When it comes to candy my favourite choice is a box of Ganong’s Delecto Dark Chocolates. I am quite loyal to this brand. They are Canada’s oldest candy company. Employing nearly 400 people, the family-run firm is the mainstay of the economy of St. Stephen, a small town on the Maine- New Brunswick border. It is just down the road from where I grew up.
A box of mixed chocolates can offer a variety of choices for those with a sweet tooth. Often you are not exactly sure what each candy offers even though you read the description before choosing. My Governance Selection, great articles by other governance nerds like me, tries to offers a similar experience.
Many of the morsels of wisdom below are ones I have I have “tweeted” or “retweeted” about over a period of a few years via social media.((If you are a twitter user you can follow me there @GoverningGood to learn of resources beyond the ones on this website. I do not tweet often and mostly it is about other’s ideas and the occasional news item about a local or Canadian non-profit )) Some of them are over a decade old but to me, they will satisfy many a board and/or executive director palate.
So here a sampling of 8 tasty items on issues that face or have faced many board members and/or executive directors. Enjoy.
Executive Director Reports (Vanilla Cream)
I am a strong proponent of taking a few minutes of board meeting time each year to discuss what things should be reported in the executive directors report and what format the report should take. The influential U.S.-based non-profit support organization Board Source suggests there may be sometime else to consider about the report. Here, from their blog, is an article by Robert B Acton from October 9, 2017
Board Term Limits (Nut Cluster)
Most boards I know have moved towards term limits for directors. I personally like a three-year term, renewable once, for a total of six years, upon which a director must step down, at least for a year. Here is a piece on this by Toronto-based consultant and connoisseur of good governance practice, Jane Garthson, that was published on Charity Village.in 2012.
Jane’s own blog is here. More recently the always thought-provoking American governance consultant Joan Garry has written on this topic. One piece is titled Why Board Term Limits Matter, It is here,
Non-Profit Budgeting (Chocolate Mint)
The annual budget is a key planning and, with the addition of year-to-date figures, oversight tool for boards and staff alike.
In May 2008, on the website Blue Avocado, an educational vehicle of the California Association of Nonprofits, there is a very nice bite of wisdom by Jeanne Bell, CEO of Compass Point Nonprofit Services. It certainly challenges conventional non-profit thinking,
Micro-Managing (Sea Salted Caramel)
Many boards are aware of the pitfalls of getting too far into their organization’s operational weeds. But how to deal with this? EDs/CEOs have a role to play in pushing back. Here is a second great item by Robert B. Acton, again from the BoardSource Blog in 2019
Revenue Diversification in Non-Profits (Almond Fudge)
The Nonprofit Quarterly, both the magazine and the online version, offers numerous insightful pieces on governance matters. Try this one from the spring of 2019 by Mark Hager and Chia Ko Hung. It suggests that we look afresh at a commonly held assumption.
If you are interested in comparing your non-profit’s revenue recipe to others take a look at 10 Nonprofit Funding Models by William Foster, Peter Kim and Barbara Christiansen in the Spring 2009 issue of The Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). It is here.
Non-Profit Overhead (Honey Nougat)
What do non-profits say to donors, funders and, perhaps more importantly, to themselves, in terms of the effective use of their organization’s income? Lots has been written on the importance recognizing the need for investment in organizational infrastructure. Here is a yummy 2019 article by Curtis Klotz from The Nonprofit Quarterly. Be sure to read the comments; there are at least 30 of them.
Klotz’ piece is only one of many on this subject. A piece by Anne Gregory and Don Howard on this theme called The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle caused a bit of a stir in 2009 when its was published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. You can find it here.
Mark Blumberg, one of Canada’s best known charity lawyers, has an 2008 article on his blog titled How Much Should a Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead such as Fundraising and Administration. It is here
Dealing with the Difficult Boards/Executive Directors (Chocolate Truffle)
Canadian Susan Fish is writer/editor at Storywell, a company that helps individuals and organizations tell their story well. She has written lots of great articles about non-profits. In 2016 she had a two-part series on the website Charity Village based on interviews with several well-known board consultants including the always insightful Jane Garthson mentioned above.
- Dealing with Difficult Boards: Tips for Non-Profit Executive Directors
- Dealing with Difficult Executive Directors: Tips for Non-Profit Boards
The ED/CEO Board Chair Relationship (Coconut Macaroon)
The quality of the board chair -executive director relationship may be the single most important ingredient in effective governance. An unengaged chair, someone who just shows up to run the board through a set business agenda is probably just as problematic as a chair who is on the telephone or in the office 3 or 4 times week overseeing the ED.
The ED-board chair relationship is especially important where there is no executive committee (a topic much written about but not taken up here). A productive relationship depends on both people “staying in their own lane” so to speak, the board chair being focused mostly on the health of the board, the ED on the health of operations. While I do not think that board chairs and EDs need to meet weekly, as the authors below seem to suggest, they do offer lots of good advice on this relationship.
This piece, from Mary Hiland in the Nonprofit Quarterly in 2008 focuses of trust.
If you like the taste of this piece and want more like it, here is a richer one by Hiland that provides a glimpse into her initial research on the topic in 2008. It is a favourite of mine.
And there is this more prescriptive and actionable piece from Joan Garry on the topic.
So, What’s to Your Taste?
I hope at least one the above treats is one you want to take to your next board meeting. If you have a favourite which one is it and why? A review of individual pieces or the whole box would be most welcome in the comments section below.
