Agency Management

One of the elements of a persuasive proposal is the credibility of the applicant. Nonprofits should think about what it is that establishes their stature and value to the community. Hint: it’s probably more than just your own claims about your successes or your longevity or your staff resumes.

Thousands of foundations, billions of dollars and only 1.5 million nonprofits. Let’s get our tax-exemption and snag that first, free money! Spoiler alert: this story does not end well. Most proposals get rejected, most brand-new nonprofits do not get their first dollar from a foundation and some have estimated that half the new nonprofits will fizzle out in a year or two. What about the “other half?” What are the characteristics of nonprofits that stand the best chance of winning foundation support?

There are about 4,000 chambers of commerce across the country that have at least one staff person. Membership can include one-person enterprises, very small “mom-and-pop” stores, small firms, local manufacturers, all kinds of companies that deliver all kinds of goods and services to the community. Why should a nonprofit organization consider joining the local chamber? Here are a few ideas about how chamber of commerce membership might benefit your nonprofit organization.

Covid-19 and the shutdown have put the role of nonprofit boards in sharp focus. It’s a good time to reexamine your understandings and expectations of your organization’s board. What is it that boards actually do for a nonprofit? A good way to think about it is to remember the “required and elective” scheme.

Your nonprofit has done an assessment of board membership and determined that you need a few new members to fill particular roles and responsibilities. Instead of simply asking friends if they want to join, consider doing a search as if you were hiring a senior executive.

The question always comes up: “Who’s on your board and why did they join?” Some of the worst answers are often the most common: “They’re a few friends of the founder. . . the executive director just went out and appointed some people. . . they joined years ago, nobody knows what motivated them.” Nonprofit boards are too important to be left to this kind of random “personal roundup.”

Your organization’s board of directors may be affable and effective, challenging, or down-right difficult, but love it or not, it has a role to play in grants administration. The board’s responsibility to oversee the financial and legal operations of your nonprofit place it at the epicenter of post-award management, but the board also has a role on the pre-award side.

With a rock-star proposal writer on staff, why spend precious dollars priming the pump? The grant awards are rolling in and all is right with the world. But getting too comfortable with the successful status quo is risky.

 

Effective programs are more than well designed and more than appropriately funded―they’re culturally competent. Truly effective programs are planned and operated with a high-level of respect for and sensitivity to the groups they’re intended to benefit.