Posts Tagged ‘board of directors’

We all have our moments of discouragement.  There are times when we are getting beaten up so badly that we would rather throw in the towel than continue to get pummeled.  This situation can occur in just about any area of our lives…personal and professional.  But what do you do when it happens in your nonprofit?  How do you know when to press on or when to give it up?

As it happens, I had this very conversation a few days ago with an acquaintance of mine who runs a small nonprofit ministry.  He and his wife started the organization about 15 years ago and what little momentum they had back in the early days has long fizzled out.  They find themselves practically alone in keeping it going.  Anymore, they are struggling to figure out why they even keep on trying.  Bill is very discouraged and, for the first time, is seriously thinking about hanging it up.  Maybe you are there, too.  How do you know what to do?  Predictably, the answer is not so simple.

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The filing deadline for the 2009 Form 990 is May 17, 2010 for 501(c)(3) and other tax-exempt organizations running on a calendar year basis.  There is nothing particularly new about that.  What IS new is that this year’s filing obligation has the potential to cause an enormous amount of heartache to those nonprofits that are unaware of the requirements and fail to do what is necessary.  We touched on this briefly in our last article, but we want to expand on it a little bit.  We implore all of our clients and friends to read this article carefully and be informed.

ALL tax-exempt organizations must file Form 990. With the distinct exception of churches, all 501(c) nonprofits are required to file a version of Form 990.  We’ve been saying this over and over, but we still find that the message is not quite getting through.  To make it easy to understand, ALL means ALL.  No exceptions!

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Founder’s syndrome.  It affects nonprofits and for-profits alike.  And it can be crippling to any organization.  Understanding what it is and how to avoid it is crucial to the future of your 501(c)(3).

Taken from that most-reputable of sources, Wikipedia, founder’s syndrome is defined as, “a pattern of negative or undesirable behavior on the part of the founder(s) of an organization”.  While that can be true, we find that most cases of founder’s syndrome within nonprofits simply involve a founder with too much influence.  In plain English, it means that the universe revolves around the founder…and not in a good way.  Here is an example of the way it usually works:

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Well, we are pretty much down to it.  There are only a few, short weeks left in 2009…and during much of that time, most of us will be preoccupied with all things Christmas.  But in all the hustle and bustle, there are a few things regarding your nonprofit that require your attention.

A few weeks ago, we talked about some key, end-of-year planning topics (read the post).  Extremely important, but somewhat conceptual.  The following is a checklist of year-end forget-me-nots that absolutely require your attention.  Ready?  Here we go:

Financial records. What is the current state of your financial recordkeeping?  Good, bad…or ugly?  Hopefully it’s more good than bad.  If it’s ugly…well, you’ve really got some work to do.  The fact is, you have a legal requirement to maintain proper financial records.  If your bookkeeping status lies anywhere south of good, get it fixed.  If necessary, hire someone who knows how to do this.  The truth is, the legalities are not even the most important reason to get this right.  You cannot effectively manage your organization without consistently good financial recordkeeping.

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The honeymoon is over.  It seems like yesterday that everyone was full of passion, vision and warm fuzzies.  You were going to save the world and nothing could stand in your way.  Now, passions have cooled, visions have diverged and the warm fuzzies have been replace with contempt and backbiting.  How did things go south so quickly?

Operating a business, especially a nonprofit, is a lot like a marriage…minus the romance.  What starts out with mutual respect and unity of purpose can descend into open hostility.  And, it can threaten your organization’s effectiveness…even its very existence.  Conflict management is an essential skill that every nonprofit leader must learn and utilize.  What follows are some key points to consider regarding effective conflict management:

Conflict is inevitable. Learn it, live it, love it.  The sooner you dispense of the notion that conflict can be avoided, the sooner you can manage the realities of it.  Conflict is inevitable because people are involved.  And where there are people, there will eventually be conflict.  Just like in marriage, you and the other leaders in your organization have different ideas, backgrounds and experiences.  These all color the way you approach life, including your approach to running your nonprofit.

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No decision you make regarding your nonprofit organization carries more importance than who is chosen to lead it.  The members of your board of directors make up the governing body of your nonprofit and are legally accountable for its actions.  Practically speaking, they are accountable to your supporters and beneficiaries to oversee the accomplishment of the organization’s purposes.  The buck stops with them…at least it is supposed to!  But that’s another article.

If you are just starting out, who should be asked to serve?  And, if your organization is already established, and vacancies on the board need filling, who should replace the exiting members?  These are questions that are asked by clients of ours quite frequently.  Understandably so.  Concerns of competency, trust, experience and compatibility loom large and demand answers.  In this article, I will attempt to answer these questions, looking first at the issue of installing an initial board, followed by a look at subsequent board positions.

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At the end of every newsletter, we put out the call for “topic requests”.  We have used quite a few reader questions or topic suggestions for article topics.

Some questions or topics do not require a whole article to answer or discuss.  We save those to make a multi-topic article from time-to-time.  That’s what we’re going to do today.  Keep sending your questions or topics and make sure that you read our blog articles for more information on other topics.  On to the questions…

Q:  Can any or all of the nonprofit’s board members live out of state?

A:  While not required by federal law, many states have residency requirements for a corporation’s board members.  No states require that all board members live in the state of incorporation, only the registered agent is required to live in-state.  Our suggestion is that at least one board member live in the state of incorporation.

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Occasionally, you have to protect people from themselves.  Even those with the best of intentions can mess things up so badly that it can jeopardize what they are trying to accomplish.  In the nonprofit world, there are best practices, good practices and acceptable practices…and, really, really bad practices that will cause your organization, its board, donors and beneficiaries headaches galore.  This week, we are going to explore the Dirty (Half) Dozen Nonprofit No-Nos, in no particular order.  We will limit our discussion to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

1.  Dictatorships. If you want to be your own boss and run the show as a benevolent dictator, then by all means, go start a business.  Just don’t start a nonprofit organization.  What many people fail to understand before they establish a 501(c)(3) organization is that nonprofits do not have shareholders, i.e., owners…only stakeholders.  Stakeholders can be defined as an organization’s board of directors, its members and its beneficiaries.  No one can legally assume ultimate control.  In fact, the IRS requires tax-exempt organizations to be structured such that control rests within a group of individuals.  This protects everyone involved.  Many times we’ve seen placeholder boards who basically rubber-stamp every decision made by a dictatorially-inclined president or executive director.  That does everyone a disservice.  Even worse, the IRS will hold all the leaders accountable for the governance and management of the organization, not just the dictator.

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Nonprofit executive compensation tops the current list of IRS hot button issues.  A few weeks ago we talked about the fact that the IRS is ramping up its oversight and enforcement of nonprofit executive compensation.  With all the rancor surrounding executive perks and bonuses on Wall Street, expect that populist sentiment to spill over into the nonprofit sector as well.  It all adds up to the equivalent of a message written in the sky:  get your house in order!

So, how do you do that?  Let’s take a look at a few key points that will go a long way toward ensuring that the compensation package for your nonprofit’s leader(s) is appropriate.

Reasonable compensation. It all starts here.  The IRS requires compensation packages for nonprofit executives (and other nonprofit employees, for that matter) to be reasonable.  Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t really define reasonable…at least not in a way that you could look up in Websters.  Reasonable compensation is best understood in light of factors the IRS examines when determining whether or not a charity is exceeding reasonableness with its compensation arrangements.  These factors look something like this:

• Actual job description
• Required level of education or experience
• Compensation averages in your area
• Number of hours worked
• The overall budget of the charity

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Once upon a time, there were two websites, each belonging to a different charity.  Our tale follows the adventures of these websites.

The first website…we’ll call it “the good site”…was considered a real asset to its owner.  While not fancy or flashy, it was nice to look at and was obviously well taken care of.  The content of the good site talked about the charity, the charity’s mission, its programs…it even had nice pictures of some of the volunteers helping the charity’s beneficiaries.  And, everything was correct and up to date.  The good site was very good indeed.

The other website…we’ll call it “the bad site”…was also considered a real asset to its owner.  It was fancy and flashy and quite beautiful to behold.  The content of the bad site talked a little about the charity, the charity’s mission, its programs…but, it talked a lot more about the charity’s president, John, and John’s for-profit business.  In fact, it was kind-of hard to tell who the website was supposed to be promoting, John or the charity.  There were some nice pictures of John, John’s family…even John’s dog…plus lots of conveniently placed “Buy Now” buttons for website visitors to snap up John’s new book.  The bad site was very bad indeed.

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Your board of directors is one of the most important assets your nonprofit has.  Assuming they understand their role and are there for the right reasons, your board members provide invaluable insight, direction and oversight.  They volunteer their time and expertise, usually for little more than a pat on the back.  They also assume a certain level of liability in exchange for their efforts.  The old phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished”, is not something you want to see come true.  Let’s explore how to protect those who give of their time to your organization.

Understanding the issues. The first step to properly protecting your board members is to educate them as to what they are responsible for.  It is discouraging to see the level of ignorance that many boards operate under.  We frequently encounter boards where some members are merely placeholders who are doing a favor for the founder.  They rarely participate in substantive discussions or planning, nor are they consulted with by the program director.  They have no idea that there is any liability to them, but there is.  This liability usually falls into three categories:  1) corporate (state), 2) federal (IRS) and, 3) general liability.  Let’s take a closer look at each:

1. Corporate liability:  Board members are the legal, governing body of a nonprofit corporation.  They collectively represent the organization and its interests.  Each nonprofit corporation is incorporated in a particular state, according to that state’s corporate law.  Board members are responsible to make sure the corporation follows state law and that it follows its bylaws.  It is not terribly uncommon to hear of court cases involving other board members, or members of the public, accusing the organization of not abiding by its bylaws.  And, if the corporation is an employer, the board members have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that employment taxes and related things are properly handled. Read the rest of this entry »

It is the burning question of every nonprofit organization:  “How do we get funding?” With the economy in the dumps, and recovery looking like a distant hope, this question screams for an answer.  In fact, we get more requests from newsletter subscribers for articles on funding than just about any other topic.  The purpose of this article is to do just that, but maybe not like you expect.

We could present an article on the how-to of bake sales or silent auctions or raffles.  We could lay out, point-by-point, the best method for putting on a first-class consignment sale or Spring Fling carnival.  We could wax eloquent about the best practices of grant writing…and we probably will discuss all these things later on.  But for now, we would rather challenge you to think about the bigger picture.  We believe it will provide a much better environment for specific ideas to flourish.

So, what does it take to get funding?  Let’s look at several, key concepts.

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This opinion piece is from the Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2009.  We are reprinting this timely article as a wake up call to charities of the battles to come.  Philanthropy has its enemies indeed.

By Naomi Schaefer Riley

Nonprofit leaders are reeling from the recent news that President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would limit tax deductions on charitable contributions from wealthy Americans. But now the philanthropic world has something else to worry about. Today the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), a research and advocacy group, will release a report offering “benchmarks to assess foundation performance.” Its real aim is to push philanthropic organizations into ignoring donor intent and instead giving grants based on political considerations.

The committee is part of a rising tide of politicians and activists who are working to change the face of American philanthropy — and not for the better.

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In this tough economy, nonprofit organizations are needed more now than ever.  More and more people are finding themselves in difficult circumstances and, according to all available evidence, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.  Despite all the assurances of government, it simply isn’t possible for government to keep up with the need.  And even if it could, America’s charities prove on a daily basis how much more effective and efficient the private sector is.  But, there lies the quandary.  If times are tough for individuals and governments, times are also tough for charities…at just the time they are needed the most.  So, what steps are required to make sure the organization you are starting (or currently running) can work in tight economic conditions?

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This is installment #2 in our ongoing series on leadership.  Our first installment was more of an introduction.  In this post, we are going to explore the concept of governance vs. management.

Governance and management:  For many, these are interchangeable terms.  They shouldn’t be.  And in far too many nonprofits, the leadership fails to understand the difference.  Properly separating the concepts of goverance and management can be critical to the success of your endeavor.

Governance is leadership of the big picture.  Primarily the responsibility of the board of directors, governance describes the notion of governing. Several ideas are simultaneously embodied in the concept of governance, including: mission establishment, strategic development, planning, goal setting, responsibility, accountability, oversight…the list goes on.  Most successful organizations rely on a group of individuals with a diversity of talents who collectively chart the course for the organization and actively pursue the accomplishment of its mission.

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