Executive Issues

An Army veteran has been named to the position of interim chief operating officer of the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) after a major shakeup at the nation's largest veterans charity in the wake of investigations into allegations of questionable spending and a culture of fear at the Jacksonville, Florida-based nonprofit. Former CEO Steven Nardizzi and former Chief Operating…

The business of improving the world can be a tough place to build a career. Our boards and leadership often ask us to accomplish more with less. From providing services to building relationships with volunteers and donors, the nature of our work is demanding. Many of these activities must happen outside of standard business hours...

The payday loan industry generates $11 billion in revenue. It is also a hated, predatory sector that uses its size to influence legislation in order to keep it alive and growing. It goes where banks are afraid to tread and preys on the "unbanked"—nearly one-third of the U.S. population is "unbanked" or "underbanked." That’s a lot of people in need of affordable financial services. Much of this population is also the population that the nonprofit sector serves...

This week, I was at the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Fundraising Conference in Boston. Many sessions were worth the time away, but there was one, in particular, to remember. Three people took the stage. These three helped launch, build and grow organizations such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace International, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Heifer International and more...

Charity Defense Council, the nonprofit-advocacy organization founded by Dan Pallotta, on Thursday issued an 11-page media advisory detailing the preliminary findings of its investigation into the allegations CBS News and The New York Times made against Wounded Warrior Project. The organization found "major errors" in the two news outlets' reporting, including "significant factual errors" and "the possibility of material bias."...

A year after the largest human services provider in New York City suddenly collapsed and closed its doors after 80 years, we can learn valuable lessons through two “post-mortem” reports. The first report, by the Human Services Council, performs a detailed autopsy specific to the organization that closed its doors: the Federal Employment & Guidance…

American Cancer Society wants to be the Amazon of the nonprofit sector, in its online presence, anyway. It makes sense. Forbes ranked it as the 10th-largest U.S. charity in 2015, and as it has grown, it has significantly expanded its online footprint. So it's a smart move for the organization to model its user-experience after that of the world's largest online retailer...

Rachael Wilkins, director of development for Safe Haven Family Shelter had been going back and forth via email with a potential major donor who wanted to gift $30,000 in memory of his mother. When the gift arrived, the nonprofit told its financial consultant about the big check....

On Thursday, Wounded Warrior Project announced that it had fired two top executives and established an office of the CEO, led by board chairman Anthony Odierno, to head up the search for a new leader. Within a day, a familiar face had volunteered. John A. Melia, who founded Wounded Warrior Project in 2003 and led the organization until his departure in 2009, on Friday told The Associated Press that he had requested an "immediate" meeting with the organization's board of directors. And he has a 10-point plan to fix the organization...

A study by Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) found that a large number of nonprofit organizations are concerned about being displaced due to the cost of office space in the Bay Area. The study, called "Status of Bay Area Nonprofit Space & Facilities," found that an overwhelming 82 percent of the organizations surveyed are worried about…