The Latest
Some evening and weekend work is required.
When a non-profit employee, especially an executive director, is a salaried position, there is an unwritten expectation that they will get the job done no matter how long it takes. Many new EDs will embrace this work arrangement because they want to prove themselves capable and valuable to...
Now, just one minute!
The minutes of a board meeting serve as an official record of the decisions made. Motions are recorded and often a signed copy is kept for legal reference. Who is responsible for taking those very important minutes at a board meeting? No need to feel overwhelmed. When a board meeting is...
Are you out of touch with your members?
A non-profit usually adheres to the practice that the board works for the stakeholders. The membership and clients are often the central focus of that stakeholder group, and from it, the board of directors is elected and the strategic vision developed. That’s just the start. A non-profit will...
What do you do all day?
There are going to be times, many times, in every non-profit executive director’s career when you feel out of touch with what your team is working on. It might be because you are new to the role, new to the organization, or you’ve had staffing changes. There is a lot of trial and error...
Frank wants a copy of his personnel file
The official personnel file is one of the most useful collections of information about an employee and often the files with the biggest mess. From time sheets to vacation requests, from letter of employment to annual evaluations, the volume of information a non-profit executive director is...
New program? No problem!
A non-profit executive director has the strategic plan in mind pretty much all the time. As planned programs and services run throughout the year, the ED, usually in partnership with the staff team, will keep a keen eye out for potential additions. These opportunities are the ideas that were...
Don’t get yelled at!
My first experience with policies was during the years I worked in a provincial park. How many campers and tents are allowed in one campsite? I was new to the job but experienced enough to know that there were rules. My boss was away, and I didn’t want to make a mistake that would get me, or...
Master your time sheet skills
Executive directors are never truly off the clock. Yes, we can take holidays. Yes, we can lean on our teams and hire admin support. But if a major system fails, it will be the executive director who will answer some serious questions about why it happened. So, we add a few minutes after work,...
Who’s your next hire?
A non-profit usually starts with only one employee. It is often the executive director, and the position handles everything from planning, to programming, to administrative support. When it’s time to hire a second employee, it can be challenging to decide if it is better to hire...
I’m Being Selfish and I Don’t Care.
I see a common pattern with new non-profit board members as they prepare for their first annual general meeting. They get excited, confident, and often a little arrogant. They know what to do and say at the meeting and they certainly do not need any help from anyone to prepare. There is a...
Board - Management Delegation
As a smaller non-profit grows, volunteers take on more and more of the operational tasks. What might have started as a handful of people hosting a few fundraising events each year, or taking turns opening the museum, quickly turns into volunteer burnout and a rapid turnover. That’s when...
It isn’t personal. It's business.
When a non-profit is just getting started, or perhaps, when a non-profit is a bit smaller in operations, it might not have all the tools a more established organization has put into place. From computers and printers to credit cards and accounts, it can be tricky to know whether the...
Mastering your follow-up report
Your non-profit received a grant. Congratulations! Grant writing is a lot of hard work and succeeding in the application process is no small task. In the excitement of running a new program and paying the bills, you might find time has gone by so quickly and you are not as prepared to write...
Skip the staff meeting reports and minutes.
You are happily running a program and you get a question from a client. The question, though, is about a workshop that is happening next month, and you aren’t the staffer planning or running the event. You take a minute to think if you have the information to answer. Stay in the know without...
Year end in 3.. 2..
Executive directors are forced into a complicated little dance during a non-profit’s year end. It starts simple enough, making sure all the invoices are sent out, and all the bills are paid. As a non-profit grows, the accounts become a little more complex, and there might be a bill or two that...
Make Your Meetings Less Miserable
There is a kind of art to orchestrating a successful non-profit meeting. It is a delicate balance between the items on the agenda and the different personalities attending the meeting. How do you know if a meeting is successful or a failure? Sobering reality. The adrenaline rush of finishing...
How do you help a nonprofit become more effective? Simplify the bylaws.
Do you remember the confusion for voting at an annual general meeting that happened during the pandemic? Pre-pandemic, annual general meetings were easy. Everyone was in the same room and voting, as was often stated in the bylaws, was conducted by a simple show of hands. Fast forward to...
When you can't defend yourself, your work will protect you?
The work of a non-profit executive director leaves a trail. It might be the work we did last year, the work we did three jobs ago, or the work we did when we first started. As our career takes us to different organizations, we might not always be around to answer questions about how we...
I am not the caterer
I remember the programming era pre-COVID, where workshops and gatherings rivalled a red-carpet event. Along with finding the right instructors and the best silliest prizes, we planned elaborate catering and hauled in all our own equipment. As we move to post-COVID home offices the landscape...
Can we do this in only 3 days?
Your non-profit has been selected to apply to a special funding program. Not tiny little peanuts funding, we’re talking 6-figure, big-bucks. No problem. As a non-profit executive director, you are very experienced writing grant applications. The catch? This odd little funding program requires...
It will only hurt for 2 years
It happens. You’re working on a grant application and the computer starts to get a little glitchy. No problem. It’s old. Probably just needs to do an update. You could use a break to stretch and wander over to the staff room to find a snack. 10 minutes later you get back to your desk and,...
The best feeling is when it just works!
Being a non-profit executive director is no easy job. I've learned some hard lessons early in my career as I browsed the internet desperately looking for resources, tools, ideas, and solutions. What I found was an overwhelm of information from big-city experts. They had fundraising committees,...
I hate to ask, but...
Does this sound familiar? Its late on Friday afternoon. You're trying to wrap up the work week before you leave for the weekend, then an email pops up in your inbox. A request for a letter of support. Whatever you have time to provide, right? The request comes from a group that does...
Non-Profit Gift Guide
People take jobs at non-profits, especially small and rural non-profits, knowing very clearly that they will not be paid anything close to their counterparts in the for-profit sector. Demonstrate an employee is valued. That disparity in wages is usually significant enough that it can be as...
Are you a leader or a manager?
Years ago, I came across an article that discussed the difference between a leader and a manager. The author insisted that someone could only be one or the other – there was no middle ground. Back then, the article praised the leader, dismissed the manager, and pushed all my buttons. I was...