Social Entrepreneur blog for the world changers
Heather Carpenter
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Posts by Heather Carpenter
Another well-known nonprofit goes out of business
Jan 31st
I was sad to learn that Jane Adaams’ Hull House Association — one of the first settlement houses in the United States went out of business last week. I don’t know the details of their closure but was sad to learn there wasn’t a national fundraising appeal. It is sad that the Hull House serves over 60k Chicagoland residents each year and it could not survive the economic downturn. The Executives stated that they even saw an increased demand for services but could not meet those demands. The organization laid of 300 staff members.
In this weeks finance class my students will be analyzing the financial statements of the Hull House Association. I believe there were hard decisions the board of directors could have made to prevent this closure from happening. In their 2008 990 (the only 990 available) they had a net income of 1mil and negative unrestricted net assets of $4.5mil. I don’t even know how they got to be so in the red but clearly–they spent money that wasn’t available. I am looking forward to a lively discussion with my students!
Is your CEO a figurehead?
Jan 30th
I recently noticed a trend in many nonprofit organizations. The Executive Director/CEO travels around the country and speaks at nonprofit conferences. This is good in theory because it promotes the organization but…what is going on back at the office while the CEO is away? There should be a COO (Chief Operating Officer) or Operations Director with full authority making the tough decisions back at the office. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and CEOs are expected to be the figurehead for the organization and make tough decisions back in the office. We need to recognize that nonprofit CEOs cannot do it all and we need competent Chief Operating Officers to have full authority to run the day-to-day operations of a nonprofit and interact with the board of directors while the CEO is traveling the country promoting the organization.
Why is it so difficult to manage volunteers?
Jan 27th
This week I taught my undergraduate students about volunteer management best practices. I enjoyed hearing about their volunteer experiences and I was not surprised when some students explained how they had volunteered at well known organizations that were disorganized in their volunteer management practices.
The biggest issue I’ve encountered while working in nonprofits is the lack of planning for volunteer management. Like the case with nonprofit operations in general, many nonprofits don’t make the time to strategicly plan their volunteer recruitment and retention efforts. All volunteers should be managed just like another member of the staff and should be able to:
- Complete an volunteer application
- Receive a job description
- Be oriented and trained on the job
- Receive communication on a consistent basis from the staff and board
- Be evaluated and recognized for their efforts
I learned this the hard way t0o — its not “oh we need some volunteers this week so lets recruit them” but let’s plan in advance the volunteers we need this years, the skills we are looking for from those volunteers, and how we are going to recruit them.
One of the required readings for this section was the Strategic Volunteer Engagement Handbook. This helpful handbook lays out how nonprofits can effectively manage their volunteers.
Nonprofit Leadership Initiatives Take 2
Jan 27th
I’ve been a part of many national committees aimed at improving leadership in the sector. First there was the Nonprofit Congress’s Leadership Working Group. As a committee we worked with a consultant to develop a booklet titled Work with Me: Intergenerational Conversations in Nonprofit Leadership. Unfortunately the committee dissolved along with the Nonprofit Congress.
Then there was the Nonprofit Workforce Coalition and spent a year working to develop a campaign to promote careers in the nonprofit sector. We hit a wall when we realized that funding for the campaign would take away from funding for our organizations.
The I joined the Next Generation Leadership Forum, a committee aimed at documenting and replicating nonprofit leadership best practices. This Forum was started by the Craigslist Foundation but also dissolved when continued funding could not be obtained for the forum.
Now — there is the Initiative for Nonprofit Talent and Leadership started by the Independent Sector and supported by many national nonprofit organizations.
The Initiative for Nonprofit Talent and Leadership aims to create a set of goals and strategies that will serve as the foundation for a national cross-sector effort to better prepare, train, and sustain leaders to constructively and collaboratively address the complex challenges our society faces.
I hope this initiative is different than the other forums and committees that I described above. I hope funders and the coalition members work to sustain this initiative long enough to influence leadership practices in the nonprofit sector. In addition, I hope this initiative builds on the work that has already been done to document nonprofit leadership best practices.
ARNOVA Conference 2011 – Teaching Section Workshop
Nov 20th
I am finally getting around to publishing my blog posts from the ARNOVA conference. I got a taste of being a working mom. My husband and I drove to Toronto for the ARNOVA conference from Grand Rapids. We took our one month old daughter with us and she did great! I attended every other conference session (I normally attend everything 
. I couldn’t have attended the conference without the support of my wonderful husband who is a really hands on dad. I am so happy that I attended the conference — the sessions I attended were awesome! The only issue I had with the conference was the poor internet connection at the hotel. I couldn’t access the internet in most of the rooms and the internet was free for 1 hour increments in the hotel lobby. I wish that hotels would make the internet free. My phone didn’t work in Canada either.
The first session I attended was the Teaching pre-conference workshop. The workshop was coordinated by Mary Ann Feldheim. Mary brought together representatives from nonprofit academic organizations including:
- Dr. K. Tom Liou from the American Society for Pubic Administration (ASPA). The mission of ASPA is to advance the art, science, teaching, and practice of public and non-profit administration. Liou – ARNOVA Presentation
- Roseanne Mirabella, President of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) & Will Brown, create of NERF – Nonprofit Education Resource and Forum Website –to share resources and syllabi. Will is part of the ARNOVA educational committee that created a teaching resource website. Nonprofit faculty members submit syllabi, cases and other teaching resources.Mirabella and Brown ARNOVA Presentation
- Katherine Campbell, Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration. CCVA advances the profession and practice of volunteer resource management. CCVA Resources – ARNOVA pane. CCVA Slides – ARNOVA panel
- Laural McFarlend, members of National Association of School of Public Affairs Education (NASPAA). The mission of NASPAA is to ensure excellence in training for public service and to promote the ideal of public service. NASPAA also serves as the accreditor tor for public service degree programs.NASPAA Presentation on Nonprofit Standards
- J. Patrick Murphy and Sean Shacklett, the Nonprofit Academic centers Council (NACC). NACC is a membership association comprised of academic centers or programs at accredited colleges and universities that focus on the study of nonprofit organizations, voluntarism and/or philanthropy. Established in 1991, NACC is the first group entirely dedicated to the promotion and networking of centers that provide research and education in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.
- Marcia Cross, Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The mission of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance is a national alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofit organizations dedicated to educating, preparing and certifying professionals to strengthen and lead nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit Leadership Alliance – ARNOVA Presentation 2011
These organizations have many nonprofit management education resources available to faculty, students, practitioners and funders.
The panel discussion mostly focused on the pros and cons of standardizing nonprofit curriculum. Some were in support of standardization and others had hesitations. Several panelists and participants emphasized the importance of sharing learning outcomes and rubrics.
There was agreement that there are silos in nonprofit management education and work needs to be done to identify the common threads and skills that help people cope with the realities of nonprofit management.
The White House’s views on Nonprofit Leadership
Nov 15th
The White House Forum on Nonprofit Leadership is going on today. In attendance at this invitation only event is the who’s who in the nonprofit sector. What’s being said at the Forum is nothing new, we’ve heard it many times by many different speakers at many different conferences, and in many different reports (e.g Daring to Lead, Independent Sector-NGEN Fellows Report, Commongood Careers Diversity Report, 2011 Employment Trends Report, YNPN National Report, etc.. For example, here are some of the tweets:
- @CGCareers It’s not just about the ED, it’s about every single leader in your organization. John Ryan at Center for Creative Leadership.
#nplead - @CGCareers ”If we’re not developing leaders FROM w/in communities, I fear that we will not actually solve pressing problems.- John Rice
#nplead“ - @RafaelLopez2 Disconnect b/w intent of
#nonprofit sector & practice real, esp around racial and gender diversity-@echoinggreen Cheryl Dorsey#nplead @StephenBauer: Because we have under-invested in nonprofit talent we are not benefiting from top talent – Melody Barnes#NPLead- @StephenBauer “Spriggs – How do we convince the public that human service infrastructure is worth investing in for our long-term sustainability?
#NPLead“ - @kcambell We need to add human capital when talking ab jobs infrastructure. Its more than physical capital, we need training & skills -Spriggs
#NPLead - @saif305 “Nonprofits contributed over $779 Billion to US GDP – American Urban Institute”Melody Barnes – WH Domestic Policy Council
#nplead @paulschmitz1: Dr. William Spriggs asst sec of labor, nonprofits 3rd largest employment sector after retail & manufacturing#nplead- @RafaelLopez2 “Nonprofits employ over 13.5 million people in US, 10%of the American workforce.
#nplead“
Yet, people are excited and acting like this is new information. I have come to the conclusion it doesn’t matter what is being said in the sector but who is saying it. Hopefully now that members of the white house are saying nonprofit leadership is important — things will really change and ALL funders and the general public will support nonprofit leadership, capacity building, and infrastructure. As I’ve said before the culture of the nonprofit sector needs to change. I personally am excited to teach Human Resource Management to nonprofit graduate students at Grand Valley State University in January and equip them to be better leaders, support and develop all the staff within their organizations, and not just value diversity — but practice cultural competency!
Volunteer San Diego goes out of business?!?!
Nov 15th
I was shocked to find out that Volunteer San Diego shut its doors and laid off seven staff members. I don’t know much about the details of this closing other than they ran out of money. This is disappointing..for many reasons. First, VSD had very little competition and served a legitimate need in the community by matching volunteers with local nonprofits. Second, VSD provided needed trainings and capacity building for nonprofits in managing volunteers. Third, VSD won national awards for their efforts–they were good at what they did. The major issue with VSD was getting funding to cover staff costs and operations. This is unacceptable but an unfortunate trend that keeps happening.
In the last ten years I’ve seen funders (foundations, corporations, individuals) stop funding organizations like VSD because it isn’t trendy. Funders are obsessed with seeing the return on their dollars that needed infrastructure and capacity building organizations get pushed aside. I’ve seen popular nonprofit management support organizations and nonprofit university programs go out of business due to lack of funding. Some might argue that this is the natural life cycle of organization, however I disagree. There will be a clear void in San Diego nonprofits with the closing of VSD and will be difficult for other organizations to take up the slack. When will funders and the general public see the need to fund infrastructure and capacity building? Few foundations like the Community Foundation of New Orleans, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and the Boston Foundation get it and provide general funding to infrastructure organizations.
Nonprofits Can Lobby
Oct 7th
Another book I read over the summer was The Lobbying Strategy Handbook, by Pat Libby. Her practical and helpful book explains how nonprofits can and should lobby. She and her team of writers explain the differences between lobbying and advocacy and how much nonprofits can spend on lobbying activities. She provides ten common elements of a successful advocacy campaign. These elements include:
- Identify an issue
- Research the issue
- Create a fact sheet
- “Brand” the issue
- Map the possible supporters and detractors
- Form a coalition
- Develop educational materials
- Launch a media campaign
- Approach elected officials
- Monitor progress on the issue
Students enrolled in her Nonprofit Advocacy course provided context and real life case studies in the book. I especially enjoyed reading about her students who passed a “Breaking the Tire Cycle” Bill to clean up the Tijuana River Valley.
Pat will be visiting the Johnson Center on Philanthropy on Wednesday, October 12th to speak at the Nonprofit Lobbying Symposium.
Book Reviews: Nonprofit Management 101 & Writing to Make a Difference
Aug 25th
In late spring I defended my dissertation and over the summer I moved to Michigan so I could begin a tenure-track nonprofit professor job at Grand Valley State University in the School of Public, Nonprofit, and Health Administration. Although I thoroughly enjoyed writing my dissertation, I am happy to have a social life again and read books that I didn’t have time to read before. I still don’t have time to read some popular books that I want to read like “The Help” or Dan Brown’s not so new “Lost Symbol” but I’ll hopefully eventually get around to reading those books before I see the movies.
I read two amazing books this summer that I will be using in my classes — these two books are Darian Rodriguez Heyman’s book Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Nonprofit Managers and Professionals, and Dalya Massachi’s book Writing to Make A Difference.
Starting with Nonprofit Management 101–I love this book for several reasons. First, because it is written by leading experts in the field. A few years ago I wrote a blog post: My NP Times Top 50: The Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders You Should Know and I feel like Darian did the same thing with his book. He went to his vast network and he recruited the leading experts in all areas of nonprofit management to write the chapters in the Handbook — for example he turned to Kivi Miller – expert in Communications and nonprofit newsletters, Kay Sprinkle Grace–expert in Fundraising and individual giving, Pamela Davis–expert in Risk Management and Insurance. Being a great nonprofit manager is not just about having the necessary skills sets, it is also about the networking and knowing who or where to go to for further resources. When I teach nonprofit finance, fundraising, human resources, or information technology, I want my students to know the leading experts in the field of nonprofit management and to read chapters in Nonprofit Management 101.
Another reason I like the book is because it is practical. I have been using Josey-Bass’s Handbook of Nonprofit Management and Leadership for many years now but it is primarily theoretical, so I am pleased to add Nonprofit Management 101 to my students’ reading list. The only critique I have about this book is some nonprofit management subjects cover more chapters than others. For example: fundraising received 6 chapters devoted to the subject and nonprofit finance and hr both only had one chapter each devoted to those subjects. I would have liked to have more chapter coverage on those subjects as well.
The next book I read over the summer was Writing to Make A Difference by Dalya Massachi. This book provides practical writing tips and writing exercises for nonprofit employees at ALL levels of an organization. I WISH this book was around when I started working in the nonprofit sector. I’ve worked very hard over the years to improve my writing skills and I am thankful that Dalya’s practical book will strengthen the quality of written work in the nonprofit sector.
I apologize to Darian and Dalya its taken me so long to write these book reviews!!
Real Life Case Study — Listen to your constituents
Aug 25th
X organization is a membership organization, it recently hired a new Executive Director, and also had been contemplating a name change for several years. Many members had voiced their frustrations over the high membership dues and had suggested that the organization improve its member relations efforts. Many members felt they were not getting back what they were paying in dues.
When the new Executive Director came on board, he/she announced the new name change (to the surprise of the members) and added new programming that would draw in new revenue but not directly benefit the members. As a result of these changes, the members were furious, they voiced their opinions at the annual membership meeting and threatened to pull out from the organization. But to the members dismay, the Executive Director and board did a series of things to not include the members in the changes ahead.
Members are struggling with how to proceed. They want to pull out, but the organization offers some unique programming that they feel they cannot get elsewhere. The members also like the bonds that they have formed with one another.
What should they do?
Update-The Executive Director recently resigned and the board announced they will be returning back to their original mission and focus as a membership organization.
What should the members do?
Should they stay or should they go.
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