Executive Compensation Conversation and the Starvation of Smaller Nonprofits
Nonprofit executive compensation has been the hot topic on Twitter this week (at least among the nonprofit geeks like me). This time, the discussion started in response to the Boys & Girls Club CEO being paid nearly a $1 million last year and some legislation in Canada that would cap nonprofit executive pay at $250,000 per year (here and here). These types of compensation conversations almost always focus on the biggest organizations and the biggest salaries, a topic that is interesting but irrelevant for most people working in and leading nonprofits across the Unites States. Read more
Collaborative Culture Index: Where Does Your Organization Fall?
Originally published by the Community Resource Center
With tighter budgets and fewer resources, more nonprofits are looking towards collaboration as a strategy to help leverage resources and increase organizational effectiveness. Collaboration can often result in greater mission impact or better leveraging of resources. However, if they are not well-conceived and properly managed from the beginning, such “collaborative” relationships can also be a drain on organizational resources. There are two critical pieces to setting up collaborative relationships for success: ensuring that each involved organization has an organizational culture that supports shared work, and having deliberate discussions in advance around any areas where a shared approach or values may not inherently exist.
Capacity Building During Challenging Times: Start with Financial Management
Originally published by CausePlanet.com
Along with the recent economic meltdown has come the question for nonprofits of how organizations can survive or continue to thrive during these challenging times. One answer is to invest in capacity-building activities that are proven to make organizations more effective and sustainable, such as strengthening fundraising activities and focusing on programs that are proven effective. Of all capacity-building activities, however, enhancing your organization’s financial management abilities is likely to be one of the most important, because information about your organization’s financial health is essential in making decisions in other areas, such as fundraising and prioritizing organizational activities. Read more
Enhance your Organizational Adaptive Capacity to Build Effectiveness
Originally published by CausePlanet.com
Adaptive Capacity: the ability of a nonprofit organization to monitor, assess and respond to internal and external changes.
This definition of adaptive capacity comes from the New York-based TCC Group, the consulting firm that introduced this concept to the nonprofit sector in High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Nonprofit Impact (1999). Others in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors have built upon this concept, and it is now considered by many in the field to be one of the key components of building nonprofit capacity and promoting long-term organizational effectiveness. Read more