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From the Nonprofit board chair seat - Q & A

Mike's Book Reviews

  • Book Review: The Business of Nonprofit-ing
  • Making a Lasting Difference
    I've been struggling to finish "Making a Lasting Difference" by Graeme Reekie since first I received this book about 6 months ago from Wren and Greyhound.  The press is British but I thought the subject would be universal for nonprofits.  Alas and sadly, this is a slow, tedious read filled with platitudes and almost helpful considerations nonprofit managers might want to consider when thinking about how to financially sustain their organizations. I have generally posited that a nonprofit has 4 "pillars" that comprise its DNA: program, management and operations, governance and sustainability.  M. Graeme offers five: involvement ((having community support); Income generation; Innovation ("how to nourish and encourage incremental innovation); Improvement (systems and structures); and impact measurement.  So he and I don't operate from the same lens but his is certainly one perspective. Making a Lasting Difference is constructed in four parts, 20 chapters and 211 pages.  The possibly most innovative content is in Part 2, Chapter 2 where paradoxes, principles and practices of sustainability are presented.  The paradoxes:     a. Change - only by changing can organizations be sustainability, sustainability does not mean sustained, and, the lesson is that an org. must learn, adapt     and  evolve purposefully.  Here the author poses that an org has to have its act together to achieve sustainability     b. Octopus - organizations need to reach out in new directions to grow but growing in too many directions pulls them out of shape; diversified income does     not mean reduced risk; and, an org must focus on core organisational purpose and structure. Here the author says that mission drift will not make you     sustainable.     c. Yes/No the things that an organisation needs to survive can also kill it. Saying yes to everything is fatal; sustainability is about more than just money.      Capacity and quality matter. Understand when, how and what to say no to.  I would offer this is the "stay in your lane" paradox.     d. Efficiency - Efficiency preserves resources but can impair development.  Organisations cannot evolve, adapt or respond without spare capacity.  And     orgs should balance strategy and scrutiny.  They should invest in capacity building. To all of this I just want to say: uh, ok and thanks for the amazing insight.  No, not really!  I would not invest in this book.  You can better spend your time reading the Federal Register looking for grant opportunities (good luck given the current environment) or going through the Foundation Center directory or building an endowment from rich people who loved you (yes, this really is the key to sustainability).  Making a lasting difference may be a good idea when thinking about long-term impact from what your nonprofit does - reading this book will not.
  • The Board Member Orientation
    Michael E. Batts
  • Nonprofit Finance: A Practical Guide
    Sheila Shanker
  • Functional & Funded
    Harvey Chess - grant proposal writing
  • Roberta's Rules of Order
    Alice Collier Cochran - Meeting Management
  • Boards That Deliver
    Ram Charan - corporate governance
  • Nonprofit Board Crisis: Nonprofit Book Review: The Mission Myth
    Deirdre Maloney
  • Tiny Essentials of an Effective Volunteer Board
    Ken Burnett
  • The Non Nonprofit
    Steven Rothschild
  • Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity
    Mario Marino
  • Everyone Leads
    Paul Schmitz
  • Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead
    David Meerman Scott, Brian Halligan and Bill Walton
  • Perspectives on Social Media Marketing
    Stephanie Agresta, B. Bonin Bough and Jay Miletsky
  • Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business
    Nancy Lublin
  • SHIFT: How to Reinvent Your Business...
    Peter Arnell
  • Working in the Shadows
    Gabriel Thompson

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May 26, 2016

Nonprofit Governance Values #NonprofitBoards

I have been trying to understand the "so-what" of the mishigoss going on between the NFL  (a nonprofit) and the NIH.  For those who don't know the story, it appears that the NFL promised to give a big chunk of dollars ($30 million) to the NIH (NIH Foundation) for research into brain injuries.  It turns out, or appears to turn out, that the NIH was wanting to spend the money on a group that was not all that positive about the NFL and as a consequence, perhaps, the NFL was going to renege on its commitment.  Now there of course are all kinds media-held conversations the NFL is entertaining about what they were or were not going to do and have and have not done.  

The "so-what" to me?  I'm first thinking that despite the girth of the NFL, it is unlikely that the NFL board was not involved in the conversations to make a $30 million commitment to brain injury research.  From a PR and practical standpoint, such research makes good sense and in the end is good for the NFL if not for the players which we like to imagine the NFL cares about.  So, I am drawn to consider this governance question: what exactly were the parameters the board set when agreeing that a $30 million investment was mission appropriate?  Did the board say to management: "give the money and what we learn can only be a win-win for everyone?  Or did the board say to management: "there are conditions and make sure the money is spent accordingly"?  From a nonprofit governance perspective, both possibilities are acceptable from a fiduciary and strategic perspective.  This is a nonprofit board's responsibility to determine.  Now of course the board, if it hasn't already, must have a generative conversation to best understand what has happened and support management in coming out of what has evolved in the best possible light for the NFL.

Nonprofit governance can be hard and while not that many nonprofits have the resources to do deals at this level, all nonprofit boards must clearly establish "the rules" and strategy for how management will pursue mission and do any deal.  A key element of the rules is values - the statements of guiding principles (of behavior) that inform action. The NFL values include: Respect,
Integrity,Responsibility to Team and Resiliency.  I'm not thinking that what is going-on with the NIH is fulfilling these values.

 

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