Executive Issues
No one likes a crisis. Especially nonprofit leaders like you. With life already overly busy, increased demand for your services, a constant push to increase funding and more ideas being suggested than you can possibly implement, when do you have time for a crisis? Never.
Alas, that’s the nature of crisis. Things happen when they happen, and usually when you’re least expecting it. So what do you do? Push the worry away and deal with problems if and when they happen? No, instead, you should plan. Here’s a high-level view to get you started.
Focus group respondents revealed a need for leaders to better configure the shared values, style, structure, systems, staffing and strategy within their organizations. The study’s findings were used to construct seven corrective action steps for nonprofit leaders managing the daily activities of charitable fundraisers.
A thoughtful and systematic approach to fundraising and marketing can be somewhat different for each business and circumstance but can generally be characterized as one that fosters: a strong connection between daily fundraising and marketing activities and top-level organizational goals; visibility of planned activities with sufficient flexibility to respond to surprises calmly and confidently; healthy collaboration throughout the organization, between leadership and functional teams; a reliable and scalable system supporting the planning, execution, analysis and optimization of fundraising and marketing activities; and a practical and accessible knowledge management system.
At the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s 2010 New York Nonprofit Conference, three top nonprofit executives joined moderator Tom Harrison, chair of Russ Reid and Omnicom's Nonprofit Group of Agencies, as well as chair of the FundRaising Success Editorial Advisory Board, to discuss these issues in a two-part session, “Cracking the Shell: Open Dialogue & Discussion With America’s Top Nonprofit C-Level Executives on the Sector’s Most Pressing Issues."
At the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s 2010 New York Nonprofit Conference, three top nonprofit executives joined moderator Tom Harrison, chair of Russ Reid and Omnicom's Nonprofit Group of Agencies, as well as chair of the FundRaising Success Editorial Advisory Board, to discuss these issues in a two-part session, “Cracking the Shell: Open Dialogue & Discussion With America’s Top Nonprofit C-Level Executives on the Sector’s Most Pressing Issues."
At the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s 2010 New York Nonprofit Conference, three top nonprofit executives joined moderator Tom Harrison, president and CEO of Russ Reid, to discuss these issues in a two-part session, “Cracking the Shell: Open Dialogue & Discussion With America’s Top Nonprofit C-Level Executives on the Sector’s Most Pressing Issues."
All nonprofit organizations face obstacles. However, the five I’ve chosen to focus on seem to be more prevalent in smaller organizations. But according to my definitions, these particular obstacles are problems for which there are workable solutions. They can be overcome. As you’ll soon see, I believe organizations need to focus on growth, and growth requires various kinds of resources.
An executive coaching client recently asked me about my favorite two or three leadership books. Here are the first five that came to mind. Not surprisingly, each one is within easy reach of my desk. And I find myself thinking about their concepts or quoting them practically every week: "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini, "Coaching for Performance" by John Whitmore, "First, Break All the Rules" by Marcus Buckingham, "How to Win Friends & Influence People" by Dale Carnegie and "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.
One person who successfully merged two large and established nonprofits is Elisabeth Babcock, president and CEO of Crittenton Women’s Union. To help people understand how to create a successful merger, here are three video interviews with Babcock. In each video she discusses one of the key impediments to a merger and what can be done to overcome it. The first video is about how to blend the boards of directors, the second about how to blend the senior staff and the third about how to blend the brands.
The challenges that every nonprofit organization faces, we believe, involve the need for improved execution in five areas of fundamental concern: mission focus, fundraising and development, board governance, succession planning, and performance measurement. When we have seen well-performing nonprofits lose their way, usually one (or more) of these five perennial issues lies at the root of the problem.