Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Today is the last of our Developing Your Board Leadership Series. For the last 6 weeks, we’ve been hearing from grantees who have recently taken part in our Board Leadership Training Series workshops and are now telling their stories about how they are applying what they’ve learned to their organizations.

Allison Trimarco of Creative Capacity kicked off the series with some really helpful and humorous advice about fundraising. We also heard about fundraising from Matt Finlay, board member of the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts. Ruth Fost of Pushcart Players talked about organizational succession planning while Liz Mitchell of the Printmaking Council of New Jersey shared her organization’s turnaround story. John Gattuso of the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance discussed losing and choosing board members, while Eddie Rogers of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey explained working through a major transition. Today, we hear from Maleyne Syracuse of the Peters Valley Craft Center and more about Nonprofit Lifecycles, a signature workshop of the Dodge Foundation’s Technical Assistance offerings.

A Nonprofit Is More Likely To Reach Its Programmatic Goals If It Is Well Managed

In her book, Nonprofit Lifecycles, Susan Kenny Stevens identifies the Seven Stages of Nonprofit Capacity:

1. Idea
2. Start-Up
3. Growth
4. Maturity
5. Decline
6. Turnaround
7. Terminal

According to Ms. Stevens, mature nonprofits have reached the stage in their lifecycle in which they are “well established, operating smoothly and…provide consistently relevant and high quality services.”

Peters Valley Craft Center celebrates its 40th Anniversary this year. After 40 years, one might expect Peters Valley to be a mature organization. But it’s not quite that simple. Maturity doesn’t necessarily come automatically or easily or simply with time. Nonprofit Lifecycles has been a valuable and vital tool for our Board and Staff in assessing Peters Valley and identifying those things we need to do to make PV a truly mature organization.

I’ve been on the Board at Peters Valley for a little over 10 years. And for as long as I have been involved and for many years before that, Peters Valley has experienced cycles of boom and bust: one or two good years of balanced budgets or even surplus followed by years of deficit and struggle to pay off debt.

We thought the answer was simply more money. Emergency appeals (“Help Save Peters Valley!”) were successful but when you launch an emergency appeal every 2-3 years, it’s no longer an emergency. The answer isn’t simply more money—more money is a tactical solution—it certainly helps in the short term but often, as it did in our case, the quick fix masks deeper issues.

The answer wasn’t more programs either. Like many nonprofits, PV tried to “program” its way out of its boom and bust cycle. But while new programs are grand to talk about and fundable in the short term, over the long term ours were not self-sustaining and created drag on organizational resources.

Recurring cycles of boom and bust are exhausting—for the Board, the Staff, donors and constituents. Peters Valley needed to create a sustainable turnaround.

Using the lifecycle framework, the PV Board saw that organization was stuck in a pattern of flipping from “Growth Stage” to “Decline” and back. While PV did not slip irretrievably into the Terminal stage, Peters Valley never fully matured either. One of the reasons the organization did not fully mature was that much of its administrative/management systems and infrastructure did not really progress past the Start-up stage.

Mature organizations must have a healthy balance between (1) their mission and programs, (2) their capital and (3) their organizational capacity. These are the 3 legs of the stool. If any one or more of them is not as strong as the others, the stool topples over. Peters Valley has a vibrant mission and wonderful programs. It has capital – some times more than others. But it had not fully developed the organizational capacity it needed to fully achieve its programmatic goals: enough people in the right jobs, all the proper space and systems and all the appropriate processes that would allow it to do everything it needs to do and do well.

I want to be clear that this is not a criticism of the PV Staff. Peters Valley has great, hardworking and dedicated staff. But even the best, most hardworking staff need – frankly deserve – strong organizational capacity. Without a systematic approach to the organization’s growth—a truly strategic division of labor, evolved systems and planning and detailed policies and procedures—it’s just not possible to run an organization as complex as PV efficiently. Peters Valley offers over 150 two to five-day workshops, uses more than 100 guest instructors, welcomes more than 700 students (many of whom live and eat on campus), and operates more than 20 separate buildings, including studios, dorms and a kitchen, many of which are historic structures. And that’s just our Summer Adult Workshop Program!

Peters Valley Craft Center store

So why did Peters Valley not fully develop the organizational capacity it needed? It’s not uncommon for an organization’s programs to get ahead of its capacity and there are many reasons for this. I will mention one that is probably relevant to other organizations: an overreliance on volunteers. As PV grew and its programs evolved, especially when resources were slim, we were blessed with many dedicated volunteers, especially Board members, who were more than willing to jump in and help out where needed. This is great for a nonprofit in the Start-up or early Growth Stage. But as an organization matures, it can’t continue to simply rely on the good will of volunteers. As volunteers came and went, often there was no paper trail and limited institutional memory about who had done what, what had worked, what hadn’t worked or when things needed to be done. It is possible to use volunteers successfully (we have an excellent volunteer who runs our annual craft fair very successfully), but it takes structure, systems and organization!

So where are we today? As I said earlier, capacity building isn’t necessarily easy and it is the Board’s responsibility to ensure that the organization has the resources it needs to build capacity, a responsibility that the PV Board has embraced. Efforts are underway to ensure an appropriate division of labor among staff members, identify functions that need to be filled and create position descriptions. Written policies and procedures are being developed to cover all of our functions. Moreover, last year, the PV Board committed itself to a comprehensive strategic planning process, in order to ensure that we evaluated and took appropriate action with respect to all 3 legs of our stool: mission and programs, capital, and capacity.

I could devote another whole blog to our strategic planning process so I won’t go into a lot of detail here. But we are very pleased that among the 15 Board and staff members who participated in our goal setting retreat on April 17th, we had broad consensus around goals and, not surprisingly, several addressed organizational capacity. We are working now on the strategic plan itself and an actionable implementation plan. But it all began with a frank assessment of where PV was in its lifecycle.

Maleyne Syracuse is the President of the Board of Directors of Peters Valley Craft Center. She is also is President of Board of Directors of the Pike County (PA) Public Library and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of two NYSE traded closed ends funds. Ms. Syracuse retired in 2007, after over 25 years as an investment banker, most recently as a Managing Director with JP Morgan. She enjoys gardening and fiber arts—a passion she developed after taking weaving courses at Peters Valley. Ms. Syracuse lives with her husband and their two cats in New York, NY and Milford, PA.

The Dodge Foundation thanks all of our guest bloggers in the Developing Your Board Leadership series for their time and thoughtful input. We hope that these blog posts have been informative to all of our readers. For further information about our Technical Assistance workshops, please visit the Dodge website.

Today’s guest post is the third in our series by nonprofit board members and executives who have recently taken Dodge’s Board Leadership Training workshops and are now sharing their insight with us.  If you haven’t gotten a chance, you can read the first in the series, by Allison Trimarco of Creative Capacity, here, and the second by Matt Finlay, a board member for the Community Theatre at the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, here. Both give valuable advice on fundraising.

Today, we explore succession planning with Executive Director of Pushcart Players Ruth Fost.

Late Night Ponderings

What’s the last thing you think about at night and the first thing you think about in the morning? If your answer is work related, then read on.

Are your thoughts stressful? About putting out fires, worrying about financials, solving yesterday’s problems tomorrow?

Or, are your thoughts more like ponderings? You know, the “dreams and visions” variety – i.e. “What if the whole stage is ‘dressed’ in blue – except for one character that is in bright yellow….?” Or, “What if we showed the hardships of settlers traveling west by seating 2 characters on a bench, framed by a lattice outline of a covered wagon? One will hold the reins – the other will tell their story as they bounce up and down…” Or, “That folktale about the King who searches the universe only to find that what he’s looking for is right in his own backyard would really work well as our next story theatre piece….”

I have been “pondering” for more than 36 years. Many of the night time and early morning contemplations have grown into full musical productions that introduce the joy of live theatre—often with curriculum connections—to young people in their schools or local theatres. You see, I’m a founder of a theatre company for young audiences, Pushcart Players, and my love and passion for what I/we do has never grown old.

But the reality is that there is a timeframe for everything we do. I’ve pondered this concept too, but never thought it was something that could be discussed, outlined, planned. That is, until members of our Board of Directors and I began attending The Dodge Board Leadership Training Series over the past several years.

We assessed, we boot camped and we drilled down. Lo and behold,  in several sessions we talked about something called “Succession Planning.” There was actually a name for this process! And I, along with our current staff and Board, could be pro-active and a part of the process. Now, this opened the door for a whole new series of late night and early morning contemplations.

Two things had to happen if we were to successfully move forward with a succession plan. The first was to infuse new life and leadership into our loyal, loving and supportive, but mostly non-working, Board of Directors. The second was to find the right person, or people, to provide the leadership needed to guide, manage, dream and imagine all the possibilities to carry on the legacy and high standards of our well-established, professional touring company for young audiences.

After an intensive Board Retreat, skillfully facilitated by John McEwen of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, we have a Strategic Plan for Board Development that is well underway. Even though we are a mature organization, our board had not grown at the same pace as our programming. We knew that we needed to develop a deeper, layered structure that could support the various needs of the company, including a successful succession strategy. We are in the process of developing an Artistic Advisory Board of individuals who will lend their name to the organization, serve as ambassadors, and may be asked occasionally to help support a special event.

We are also refreshing and adding to our Honorary Board, which includes political and other community leaders who may not have the time to serve as Trustees but are willing to lend their name, contacts, support and validation of the organization. And, we are making good progress in building our “working” Board of Trustees – one that sets policy and has the fiduciary responsibility to ensure that Pushcart Players has and utilizes resources responsibly to carry out its mission. A strategy for identifying potential trustees and a process for nominating and voting for a new trustee was designed, and a committee structure was created. We have already added two dynamic trustees with great organizational skills, knowledge and passion for the work we do. A third strong candidate is currently under consideration and moving through the appropriate steps towards approval.

As for staff leadership, my late night musings always took me back to wondering who, in this very special world of theatre for young audiences, might provide the promise of maintaining the core values and continuing this lifelong commitment of work always geared toward a sustainable future for Pushcart Players. When the moment presented itself, I, like the king in the folktale, discovered that sometimes the things we search for in distant places are right in our own backyard. We shuffled and re-distributed some of the roles and duties of staff members already working at Pushcart, moving Stephanie Carr from Director of Programs and Services into the position of Managing Director. Totally devoted to Pushcart for the past 12 years, first as a gifted actress on tour and then as an equally gifted staff member with intelligence, insight and understanding of every aspect of company functioning,  Stephanie is a deeply valued leader on the Pushcart staff and will without a doubt move the company forward towards a rich and successful future as she adds fundraising initiatives and company management to her already busy roster.

Time and circumstances were just right to reach out to Lenny Bart, formerly Artistic Director of 12 Miles West Theatre Company, to take on the title of Artistic and Education Outreach Director. Lenny is well known to many of us in the theatre world in NJ, and his qualifications coincide perfectly with our needs at Pushcart. His past experience at 12 Miles West, his in-depth knowledge of arts education, producing, directing, envisioning and designing theatre and his congruent mission and objectives to Pushcart’s as an actor, director, technician, teaching artist, friend and partner over many years have made him a perfect choice. Lenny has taken on the idea and the reality of this new position with enthusiasm, passion and a whirlwind of ideas to make our garden grow!

So, what shall I ponder tonight?

Ruth Fost is Executive Director as well as a playwright, actor, designer and co-founder of Pushcart Players. She has been devoted to the development and presentation of quality theatre for young audiences for thirty-six years and has authored or co-authored, designed and “engineered” all Pushcart productions since 1974.

* * *

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7-10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook

Follow the Dodge Foundation on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Foundation on Facebook

Due to the news this week that the Dodge Foundation named Chris Daggett as the new President and CEO, we moved the regularly scheduled blog post for our Monday Board Leadership series to today.

We think that every nonprofit board, large or small, start-up or mature, could benefit from learning from their peers. So over the next several weeks, we will feature board members (and a few executive directors), who recently completed our Board Leadership Training workshops, as Monday guest bloggers. We have asked them to tell their stories of implementing change with their board, including the challenges and successes.

We kicked off the series last week with one of our workshop trainers Allison Trimarco, who gave us some very practical advice and tips on fundraising. Today we hear from workshop participant Matt Finlay, who will build on Allison’s fundraising advice. Matt has been a board member since 2006 for one of our major partners here in our hometown of Morristown, the Community Theatre at the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts.

Therapy for Board Leaders

Boards of trustees are unwieldy things. They’re generally composed of a self-selecting group of opinionated, Type-A personalities. If the board has done its original job correctly, there’s even a modicum of diversity, so getting all those diverse, outsized egos lined up and pointed in the right direction can be quite a challenge. The phrase which comes to mind is “herding cats,” although that doesn’t quite do it. Cats are too languorous. Organizing a board of trustees is more like herding cats on crack.

Unfortunately, boards of trustees often have work to do. Depending on the size of the institution, there may be more or less staff to help with the grunt work, but there is one task which is common to all nonprofit boards: fundraising.

Which brings up the second major problem. Serving on the board of trustees of a prominent nonprofit is often considered highly desirable. It comes with recognition, and free tickets, and consorting with the mayor, and all sorts of other strange and wonderful perks. But there’s a dirty little secret known to most of those on the inside: fundraising stinks. It’s not very fun. The most significant task of a board of trustees just turns out to be unpleasant.

Now, I’m not talking about the partying kind of fundraising. Parties are fun. Especially those which include a cocktail hour. Most board members are quite happy to participate in this type of fundraising. Unfortunately, parties raise only a small portion of the funds which non-profits need for their day-to-day operations. No, the fundraising I am talking about is the kind which requires personal solicitations of large amounts of money from either friends or acquaintances, often with a significant chance of outright rejection. It’s an awkward business at best; at worst, it’s downright atrocious.

I vaguely knew these things when I was approached several years ago to co-chair the new $7 million capital campaign at the Morristown Community Theatre. At first I hesitated. But such a task fits with my personal philosophies about giving back to a community, so I whisked my concerns aside and committed.

I vowed to combat these fundraising roadblocks with the same things that I’d used to great success in business: organization, diligence and tenacity. I’d make the Theatre’s board into a fundraising juggernaut by simply giving them no options. I’d bend their will to fit my needs by organizing meetings, doling out responsibilities, and pestering for action.

It worked. Sort of. For a while. But not really. Then, it wasn’t working at all. Then, I almost became a parody of myself. I found myself in board meetings repeating the same things over and over again. Essentially, it boiled down to please: “Please help us…”; “Please contact those people on your list…”; “Please follow through with your commitments…” “We’re gonna do it this time! Come on, please?” I began to exhibit symptoms of Einstein’s famous definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.

A faithful band of trustees labored on, but I became increasingly disheartened about the process. CEOs often talk about how lonely it is at the top, and while I would never compare my experiences with those of someone running an entire company, I knew what they meant.

Thankfully, I got some perspective from the Dodge Foundation. Thanks to an invitation forwarded by our Executive Director Allison Larena, I was able to attend a Dodge workshop entitled “The Care and Feeding of a Board of Trustees.”

It turns out that my experience was not all that unusual. In fact, according to the Dodge consultants, it’s pretty standard stuff. After a day of Dodge-led therapy, my mood was picking up. Better yet, I had some new ideas about how to manage the board and its capital goals. None of it was terribly profound or earth-shattering, but even the little things can sometimes make a world of difference.

Here are a couple of helpful things which were reinforced in the workshop:

1. From Each According to His Ability (or Desire): The Dodge Foundation didn’t actually make this point using Marx’s famous dictum, but the applicability is almost perfect. Essentially, it means that a board leader ought to extract from each board member only those things which can be reasonably expected to be forthcoming. If a board member says something like “I don’t really like to make fundraising calls…,” then by all means don’t press it. This person will probably not make any calls for you anyway. Insisting will only make the situation uncomfortable. A well constructed board (or committee) will have lots of different jobs filled by lots of different individuals with lots of different skills. Use only those people who will benefit the particular job at hand.
2. Make It As Brainless As Possible: Complexity is anathema to fundraising. Judging from my own personal experience, even something as simple as a missing telephone number is enough to get someone to indefinitely postpone a planned fundraising call. Any serious work or research or preparation is likely to impede the beginning of a fundraising pitch. So take that aspect of the process away from board members. Make the process absolutely brainless and bullet-proof. If you’d like a board member to send a letter to a prospect, then write it for them, hand it to them, watch them read it, have them sign it, and then send it along. Similarly with telephone calls or tours, make sure 100% of the relevant information on a potential donor is at hand before the process even begins. Of course a large staff helps, but even board subcommittees can do the groundwork to make board fundraising brainless. Strangely, if it’s brainless, it can even become fun.
3. Keep It Fun: Have pizza. Gossip. Play music. Go out to Happy Hour. Make your fundraising activities the place to be. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

We’re almost finished with our capital campaign, so I think it’s safe now to pass judgment on the process. In the end, I made the right choice to volunteer for the campaign. I met a great group of people, I helped the community achieve a new level of sophistication in its performing arts capacity, and, perhaps most important, I had a lot of fun.

Thanks go to Allison Larena and her staff at the Theatre, to all of my fellow Trustees who helped with the campaign, and to all the patrons of the Theatre who helped us achieve our goal. Finally, many thanks to the Dodge Foundation for being an informed and consistent resource for nonprofits.

Matthew Finlay manages a private equity fund in Morristown and lives with his wife and three boys in Far Hills.  He has managed several operating and capital campaigns for schools, community enterprises and arts organizations.

* * *

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook

Follow the Dodge Foundation on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Foundation on Facebook

The Dodge Foundation is nearing the end of the second annual Board Leadership Training series led by the talented trainers of The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University’s School of Business.

Over the past six months, teams of board members and executive leadership attended workshops ranging from Nonprofit Lifecycles, Assessment, Board Care and Feeding, Strategic Planning, Board Fundraising, Board Financial Management, Board/Staff Relationships and Succession Planning. We have heard terrific feedback and ideas from many board members who are actively applying the learning to their board work. We thought that every Board, large or small, start-up or mature, could benefit from learning from their peers. So over the next several weeks, we will feature Board members (and a few executive directors) as Monday guest bloggers to tell their stories of implementing change with their board. They will share their challenges and successes. We hope you will share yours as well and help us create a Board Development Learning Community.

We are kicking off this series today with Allison Trimarco, one of our trainers who spoke on a popular subject: board fundraising. She covered a lot of ground in her day-long seminar, but in this post, she captures one of the major takeaways and offers a wonderful exercise that you can try with your own board.

He’s Just Not That Into You

Matchmaking Between Nonprofits and Donors
by Allison Trimarco

Photo courtesy Sister72/Flickr

I spend a lot of time talking with nonprofit staff and board members about fundraising – what’s working, what’s not, and most frequently, how to get board members more involved in fundraising efforts. Everyone wants their board members to be active participants in raising money for the mission, but nobody has figured out a foolproof method for motivating these otherwise devoted volunteers to take on this critical task.

When I ask leaders what they wish more board members would do, the most common response is introduce new people to our organization, and ask them for their support. Essentially, we want our board members to be matchmakers between our nonprofits and prospective donors, finding people who are going to feel that spark of excitement when they meet us.

This kind of matchmaking is one of the most valuable ways a board member can support his organization, but people are often reluctant to do it. I think professional matchmakers could tell us an important reason behind this reluctance to participate – if the spark is just not there, there’s no point in pushing the relationship. But in our efforts to find new supporters for our mission, this is often what we do.

If a prospective donor doesn’t return repeated phone calls, if they don’t attend events, if they seem reluctant to get together when you invite them to lunch, well, they’re just not that into you. Not every cause is for every person, and it’s not possible to convert everyone you meet into an enthusiastic donor. Continuing to pursue a prospect when their behavior is clearly signaling that they’re not into you is not effective fundraising.

This kind of continued rejection is one of the things that make board members reluctant to fundraise. No one wants to be the person who has to keep calling and calling someone who doesn’t really want to hear from them – none of us liked this feeling when we were dating in high school, and most people don’t want to experience it as part of their community service. It’s okay to let a prospect go if they don’t seem that interested. In fact, it’s the smart, self-respecting thing to do. Don’t ask your board members to spend their energy chasing prospects that will never amount to anything. If you want them to be your matchmakers, let them assess whether or not the “spark” seems to be there, and if it’s not, move on.

How do you know if your fundraising program is (unintentionally) creating “he’s just not that into you” situations for your board members?

1. Prospects stay on a board member’s contact list for years, even though they have never made a significant gift. This is akin to having dinner with an ex-boyfriend a couple of times a year, even though it’s clear you are never going to get married.
2. Your prospect list is full of people who are not connected to your organization in any meaningful way. I think of these as the “random rich people” – names of well-known or wealthy people that get tossed around a lot during meetings. Are you asking board members to reach out to these people even if they don’t know them, and the prospect has never demonstrated any interest in the kind of work you do? If so, you’re basically asking them to respond to a “blind box” personal ad in a newspaper.
3. You’re spending a lot of time organizing different events that are attended by the same people. “Friend-raising” events have a role to play in any fundraising program, but if you’re having trouble getting new people to attend, you should think about a change in approach. Investing time and money in hosting multiple events where the same small group of people gets together and chats won’t bring new donors to the organization – and it distracts board members from meeting new people who could become donors. It’s like hanging out in the same bar every Friday night hoping someone new will come in.
4. Your board hasn’t spent any time thinking about the right kind of donors for your organization. Sustainable funding comes from solid, long-term relationships that meet the needs of everyone involved. It can be easy to have your head turned by flashier prospects, but these folks may not be “marriage material.” If you don’t know who you’re looking for, you’re likely to waste a lot of time on the road to finding the perfect match.

How do you figure out who you’re looking for? Here’s an easy group exercise that you can try at any board meeting to help your matchmakers look for the people who are right for you. All you need is flip chart paper and a marker.

Step 1: Think like a donor, not like a fundraiser.

All of our board members are donors – hopefully to your nonprofit, but also to other charities that matter to them. Ask them to think about why they choose to say yes or no when they are asked for a donation. Put your list of reasons why they say yes or no side-by-side on your flip chart, so you can compare them. Chances are, it will illustrate two fundraising truths: 1) people give to the causes that matter to them, when it is convenient for them to do so, and 2) approaching fundraising in a way that is respectful to the donor is always the most effective technique. This exercise helps remind us all that there are two sides to every fundraising relationship.

Step 2: Why do people like us?

Once you’re in the habit of thinking like a donor, ask yourselves why donors might be interested in supporting your organization. Be careful to avoid “insider” reasons that might be very important to longtime board and staff members, but wouldn’t inspire a new supporter. Think of it this way: on a first date, you don’t tell stories about a previous relationship. You talk about who you are today and the exciting things going on in your life right now. Longtime supporters sometimes want to start a conversation with a prospect by telling the organization’s life story – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Really great matchmakers focus the conversation on today’s achievements and tomorrow’s vision, and relate that to the prospect’s own charitable motivations. Once it looks like the relationship might be going somewhere, you can learn more about each other’s history. To help board members feel more prepared for these “first dates,” spend some time talking about the strengths of your mission and your organization. Understanding this will help you to identify the types of people who are likely to be inspired by your work, making it easier for board members to find new matches.

Step 3: Where are our red flags?

Finally, ask yourselves honestly: why might people hesitate to give to us? Have you been in the news recently for something negative or controversial? Is your cause difficult to understand and embrace? Are your programs effective and your finances strong? Facing these issues head on will help you decide if you need to invest in a bit of a makeover before you send your matchmakers out to look for Mr. or Ms. Right.

The impact of the recession on fundraising is real, and it may be a while before we see more favorable conditions. Helping board members find new ways to generate support for the mission will be a key priority for most organizations, but many continue to think of fundraising as a nerve-wracking, distasteful activity to be avoided at all costs. In reality, fundraising is just the transfer of passion about a cause from one person to another – and our board members are some of the most passionate people around. Encouraging them to share their passion for the mission with the right people – people who are truly into your work and enjoy knowing more about it – is the best way to bring out the matchmaker in everyone.

* * *

Allison Trimarco is the founder and principal of Creative Capacity, a consulting firm that collaborates with nonprofits to find creative solutions to management challenges. She is also an affiliated consultant and instructor at The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University.

* * *

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook

Follow the Dodge Foundation on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Foundation on Facebook

Wendy Liscow, Program Officer

I have been attending the introductory workshops of the Dodge Foundation’s Board Leadership Series over the past several weeks, taking copious notes and itching to share tidbits of wisdom I am learning.  It would be impossible to capture everything covered in the six-hour workshops or to adequately describe the discoveries and paradigm shifts in thinking that can only come from participation.  Still, I am committed to sharing some of the basic “aha” moments.

Laura Otten, the Executive Director of the Nonprofit Center at La Salle University’s School of Business starts her Board Bootcamp workshop with a sobering statistic:  there are 43,697 nonprofit organizations in New Jersey.  At this point a hush descends over the group as they pause to take in the fact: “My organization is competing with 43,697 other nonprofits for funding, board members, clientele, and to have our message heard.”   That explains the reality nonprofits feel everyday and the constant push to find unique and effective ways to distinguish themselves amongst the crowd. The Board Leadership series is designed to help strengthen your greatest untapped asset in accomplishing this: your Board.

Laura Otten (and the Board training series) identifies a continuum of ways a Board can help differentiate the nonprofit organization it governs.  She began with the most basic thing that every single board member can do in their role as ambassador: she wants board members to go beyond the “elevator speech” and develop the “sideline speech.”  This is the speech board members need to have ready for parties, galas, and business functions or when they are on the sidelines of a soccer or football game and someone asks the inevitable question: “So what do you do?”

Ask yourself, “What percentage of your board answers that question with their employment history and then adds:  ‘AND I am a proud board member of a wonderful organization that does X, Y and Z and is important because of A, B and C.’?”   If you answered anything less than 100%, Laura contends, you are wasting a major asset.

But getting your board to talk about your organization is only half of the equation.  They also all need to be providing a consistent message.  Certainly each board member should and will have their personalized story of why they care about your organization, but at the end of the day, they all need to be telling the whole story of what makes your organization unique.

Board Presidents and Executive Directors: hear this clarion call and be sure that 100% of your board members are out in the world serving as your ambassador and have been given the proper tools to do it well.  It is a perfect use of board meeting time to work on this task, and it will not only yield a more engaged community, but a more invigorated and engaged board.

Also, consider attending one of the Dodge Foundation board leadership workshops that focus on other areas of governance:  Board Recruitment; Strategic Planning; Financial Management; Executive Director and Board relationship; Fundraising; and Succession Planning.  Then you will be the one bringing the learning back to your board  and colleagues.

Dodge has announced its new guidelines. Please visit our website for full details.

We want to connect with you! Follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.