Archive for the 'Capacity Building' Category

Debunking “Accountability to Donors” Part 4

Published
by
Hildy
on May 13, 2008
in Capacity Building, Donor Rights, Funders, Fundraising and Stop Signs on the Road to Changing the World
. 0 Comments

In this series, I have considered the logic flaws in the argument that organizations should be holding themselves primarily accountable to their donors. So far, I have considered the following questions:

1) Are fully funded / endowed organizations with no donors accountable to no one?
2) Should different levels of giving receive different levels of accountability?
3) Do “donor’s rights” apply equally to volunteers and in-kind donors as they do to cash donors?

(If you have not read the posts leading up to this one, you can start at the beginning here.)

Today, Post #4:

Are Thousands of Organizations Accountable to ME?
There are thousands of organizations that receive large grants from the various layers of various governments - local government, state / provincial government, federal / national government.

If organizations are primarily accountable to their donors and funders, to whom, exactly, are these organizations accountable?

Are they accountable to the whole government? And what does that really mean? I understand what it means for government to be accountable to the people it governs, but to what or to whom would an organization be accountable if it is accountable TO the government?

Perhaps, then, those grantee organizations are accountable just to the division of the government whose budget provided the funding. Or within that division, perhaps they are accountable to the proposal review team, or to the individual program officer who approved the grant.

Or are those grant recipients accountable to the Division Chief that oversees all those program officers? Or to the elected officials who appointed the Division Chief - the folks to whom that Division Chief is accountable?

But wait - that money didn’t really come from the government. You and I gave that money to the government! So is each and every one of those organizations then accountable directly to each and every taxpayer?

Are they all accountable to ME?

The questions “To whom are we accountable? And for what?” are about more than just dollars and donors. These questions are at the heart of everything community organizations are able to accomplish. And the reason for that is simple: We accomplish what we hold ourselves accountable for.

Click here to go to the next post in this series.

Cutting Corners: A Stop Sign on the Road to Changing the World

Published
by
Hildy
on February 12, 2008
in Capacity Building, Nonprofit Planning and Stop Signs on the Road to Changing the World
. 0 Comments

If this is the sector that was supposed to change the world, why has the world not changed? The answer to that question so often circles back to “organizational values.”

And when it comes to quickly getting to the heart of those values, no issue hits home like this one:

STOP Sign: Cutting Corners
As part of facilitating values sessions with boards, we ask this question: “Where is it ok to cut corners?”

Not surprisingly, most groups answer, “It’s really not ok to cut corners anywhere!”

Then we ask the follow-up question: “Where are you cutting corners now?”

Ah - the harsh reality of the talk we are not walking! Oh the pain of coming face to face with the “do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do” of organizational leadership!

In theory, cutting corners is something we like to think we don’t do. But when it comes to reality, there are many places boards indeed believe it is alright to cut corners. When budget time rolls around, organizations cut corners all the time!

And let’s not even focus on the most critical corners to cut - meeting community needs / building a better future for the community. Let’s focus on plain old operational issues where boards routinely cut corners at budget time:

• Board education
• Staff education
• Staff salaries and benefits
• Technology of all kinds
• Preventative building maintenance

The list goes on and on.

And why do I single out boards for cutting corners? Because boards are in charge of approving the budget. And because boards are at the top of the org chart. Boards are accountable for ensuring (or failing to ensure) that every decision the organization makes is rooted in the values the organization wants to be known for in the community.

And cutting corners is all about values. It is all about trade-offs, asking the question that quickly labels something a values issue: What is more important, this or that?

Not providing adequate education to the staff or to the board itself; not providing optimal equipment or facilities for getting the work done; and most critically, saying, “We do not have the luxury of focusing on long-term community impact” - that is cutting corners. It is a matter of trade-offs, a matter of “this” being seen as more important than “that.”

When boards aim their plans at ensuring they have adequate capacity, rather than thinking they are being “accountable” by failing to spend on needed infrastructure - just imagine what our organizations will accomplish!

That will all come back down to their values - on the answer to this critical question, “What is so sacred, we would never dream of cutting there?”

And that answer had better be, “What’s best for our clients, our staff, and our community.”

So what would you add to the list? What has your experience been? Where have you seen organizations cutting corners?

Find other Stop Signs in the series, “Stop Signs on the Road to Changing the World” here.

Executive Transition: Horror Story or Opportunity?

Published
by
Hildy
on January 30, 2008
in Capacity Building, Consulting, Stop Signs on the Road to Changing the World and Tools to Use Now
. 0 Comments

One cannot spend time in the Community Benefit* Sector without hearing horror stories of Executive Transitions gone bad. Given the huge turnover occurring as founders and long-time CEOs retire, this is a serious Stop Sign on the road to changing our world!

(To see other Stop Signs along the Road to Changing the World, just click here.)

Stop Sign: Executive Transition

First, let’s be clear: When it comes to hiring horror stories, leaders in Community Benefit Organizations are not alone. Just ask the business people on your board about their hiring batting average in their “real” lives. You will find some good stories, mixed in with a litany of horror stories.

Dimitri and I have done enough of this work to know it can create great results. We have facilitated transitions that brought peace of mind AND joy to all involved.

So why do so many Executive Transitions go wrong? And why do board members not see that the train is about to hit them, when everyone else around them, especially the staff, sees it plain as day?

Here is some of what we realize is at the heart of all the horror stories:

1) Boards see Executive Transition FIRST as a problem to be solved, and only then as an opportunity for creating something positive.

2) Board members know hiring and firing is their domain. And they feel fortunate that they have experience in hiring from their “real lives.”

3) The result of #1 & #2, though, is that board members close ranks rather than opening up and sharing ideas. They close ranks because they are in charge and it’s their job, and their job alone, to hire. They close ranks because they are the experts at hiring, as they do it all the time in their “real” lives. And they close ranks because problem-solving tends to encourage the closing of ranks.

4) Unfortunately, while board members may think they know how to hire, most do not know how to do it well, given their own hiring horror stories from those “real lives.” And so, the result of their closing ranks is to exclude from the discussion the very people who might warn them that the train is headed right for them.

So what to do? In an article we published last week at Help 4 NonProfits, I provide some detailed how-to steps. But here is the abridged version (ok, very abridged!):

1) Yes, boards are in charge of the hiring process. But FIRST they are in charge of something more important - they are the keepers of the organization’s vision and values, its core purpose. Sadly, boards both large and small see vision and values as extra, as fluff. And that is the first step in bad hiring.

The first step in GOOD hiring, therefore, is to understand that the board is the keeper of the organization’s purpose, and to then translate that purpose into everything the board does - including hiring.

2) Have a succession plan, and keep it updated, all the time. Making a succession plan only when it’s too late is - well - too late!

3) Hire for the future, not to solve today’s problems. Again, this comes back to vision and values. Your CEO is not about what’s wrong with today - he or she is about what’s possible for tomorrow.

4) And that leads to the most critical step: View Executive Transition as a celebration of what is possible. Because change is only problem-solving if that is how you see it.

Executive Transition can create incredible strength in an organization. When I finished writing the story at the end of the article at our website, I emailed the ED in that story, telling her that my writing had caused me to reflect on what an extraordinary job she is doing, and how blessed the organization is to have her there. I could tell from our email exchange that both of us were welling up with tears - tears for how perfect the fit is, and for the amazing things that organization is accomplishing.

That is what is possible. But it is only possible when we stop seeing Executive Transition as a problem to be solved, and we start celebrating the future the organization has the opportunity to create for the community.

* Curious about our use of the term “Community Benefit Sector?” Click here to learn more.

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