Prepare Your Non-profit for a Crisis

Sometime in everyone’s career, regardless of how lucky or strategic you have been, something happens that you cannot control. It doesn’t usually happen at the most convenient time, either.
During such a “crisis” you have to stay on top of what is happening and deal with the situation maturely and with control.

A non-profit crisis can come in the form of a scandal (the accountant ran away with $50,000), through an “act of God (as in the Asian tsunami or Hurricane Katrina), or the executive director all of a sudden leaves under “cloudy circumstances.”

However and whenever a serious crisis occurs you should be prepared with a media strategy that minimizes your organization’s risk of going under. So, this week let’s look at ways you can successfully deal with a crisis in your non-profit.

10 Tips for Leading Small Groups

Most people think of a leader as someone who sets the strategic vision and direction of their organization, raises money, and interviews and hires new staff. But a significant amount of a leader’s time is also spent facilitating groups (e.g., committees, board, staff).

I have led a number of organizations over the years, and I’d have to say that the majority of my time has actually been spent facilitating small groups. It is in these small settings that people learn the active role of listening, presenting and arguing ideas, defending values and accomplishing tasks. Understanding leadership in small groups is an indispensable skill in effectively managing and leading an organization.

Let’s look at some ways you can become a better leader and facilitator of small groups.

1. Make sure everyone agrees on the agenda. Try to involve the group in the development of the agenda, and ask them if they have additional ideas for the meeting.
2. Create an atmosphere of involvement and engagement. Make sure you encourage people to ask questions and actively participate in the discussion.
3. Summarize points and decisions before moving onto the next agenda item. Make sure people are clear about what was decided by their discussions.
4. Rotate leadership. Give everyone in the group a chance to lead the group. In a small group, everyone is a leader with a different role. Try to rotate the chairperson of the group on a weekly or monthly basis so that each person gets an opportunity to develop their leadership skills.
5. Conflict is not necessarily bad. Conflict is inevitable with any group so don’t discourage it. Make sure there is a climate that allows disagreement and conflict to surface in a constructive manner.
6. Determine who will be making the decisions. Some groups will not act until there is consensus; others will make decisions by majority vote; others are just looking for discussion and then have the CEO/executive director or chairperson make the decisions. Regardless of which decision-making style you use, make sure the group is clear about how decisions will be made and who has the power and authority to make decisions.
7. Put timelines on the agenda to make sure you get through everything. This is also a good way to move through the topics at a decent pace.
8. Be clear what items really need action. Some items are just for discussion while other items on the agenda require a decision to be made. Clarify when you are introducing the topic whether it needs action or is just for discussion.
9. Create win-win situations. This is especially true with new groups or with people who don’t have much group work experience. Try to have the early items on the agenda less controversial so that the decisions reached demonstrate success. This will help build confidence that everyone in the group has the ability to work well together.
10. Evaluate the meeting. Ask the members: How did the meeting go? What was positive? What was negative? What would you change?

Tips on Interviewing for a Non-profit Job

During the past year we have seen the unemployment rate percentage in many states rise into the double digits. People in most sectors are getting laid off by the thousands, and we’re seeing many of these individuals lining up for jobs in the non-profit sector. “I want to do something that makes me feel good about myself and that helps make a difference in the world,” said one job seeker recently during an interview with a local non-profit.

Jobs — even non-profit jobs — are very difficult to find in this economy. This is the worst recession I’ve experienced in my 40-year non-profit career, but at Richard Male and Associates (RMA), we continue to help individuals and organizations find key talent, usually in the executive or development director roles. However, the competition is intense and for every job posting we see there seems to be 100+ applicants competing for it.

So, this week I thought it would be a good idea to offer some non-profit job interviewing tips to help job seekers get those jobs.

1. Use your networks to help you get the interview for the job. Look at your friends, your family, your religious affiliations and other social networks and don’t be shy about asking them to make an initial phone call or send an e-mail to try to set up an interview.
2. Research the person who is going to interview you before you go to the interview. Remember, the interviewer is still a person just like you and me. Get some background information on him/her and when you arrive in their office look around the room and take notice of the books they read, the family photos on their desk, the type of artwork they like. Try to personalize the visit.
3. Research the non-profit organization you are interviewing with. Make some copies of their web pages and bring them with you so the interviewer might notice that you have done your homework and investigated the company.
4. Be prepared to talk about your accomplishments during the interview. Try to remember three or four of your greatest accomplishments and don’t be shy about talking about the impact you had on both people and organizations.
5. Be friendly and cordial to the receptionist and to others in the office. These people also provide input into the decision so when you walk into the office for the interview, be polite, kind and engaging to the other people that work for the non-profit.
6. It’s not about you; it’s about the job you are interviewing for. Even though the interviewer wants to know about your background, values, and what you bring to the job, they are hiring you to do a specific job and not just because they like your personality. Research the job and talk to the interviewer about why you think you are the best person for the job and what kind of an impact you would like to make.
7. Focus your remarks and keep them short and concise. Don’t drone on with long-winded answers and don’t be afraid of quiet space during the interview. Keep the interview moving quickly and keep your remarks to the point.
8. Taking criticism without getting upset is an important quality. Let the interviewer know that you have no problem admitting mistakes and taking corrective comments on the job.
9. Ask critical questions at the end of the interview. After the interview is almost over there is nothing wrong with saying: “Okay you interviewed me for the past hour, have I said anything that would disqualify me for the job?” This is an opportunity for the interviewer to give you feedback and to clear up anything that you have said that might cause a misunderstanding.

Write a personal thank you note when you get home rather than just sending an e-mail.

Tips on Staying Positive and Motivated

Working for a non-profit is a rewarding, but also very challenging experience. You must deal with critical social issues including poverty, hunger, education, race, and violence day in and day out, which can be very difficult to bear at times. And it’s inevitable that your non-profit work will spill over into your personal life.

When the going gets really tough, it’s important to find ways to stay positive and motivated. Here are some valuable lessons I’ve learned throughout my 30 years in the field that have helped me overcome obstacles both in my personal life and as a non-profit leader.

1. When you feel overwhelmed, try to stay in control. Take one step at a time. Put a small piece of the puzzle into place and then work on the next piece. Don’t try to tackle it all at once.
2. Listen to advice, but make the decision on your own. You should listen to advice but ultimately you have to make the decision by yourself and live with it.
3. All things that happen to you are learning opportunities. Don’t run away from challenges. Challenges allow you to understand and develop as a person and a leader. We learn more from adversity and crisis than we do from our success.
4. Don’t be happy when someone else fails! Why? Because tomorrow you may be the one who fails.
5. Look after yourself. If you don’t, you’ll have a hard time taking care of others. There’s a good reason why they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first and then put one on your child.
6. There is a positive to every situation. You just have to seek it out. When things are going bad, remember they WILL get better.
7. There is a spark of hope, optimism and power in all of us. Try to get in touch with that spark and make it glow.
8. Treat yourself kindly when you screw up. We all make mistakes. Mistakes help us learn and grow. So, try to be good to yourself when you mess something up and take it as a lesson learned.
9. Ready-Fire-Aim is a natural process. You don’t have to understand everything when you start a task or a new job. You just have to trust in the process and learn from doing.

Compassion and passion without competence creates a dysfunctional action. Empathy and compassion are wonderful traits, but to succeed in life and in the non-profit field you also need to develop concrete skills and competencies in order to win.

Legal Pitfalls: 10 Ways to Protect Your Non-profit

by Johanna Garton

There have been many changes to the IRS 990 forms in recent years and the U.S. Congress is beginning to look carefully at the policies and procedures non-profits have in place. So, it’s important to have a well-established governance policy for your non-profit so you don’t find yourself in legal hot water with the government.

I had a chance to talk with Johanna Garton, a fellow Regis University faculty member and lawyer who specializes in non-profit law, about some of the legal pitfalls non-profits might face.

This week, I’d like to share some items Garton suggested non-profits look at as part of a good governance policy. Some of these items are required by law but some are just important for the solid functioning of a non-profit organization.

1. Code of ethics. Developing a general statement of principles for your organization can be a worthwhile and enlightening exercise. Laying out in writing the values that are important to you, your donors, and your supporters will help you better understand your organization and the commitment you make to the community.
2. Conflict of interest policy. Does your non-profit make every effort to avoid not only conflicts of interest, but also the appearance of conflicts? If not, take the time to discuss this issue with staff and board members, and design an appropriate statement about such potential conflicts.
3. Document retention and destruction. How you handle critical and confidential documents is just as important as what is contained within those documents. Staff, board, and volunteers should be trained on a regular basis on how to handle and destroy both paper and electronic files.
4. Insurance issues. Your organization should regularly review your insurance for directors and officers (commonly called D and O insurance), as well as general liability coverage and, if needed, look at special event coverage or protection for any inventory you may have.
5. Whistleblower policy. To ensure that those reporting any wrongdoing by your organization not face retaliation, the implementation of a whistleblower policy is critical. In creating such a document, your organization also provides clarity on the steps to be taken should someone within your organization seek to report suspected bad acts.
6. Gift acceptance. With so many ways for individuals and organizations to give funds to your agency, it is useful and often fortuitous to have a gift acceptance policy in place. Work with your development staff and a financial advisor to adopt a policy that will allow for a wide variety of gifts to be evaluated before they are accepted or turned down.
7. General steps toward transparency. We have all heard the buzzword “transparency” in the past several years. But how can you really achieve this goal? A few simple steps, such as ensuring that visitors to your website have access to your most recent 990 and your annual report, are valuable first steps.
8. Nondiscrimination policies. Employment-related claims are by far the most common reason non-profits end up in court. This is an area in which extensive work needs to be done by most organizations. A good way to begin is by reviewing and updating your organization’s nondiscrimination policy. Also, many private foundations and funding sources are requiring a nondiscrimination policy.
9. Lobbying regulations. Non-profits have not only the opportunity, but also the responsibility to educate the public about their work through advocacy efforts. Don’t shy away from meaningful work in this area because you are unsure about lobbying regulations. Here’s another area where board, staff, and volunteers should be briefed annually.
10. Financial oversight and fundraising procedures. It should go without saying that non-profits should strive to maintain diligent accounting practices and maintain clarity around current fundraising procedures. Doing so will put your organization and your donors at ease.

Johanna Garton is a trained attorney who has spent her career in the field of non-profit management. Her email address is: Johanna at missionworksconsulting dot com.