Non-Profit Chas

The Board of Directors does a lot of really important things: raising money, giving money, providing leadership, and generally guiding the organization.

But some board members are better than others. They’re the ones that push the non-profit forward, help accomplish great things, and take the organization to the next level.

1. Generous

Board members must give financially to the organization. This is key to the organization for two reasons. Obviously, the organization needs funds to continue, but they also need support they can point to. When your fundraising people are asking for money, it means a lot when the board has 100% giving rates. They lead by example. After all, if the board members are willing to invest (knowing what they know) then it says the investment is a good one.

2. Connected

Great board members also help bring in new volunteers, prospective board members, and of, course, donors. Well-connected board members will bring more of their same generosity and attitude. Regularly ask your board members to identify prospects.

3. Entrepreneurial

Non-profits have to do a lot with little. Entrepreneurs think of innovative ways to do just this. They stretch a dollar, find a solution to a problem, or create something new. Most importantly, they challenge the status quo and want to make things better. Every board needs at least a couple of entrepreneurs.

4. Patient

Life in a non-profit is tough. Sometimes there are a hundred fires and you have to pick the ones to put out. And it can take a long time to gain momentum and see progress. The growing demands of time and money are a constant cause of board burnout. Even if you’ve recruited fantastic board members into the organization, it’s no good if they resign after a couple of months.

5. Decisive

When it comes down to getting things done, it’s critical that your board members are able to make a decision. Otherwise, you’ll end up with hours of meetings discussing instead of doing. It helps to have agendas and people who know how to stick to them.

6. Visionary

A favorite quote from 1899: “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” (Charles Duell, Commissioner of US Patent Office)

The board must be visionary enough to see change ahead and help adapt before it’s critical. Economic factors, social changes, funding shifts, etc. all have an effect on your organization.

7. Invested in the mission

Most importantly, your board members must be invested in the mission of your organization or they’ll have nothing to sustain them through the rough spots. The mission is the point of the organization, and everyone needs to understand and support it. This is the difference between good and great; believing in a mission is why people make heroic efforts and accomplish the impossible. Don’t underestimate the power of your mission.

Where do you find these people?

I wish I could point to a single place and say, “this is where you find great board members.” We’ve been fortunate to have one of these board members take over our board development committee, and he’s recruited a good number of other great board members. We’ve pulled in folks from our volunteer base, our business networks, volunteer sites on the web, etc. We’re self-employed independent contractors and they’re business managers. We’re partners at big firms and they’re retired. We’re 20-somethings to 70-somethings.

So the answer, in short, is to look everywhere. Great board members can come from anywhere.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll resume strategic planning. We took a break to figure out some urgent issues, and like any intimidating task we found it all too easy to put it off for much longer. I’ll be posting more about our efforts as we go.

Exercise Your Optimism!

Anyway, as we get started I want to go through some group and individual exercises designed to get us all thinking, challenging the world around us, and feeling optimistic.

What would you do if we had $20 million dollars?

With money issues out of the way, what would we do? Borrowed from For Impact, this question lets you dream about what you could really accomplish. It’s important to bring this back to the real world and let your dreams and vision inform your decisions.

Share a Mission Moment

I want everyone to tell a story about why they are involved in Camp Fire – why they joined, something that kept them going, etc. I’ve mentioned the Mission Moment in earlier posts, too. It reminds you why you’re here and gives you the strength to keep going.

If we were successful, what would we look like?

What is the profile of a winning organization? Dream big! Write up the characteristics that make up such an organization. Circle the things you already do, and ask what you can do to be ever better at them. How you can aspire to the others?

What are we great at?

Pair off and have each group list things that your organization does well. List only good things, and be as comprehensive as possible. Then, bring the lists back to the group and share what you’ve come up with. Based in Appreciative Inquiry, this approach is the “opposite of problem solving.” Instead, it’s all about creating more of what works.

Any others?

Do you have any team exercises that you’d recommend? Have you tried the ideas here? Share ‘em in the comments!

Sasha Dichter wrote a fantastic Manifesto: In Defense of Raising Money

I’m sending this to all of my board members and encourage you to take 10 minutes to read it.

I hinted at this in my posts about Blog Action Day and What All Those Fundraising Books Don’t Tell You.

The difference between success and failure isn’t smarts or money. It’s not your logo or your office or your website.

You’re not more successful because you’re not doing more.

All the fine tuning, testing, strategic planning, and seminars won’t do you any good in a vacuum. Those can take you from 80% up.

But going from 0 to 80% is easy – it’s just a matter of taking action and doing something.

As 37 Signals often says, If it works, do more. If it doesn’t work, do less.

We stopped our strategic planning because it was a distraction from doing the work. We weren’t at a stage where extensive planning sessions were helping us. We didn’t have our house in order. We weren’t actively fundraising and marketing our programs. We weren’t collecting the right information. We couldn’t even speak intelligently about our financial picture.

So we hit “pause.” Six months later, we feel much more secure about all facets of the organization. This winter, we’re starting our strategic planning again.

GOYA

My designer friend Oak taught me this acronym: GOYA. It means “Get Off Your Ass.” Sometimes I set it as my desktop background just so I have a constant reminder (download the wallpaper) to myself that I need to put up or shut up.

So your challenge each day is to accomplish something that helps advance your mission. Call or visit a donor. Write a thank you note. Make a quick decision and execute.

Blog Action Day is a way to increase awareness of an issue and encourage some discussion. This year’s issue is poverty.

I don’t work specifically with poverty issues, though a big part of my fundraising work is for camperships that provide financial aid for campers.

The term Blog Action is something of an oxymoron. Talking isn’t doing. Discussing poverty isn’t fixing the problem.

Rather than write a lot about the issue of poverty, I’d rather encourage you to act. So once Blog Action Day is over, you have to do it some justice by taking Real World Action:

• Network For Good
• Idealist.org

• VolunteerMatch