My home town (Minneapolis/Saint Paul) is the top city in United States for volunteering in 2009 according to an article in yesterday’s Star Tribune. Over 900,000 area residents volunteered an average of 44 hours for schools, churches, and nonprofit organizations. Astounding! Volunteers are no longer an after thought or a minor tactic for organizations. The […]

Unlocking innovation needs to be the first priority of board development: the ability for volunteers to share their creative ideas with one another in order to elevate strategy and propel the organization’s mission forward. Imagine that seated at your board meeting is a product marketer who is an expert on how to manage global brands. […]

[This posting appeared as an article in the Fall 2009 edition of Guild Notes, the quarterly newsletter published by The National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts] “We’re not a fundraising board.” If I had a nickel every time board members have said this to me, I would be able to fund their organizations. […]

Call to Action Commit 72 minutes per day to innovate and create a new future for your nonprofit organization. 72 minutes away from putting out fires and reacting to the economy; 72 minutes from the daily grind; 72 minutes focused on challenging assumptions and generating new ideas; 72 minutes building on what your organization is […]

This post is part three of a three-part series on board/staff collaboration. Go here to read part one and here to read part two. “What we got here is a failure to communicate” said the Board President slightly chuckling at his own joke. “Actually, what we have is a failure to listen” the Executive Director […]