Executive Issues

Have your board members lost their enthusiasm? Have they lost their energy to create change and make a difference? Have they checked out? Nonprofit boards can’t run on fumes. You have to keep their motors primed or they will run out of steam. But keeping that energy level up isn’t as difficult as you might think. Here’s my recipe for creating change, renewing enthusiasm and firing up these lovely people who care so much about your cause...

The headline hasn’t changed. Salaries for women continue to lag behind men in comparable positions at nonprofits of all sizes, according to a new report from GuideStar. The gap is most pronounced for women chief executives at groups with budgets of $2.5 million to $5 million, who take home 23 percent less than male peers.…

Although I am now a fundraising consultant, I worked for about three decades for three different nonprofits. That’s long enough that it left an indelible imprint on me, and I still react like an organizational fundraiser when I hear stories on the news that directly or indirectly impact nonprofit organizations. The truth is it’s impossible to keep up on everything that matters, or potentially could matter—and that’s not for a lack of opportunities...

As more organizations leverage cloud-based solutions and services, cybersecurity for nonprofits has become increasingly complex. How can nonprofits face the challenges of the evolving threat landscape? By employing a holistic approach to cybersecurity that continually accounts for financial, human and physical resources, along with outreach/oversight and politics/standards...

I learned the hard way and made a lot of mistakes during my first management roles. I didn’t have any formal training on management; overseeing a team came with my first fundraising position. I might have been good at managing a project and making the tough decisions, but understanding how to build and motivate a…

While I believe all of us in the nonprofit arena have noble intentions, we all make mistakes. As board members, fundraising professionals, CEOs and everything else, we should be able to grow from our errors and not repeat them. If not, they become habit...

Now that we are halfway through 2015, let’s take a quick glance at some of the trends in charitable giving and the impact that the U.S. economy has had on consumer benevolence. It’s been a rollercoaster for the U.S. economy thus far. 2015 started off looking pretty good: Consumer confidence was up, and many economists and the Congressional Budget Office projected as much as a 3.4 percent rise in the GDP. Since then, the news hasn’t been so rosy...

I normally create a post title quickly for my Friday slot on NonProfit Pro. This week’s title was the hardest for me to write, as I lost a dear philanthropic brother, George Mongon of Huber Heights, Ohio. He passed away suddenly on July 28, 2015...

Ceding control is a change and requires a decision. Why should this—or any—change be such a gut-roiling exercise when all the research, both quantitative and empirical, says, "do it"? Most often, people stay the course in the face of diminishing results. Each of us has sat back in our chair, exasperated and confused about a leader or subordinate’s unwillingness to change in the face of overwhelming evidence...

Nonprofits take on debt (i.e., borrow) in the short term to cover temporarily inadequate cash flow and in the long term to finance capital expenditures that they expect to recover in the course of doing business. Capital expenditures naturally carry an element of risk. That chicken came home to roost for many arts organizations during…