The Latest
Being a New Board Member Can Be Intimidating
Does this seem familiar? There is a participant who regularly takes part in the programs and services of the non-profit. They are a regular donor, contributing to fundraising campaigns. Eventually they start volunteering at events, selling tickets, and helping distribute promotional material....
How to Draw Out Challenges Weighing On Your Team
A typical staff meeting can feel very productive, have a great conversation, but still not reveal the stressors a team is facing. The reluctance to speak up can vary with reasons from being unsure if a topic is appropriate, to feeling it won’t matter. But is does matter because a healthy staff...
Good Old-Fashioned Survey
Each year, a non-profit will create a strategic plan that is responsive to the needs of clients, members, and stakeholders. But, how do you know what those needs are? You ask, and here’s how. Throughout its operating year, a non-profit will offer all different kinds of programs and...
A Board Meeting Agenda is a Little Like a Game of Go Fish, Do You Have Any 2’s?
One of the jobs of an executive director is to support the board of directors to do their job. The executive director, usually a paid employee, is often tasked with doing the work to prep for board meetings, so the volunteer board will have everything they need at their fingertips during...
Can an employee expect privacy at work?
Office environments have changed over the last few years. We went from working in a central office to being required to work from home during the pandemic. When it was finally allowed to go back to work in a central office, many employees continued to work from home or embraced varying...
Make it Easier to Meet Quorum
Non-profits are legal entities, governed by a board of directors. The decisions a board makes, happen at board meetings. Decisions might be simple, such as approving the agenda, or complex, such as deciding employee wages. To prevent a splinter group of board members from meeting privately...
The Strategic Plan IS a Non-Profit’s Road Map for the Year
The new calendar year has us all writing new year’s resolutions, spending some time reflecting on the past year, and making plans for the new year. We spend time in the office supply store sorting through planners and deciding the system we want to use to map out our goals for the coming year....
First 30 Days for a New Non-Profit Executive Director
Whether it’s a first job as an executive director or a first day at a new non-profit, knowing where to start can be overwhelming. That’s because the 4 key areas of a non-profit executive director’s job are massive. Those 4 areas are: governance/board support and policy management; making sure...
Risk Management is the Umbrella You Didn’t Think You Needed
Non-profits are complicated organizations. Strategic plans are directly tied to the wants and needs of clients, members, and stakeholders, which creates a big responsibility to protect those needs from something damaging or undesirable. Most non-profits are usually funded through grants,...
3 Steps to Get Ready for Holiday Office Closure
The holidays are right around the corner and taking time off from work can provide a much-needed break. Whether a non-profit closes for one week, two weeks, or a set number of days, a holiday office closure isn’t a simple weekend, with everyone back at their desks on Monday. The longer time...
Offices are Closed for TWO Weeks
Non-profits are not typically wealthy organizations. No matter how many grant applications are approved, or donations are received, those funds are used primarily for fulfilling the vision and mission of the organization. That sometimes translates into paying salaries that are not quite as high...
Take the Guess Work Out of Non-Profit Gift Giving
Here and there throughout the operating year, a non-profit will give different kinds of gifts. It might be a gift when an employee reaches a work milestone. It might be a gift to thank a summer student. It might be a farewell gift for a departing board member. There is nothing like the...
Create a Program Evaluation to Gather Useable Information
Evaluation, measurement, KPIs and assessment are all part of the work of a non-profit. Feedback is collected to help determine if the organization is meeting its strategic priorities. But that flow from strategic plan to program to feedback and back around, can feel overwhelming and the creation...
This Meeting Could Have Been an Email
With the shift to a digital workplace these last couple years, virtual meetings have become the norm. Without having to worry about a meeting location, catering preferences, drive time, or road conditions, meetings became easier. Easy meetings soon became meeting more often, which turned...
Filing System Basics for Non-Profits
I remember a conversation I had with a colleague from another organization. She confessed she had all her hard copy files in order but didn’t really understand how to make a computer filing system. Whenever she created a document on the computer, she would print a hard copy for filing but leave...
Create an Agenda for ANY Meeting
From board meeting to staff meeting, or member’s meetings, a successful agenda will help to keep the discussion organized and orderly. Agendas that are poorly constructed will waste attendee’s time, important decisions might be missed or handled incorrectly, and an inexperienced meeting chair...
Non-Profit Budget Basics
A non-profit budget is a partner to the operational plan. Together they provide the road map for what the organization aims to work on for its operating year. It sounds so simple, but when it comes time to sit down at the computer to create a new budget, that blank spread sheet can make the...
The Impact of a Non-Profit’s Vision and Mission Statements
When a non-profit first starts up, a handful of strategic documents are created to chart the course for the road it will travel over the years. Each year after that, the non-profit will hold a strategic planning session to examine the needs of clients/stakeholders/members and adjust the...
Why an Executive Director Shouldn't be a Jack of All Trades
There is an expectation, real or perceived, that the executive director of a non-profit needs to be a jack of all trades – someone who picks up all the left-over little tasks and handles them as part of regular work duties. The executive director is often expected to handle all the accounting,...
How to Write a Job Description
A clear job description is an important part of every position. Potential employees want a clear picture of the position before applying, to be sure the job is the right fit for them. Current employees want a clear picture of the work they’ve been hired to complete. Employers need a place...
Honest Actual Costs
I want you to compare two scenarios. In example #1, a new executive director is looking at the budget numbers for fundraising events for the last year. She doesn’t understand what she’s doing wrong. The cost for prizes is 25% more than it was in the years when her predecessor planned the...
Is a Time Sheet Needed for a Salaried Employee?
Its easy to think time sheets are only for hourly employees that work a shift, no more, no less. Salaried employees often have an unwritten expectation to ‘just get the job done’ no matter how long it takes. But that’s a system that favours the employer and can quickly burn out an employee. If...
What should be included in board meeting minutes?
Board meetings can be complicated and messy, filled with opinions, side conversations, heated debate, dead silence, …and also all the official decisions the board makes. How do you know what to record in the minutes? Board meeting minutes are the official and legal record of decisions made at...
How to Plan a Board Meeting
A non-profit board meeting has a lot of components. There are the standing agenda items to be discussed, reports to receive, research to evaluate, and decisions to be made. What goes on behind the scenes to prepare for a board meeting? When do you start planning? What documents do you...
Understand the Basic Financial Statements for Non-Profits
Each month a non-profit executive director will prepare basic financial statements for the board or finance committee to review. The statements need to be approved following the reporting process outlined in the organization’s policy. It is rare for a board to approve the monthly...