The obvious answer to the question “Who is on your baord?” is to show someone a list of the elected members. As the saying goes, “On paper that is true.” However, is that the way the board acts? [...]
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Every parochial school has the potential to be operating at capacity. There are more than enough children in every neighborhood. Every community has more than enough money to scholarship the students with needs. The reality is that most Christian schools are operating below capacity. They have very little community support. Children walk past them daily [...] Everybody wants an engaged board. The engaged boards are the high performance boards. How do you create an engaged board? Before we tackle that question perhaps, it would be good to define what an engaged board looks like. Every board member … [...] How do you know if the board meetings are effective? The ultimate measure is the success of the parochial school. When the students are growing and changing, enrollment is increasing, donors are more generous, and the year-end report shows a modest surplus, it is easy to conclude that the board is effective. Is there a way to evaluate effectiveness between annual reports? [...] What is the difference between a desire and a goal? Without a plan, more vitality, strength, and sustainability are just desires. Without a plan, how will you convince the staff, donors, referral sources, and others that you are serious, intentional, and know how to do it? Unless you write down your plan how will others follow it? Without milestones how will you know if the plan is working? [...] Numerical growth is only one example of growth. Is it the right one for your favorite nonprofit? It is the most popular measure because it is the most important measure to retail operations and retail is the most visible business activity around us. However, other growth measures can be more important. [...] Should we fire the leader who blames others or has some other set of excuses for failure? Sometimes the answer is yes. The answer is no most of the time. [...] If every board meeting focused on what is important to the primary stakeholder, success would follow. When the primary stakeholder is served, the agency finds peace, unity, and a sense of fulfillment. A collateral or coincidental benefit is an increase in clients, volunteers, collaborations, and donations. [...] Fundraisers are a waste of time, effort, and annoy people. If that were true, why would you hold one? The common answer is because we need the money. Are you raising enough money to justify the time, effort, and ill will? [...] One can connect the passion of the donor to the mission. The strategic plan is the connection. The strategic plan must be concrete, creditable, and have an emotional element. [...] |
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