www.uscis.gov). While all laws may not affect your organization because of the size of your staff I encourage you to review the laws so you can identify those that do affect your organization.

For example if you have 50 or more employees this change will affect you: Effective March 8, 2013 The Family and Medical Leave Act notice has been revised to reflect the changes caused by the recently approved rule for the definition of “Veteran” to include both those who serve and those discharged in the past 5 years (previously it was only those who served). 

Along with being aware of the multitude of laws, employers also need to be familiar with the California Required Notices. Information can be found at www.dol.gov. Here you will find out which statutes and regulations require that posters or notices be posted in the workplace including the list of Workplace Poster Requirements for Small Businesses and Other Employers .This is a yearly excursion requiring annually updated postings.

Lastly, be sure to distribute the following required pamphlets to all new hires:

• The Facts About Sexual Harassment: 
• Paid Family Leave: 
• Disability Insurance Provisions (SDI)
• Workers’ Compensation “Time of Hire” pamphlet

I welcome your questions regarding these issues.

Author: Robin Noah, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

Bob Cryer

I have heard nonprofit managers say that they really need to build their capacity to serve their community’s rising need for services, but can’t raise the funds required to acquire the additional resources needed. Are there any other options?

One approach that is very common in the for-profit world (but rarely mentioned by nonprofits) is to focus on improving productivity. In a services business, which includes most nonprofits, the primary productive resource is people and what they do with their time. Some of each person’s efforts probably deliver great value, some deliver less, and some efforts are probably pretty marginal or even worse.

How does that happen? Organizations continually face new issues and opportunities, and develop new processes and procedures to address those issues and to capitalize on those opportunities. That’s great. But today’s issues and opportunities are different from yesterday’s issues and opportunities. And yet, many of those old processes and procedures may still be operative in an organization. The federal government may be the worst offender, having a reputation of never eliminating any of the programs it has ever funded, regardless of their efficacy in today’s world.

One example in the private sector might be the recently appointed manager who appropriately wants to build a good working relationship with all the people critical to their success. So they set up regular weekly, biweekly and monthly meetings to build those relationships. But after they are built, many managers continue with their meeting schedule, even though much less frequent meetings are all that is required to maintain the working relationships. The original reason for the meeting schedule no longer exists. Could they eliminate some of the meetings and use the time to move the business ahead rather than investing so much time trying to protect themselves from inconsequential things that are unlikely to happen?

One simple way of regularly evaluating any process or reporting requirement is for the person doing the work to ask “If it were not for what basic cause, this process or reporting requirement could be eliminated or reduced?” In highly productive organizations, everyone is expected to know the “basic cause” or operative business justification of everything they do. If they or their manager cannot provide that business justification, then they should seek agreement to stop doing it (or only do it in those situations where it is justified). In this way, the capacity of an organization is continually growing thru the efforts of all the employees to stop investing their time in marginally useful activities, and redeploying it to efforts that move the business ahead or create much greater value.

Author:  Bob Cryer, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org

Besa Pinchotti

1. Share Opportunities. Have an upcoming fundraising event? Did something happen that’s bringing urgency to your cause? Make sure that information is available everywhere—your website, your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, your LinkedIn page.
2. Let Members Share. Your quickest path to new donors is through your existing members. Make sure all of your emails include social sharing links. If they register for an event, give them the opportunity to post it on Facebook or Twitter right from the registration page.
3. Get Influencers to Share. You know who these people are. They’re those people you follow on Twitter who have a gazillion followers and Tweet all the time. The people who blog about issues related to your cause. They may be a member of your cause, but they don’t have to be (yet). Get these people on board and their armies will follow (literally).
4. Say Thank You. You already know this, but are you doing it enough? And are you doing it publicly? Spotlight a fundraiser of the week on your Facebook page (with their permission, of course). Send thank you tweets and direct messages. Post updates featuring the top fundraising teams and sponsors.
5. Repeat. Fundraising through social media never ends. It’s not something you do once a month or even once a week. Sharing through social media should be part of your daily workflow.

Guest Author: Besa Pinchotti, Capterra Marketing Director, www.Capterra.com

Dan Charobee

High end project, revenue, and enterprise dashboards are an integral part of upper management large scale organizations. Managers and executive directors are able to judge the direction, capabilities, and progress of a highly efficient organization. Now, spreadsheet and database users are finding ways to take program activities and results to new levels of information sharing.

Here is how to build your own or select one that meets the size and scope of your organization:

• Spreadsheets are available on almost every computer or over the internet. Microsoft’s Excel is one of the most recognized, but some prefer others. Most feature tabbed spreadsheet pages to enter numbers and formulas. With a little sophistication, users enter data on one sheet and compile sums, averages, percentages, and list counts (and more) in charts and graphs on a dashboard sheet. Today’s programs allow sharing of entire workbooks by multiple users along with annotations and comments.
• Databases typically handle larger amounts of active data, such as client lists, donors, suppliers and payments; databases are usually easier to update, but require a high level of sophistication in formatting, reporting, and outputting information. The two most widely known are Microsoft’s Access, and dBase, by dBase.
• Contact Management (CRM) focuses on relationship communications and results. Newer versions of ACT! (by Sage) and Goldmine (by FrontRange Solutions) offer comprehensive systems that include goals, traditional and digital communications, and progress dashboards. Constant Contact and MailChimp (and others) specialize in online digital communications as well as dashboards to show progress.
• Financial Management software like Quickbooks (by Intuit) and Peachtree (by Sage) include dashboards of a nonprofit’s financial conditions, budgets and status.
• Project Management specialty programs, managed with software like Microsoft Project, provide timelines, Gantt charts, and costing out activities.
• Donor Management – Specialty donor management programs such as Raiser’s Edge (by Blackbaud), provide overviews of funding campaigns as well as working with individual givers.
• Mission Management –Newer dashboard planning systems such as WePlanWell (Ibosswell, Inc.) focus on an organization from mission to objectives and activities, providing EDs, managers, and team members various levels of communication to succeed in their mission.

Visualizing current and future outcomes of ongoing activities can be a powerful way to keep your team on track. It also provides upper management and funders with a dashboard look at your progress, direction and speed in accomplishing your mission.

Author:  Dan Charobee, Executive Coaches of Orange County, www.ECofOC.org