Author: Ingrid Zacharias

Recently, I attended the TEDx Manitoba event at the Park Theatre here in Winnipeg.

The first speaker, Robert Sawyer, who is a science fiction writer, gave an excellent presentation about the emergence of consciousness in humans and the projected emergence in non-human intelligence.

Sawyer’s presentation made me think about how the non-profit sector’s work is resulting in the emergence of consciousness in their target populations. After more than 12 years in the non-profit sector, I have personally witnessed this type of emerging consciousness.

Clients that I have worked with came to us with limited awareness of resources available to them and limited consciousness of external factors impacting their lives. Through their personal journeys of emergence, I saw them begin to identify their own personal goals and strive to educate themselves about resources available to them. Then they began to grow an internal confidence that allowed them to begin to tap into these resources.

Without this emergence of awareness, thirst for knowledge and faith in their own capabilities, capacity building would not be possible.

What kind of emergence have you witnessed in your capacity building efforts?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/ Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca

Recently, I wrote an article about how non-profits both must work together as partners, but must also compete for sustainability. I had a response from a fellow blogger from WhyDoParentsBlog http://whydoparents.blogspot.com/2011/01/social-returns-on-financial-investments.html

Jeremy Parrott blogs about non-profit as well. He has a theory that the economy should be like the life cycle of water. The cycle begins with for-profits then cycles to foundations and then to non-profits, where the cycle continues back onto for-profits. Jeremy believes that by having non-profits reinvest their money in for profit businesses that the life cycle of money will continue.

I’m not sure that I agree with Jeremy. While I agree with the cycle, I do not agree with the quantities. I believe that for profits make money, that foundations do thrive as a result of donations from usually individuals who earned their money though the for-profit sector. I also agree that Foundations then support non-profits. However, where I feel this theory falls apart is that, most non-profits spend about 80% of their incomes on salaries. It would not be unusual for them to spend say 5% or more on rent or mortgage and utilities. So a non-profit’s buying power is less than 10% of its overall budget.

My interpretation of what Jeremy had to say was that non-profits need to invest more of their budgets into for-profits to keep the cycle healthy. However, with the structure of funding from foundations presently, coupled with the limited amount of surplus in most non-profits budgets, it is unlikely that non-profits could spend anymore of their budgets on purchasing. Funders like to see as much money as possible going into programming. So too, do donors like to see concrete evidence of what their dollars are buying. By concrete evidence, I mean programs that are impacting people’s lives for the positive. With so much focus on program delivery, most funders prefer to see their money going into salaries rather than into goods. They recognize that goods are a needed part of programming, but for the most part, they still prefer that the amount of goods bought with their grants is still only a portion of the grant.

It is true, that some foundations prefer to fund capital costs, like buildings, or big ticket items, but I have found that while these things are a visible contribution, things don’t necessarily impact people’s lives unless it is combined with the caring, passionate people who work for non-profits. I don’t believe that non-profits can change the cycle of economy anymore than they already have. They have limited buying power and always will because they are in the people business.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca

Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

When I first started out in the non-profit sector, a funder told me that there was tension in the non-profit sector that was important to ensure that organizations changed and evolved and continued to evolve with their communities. I didn’t get it then, but now I do.

That tension is called competition and it goes to the very roots inside non-profit organizations. Staff, managers, agencies and non-profit organizations compete with each other. Staff compete to be the best program within the organization, managers compete to show the most positive change in their staff and programming, other agencies compete to get their share of the recognition when things are happening in a community (no matter whether they had anything to do with it or not) and non-profit organizations compete with each other for funding dollars. This ever changing competition is what drives non-profits to be the best they can be, but it can also be a double edged sword, in that this is what can also destroy them.

I compare being in non-profit to being on a diet. When you are on a diet, despite wanting to lose weight, you must eat to achieve weight loss. In the non-profit sector, while you must compete with other non-profits for funding and recognition, you must also work with them to best serve the community at large. This too creates tension and sometimes results in organizations that are not necessarily fond of each other needing to work together in both of their best interests.

I have even seen government intentionally create this tension, by making organizations that have nothing more in common than both trying to get funding from the government, be forced into working with other non-profits because the government made it a condition of their funding. Why would government do this you may ask? Well there are limited government funds. So by throwing these two non-profits into the same pool to swim together, one of two things can happen. First, the two organizations may actually succeed at working together successfully. Or, two, they could actually have a relationship break down between themselves and then the government would not have to provide either of them with funding. Either way, it’s a win win situation for government, because they aren’t the bad guys for having refused funding to anyone and the end result if negative is then seen as the making of the two organizations involved. Either way, the government comes out smelling like roses and lives to fight another election.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca , Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

The culture in each organization is different and dependent on so many factors. But it is the culture that shapes the internal operations of your organizations. Culture can make or break your organization.

Recently, while working on a white paper about how to shape your organization’s culture, I realized how extremely important culture is to every non-profit achieving their goals and planned outcomes. That white paper will be available shortly through our online store, so watch for it. The reasons why culture is so important are:

• Overview of entire organization – The culture of an organization is decided by the personalities, policies and procedures of an organization.
• Internal balance – For an organization to be successful, its culture must have internal balance. That means that the policies, procedures and people involved do not lean too much one way or another, but complement what the goals of the organization are.
• Defines relationships – An organization’s culture includes how they (the staff) work with clients, other community groups, agencies and funders.
• Impacts communication – Each organization, depending on its culture, creates its own jargon that is unique to their organization. This means that the way the organization communicates internally and externally is impacted by its culture.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

It often isn’t hard to find candidates for non-profit board seats. However, how do you know that they are the right candidate for the job? It’s important to prescreen your candidates to make sure you are getting ones that understand the role of a board member and understand how to work efficiently and effectively as a board member.

There are ways that you can use to screen candidates to ensure they are the right person to sit on your non-profit’s board of directors. They are:

• Put out a call for resumes – Always ask to see the resumes of your potential board members. You need to know their experience and what they bring to the table. Also if someone is unwilling to provide a resume, then they probably aren’t good board material.
• Interview candidates – Candidates for your board should be interviewed to get a feel for how they will fit into the existing Board of Director’s culture. Your nominating committee should handle this task and perform it in a very professional manner. Provide candidates with board scenarios and see how they handle the situation. This is a take on behavioural interviewing.
• Survey potential board members – By surveying them, you can ask more questions like who their contacts are and how they envision themselves contributing to the organization as a member of the board. You can also ask questions about what skill sets they bring to the table that may be beneficial to the organization in areas such as professional development and fundraising.
• Request references – In the case of board of directors is the only time that it would be smart to request both professional and personal references. By doing this, you get a feel for who this person is on both a professional level and on a personal level, which will help you in identifying how the candidate will blend with the existing personalities on your board.
• Don’t be afraid to turn people away – By turning away candidates that don’t fulfill the criteria that you have developed for this particular board member, you are ensuring that you get only the best candidates accepted onto the board. The more screening you do, the more success you will have at creating a successful board and the more people will want to be a part of it.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

I read an article today about and Executive Director of a non-profit in the District of Columbia, who is charged with embezzlement of $506,000. The man is accused of using the organization’s debit card to make withdrawals of cash while on personal cruise holidays and when out gambling. This blew me away.

In my many years in the non-profit world, one of the most important things we ever did was to ensure that we had transparency where the organization’s money was concerned, and to put safety measures in place to ensure the security of the organization’s financial resources.

So I’d like to share with you my readers, what kinds of safety measures your organization should have in place when it comes to the handling of your organizations financial resources. You should:

• Set up your bank account right – You bank account should not allow any cash withdrawals in any form from the bank. Any withdrawals should be made in the form of a cheque made out to the bookkeeper for petty cash. No organization should have a debit card for their bank account. The bank will issue you a debit card number, but you can turn down the physical card, and only keep the debit card number in your safe.
• Require two signatures on a cheque – Every cheque written by a non-profit should require two signatures. Whenever possible both signatures should come from board members who have been given signing authority. When not possible, then one of the signatures can be the Executive Director, but not if the cheque is issued to the Executive Director.
• Balance and review petty cash disbursements regularly – Your petty cash should be reviewed regularly by the signers of the cheque for petty cash and if that is not possible, then once the petty cash has been dispersed, then the receipts should be reviewed by the Executive Director before another petty cash cheque is written.
• Use a credit card for purchases – Sometimes, cheques are not accepted, if you are buying something from a retail store. In that case, the organization should have a credit card. All the receipts for purchases by credit cards should be turned in and balanced against the credit card statement when it comes in, to ensure all money is accounted for.
• Put someone you trust in charge of cash – When your organization holds events; try to create one place where people purchase their tickets from. Make sure that at least two people are working together on the cash handling, so they can monitor and vouch for each other. Have the people handling cash, count the cash they took in at the end of the event and turn it into your bookkeeper, along with any paper documentation of number of items sold and at how much.
• Have one drop centre for skimming cash – If you are having an event, have a prearranged location for money to be stored safely and securely when skimming becomes necessary due to a lot of cash transactions occurring. Limit who knows the details of this to only the people handling cash. The fewer people know, the more likely you are to keep your funds secure.
• Develop a policy against signing blank cheques – Some NGOs allow blank cheques to be signed in advance if they have difficulty getting their board members out to sign a cheque. But this is bad financial practices, and it would be far better to ensure that you have 4 signing authorities. Three should be board members and the fourth should be the Executive Director. In that way, you are far more likely to always have two signers available and the use of blank cheques becomes unnecessary.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

Doing your Non-profit AGM on the cheap is not for everyone. If you use your AGM for a fundraiser, or are totally dependent upon private donors, then this wouldn’t be for you. But if you are a small or fledgling non-profit, this could help immensely.

When I first ran a very small non-profit, actually having an AGM event caused us hardship because we were very project funding based with little to no additional funding for special events. So it’s a good idea to look at how you can reduce your costs for your AGM event if you are in a similar situation. This is how you can do it:

• Get a free vendor – Often if you are a community based organization, you can develop or already have developed relationships with local schools, community clubs, churches or seniors centres. These types of organizations are often willing to let you use their facility for little to nothing for using it because they see your organization as a valuable, contributing member to the community.
• Make refreshments in house – Instead of paying a lot of money to hire a caterer or even to buy from a restaurant, why not purchase the basics needed and have staff and volunteers prepare the refreshments. This will take more coordination, but it is also an opportunity to empower your clients by asking them to help with the event and take ownership of it. Recommended types of food would be: sandwiches, veggie platters, cheese and crackers, pickles, fruit platters, coffee, tea or juice.
• Sponsor funded AGM Report – Printing can be expensive, but there are ways to get it at little or no cost to your organization. Often local politicians have small pockets of funding that they can tap into, or they can often use their own printing budget to do the printing of your AGM report for you, provided you give them credit on the report as a sponsor. Or you could consider developing a partnership with a corporation or local business that deals in photocopying and ask them to contribute the photocopying of the AGM report, with credit on the report as well.
• Recruit Entertainment – Instead of hiring someone to be the entertainment at the AGM, why not look for local talent that is willing to do it for the exposure. Often, local schools, church groups, or even residents are willing to perform at your AGM for free. It is a win win situation, they get exposure and you and your guests get the enjoyment of their talent.
• Donated door prizes – We always found that the lure of door prizes often helped to draw our community into our events. AGMs can be pretty boring otherwise and you want your clientele and the surrounding community to participate. So you can approach local businesses to ask for donations of door prizes and offer to put up their names on a sponsor list at the event. Businesses enjoy being included in community events and you get door prizes that will help to increase the numbers attending your AGM.

Question of the Day: What tactics have you used to reduce the costs of your AGM event?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

Probably one of the most frustrating things for an Executive Director is when their board members do not actively participate in events and fundraising. The problem is that without proper Board Training, many board members will never realize that it is a part of their role and responsibility as a board member to assist staff with types of actions.

But there are some strategies that can be used to successfully involve board members in these activities. They are:

• Board training and orientation – Ensure that your board, both returning and new board members participate in board training and orientation. This is an opportunity for them to be reminded that assisting with fundraising and events is a part of their job descriptions.
• Put it on the board meeting agenda – If the Executive Director and the Board Chairperson inform the board when events are coming up and ask who will be able to attend and help out. Make certain you remind them that if they can’t participate in this event, they will be expected to participate in the next event.
• Invite board members to sit on planning committees – When you invite board members to help to plan events, it gives them a sense of ownership over what is happening and encourages them to get involved and stay involved.
• Send out invitations to the event – Make sure your board members all receive an invitation. Include an RSVP request and a polite note informing them if they have not attended previous events, that you would appreciate their participation.
• Give a presentation – Ask members of your board to give a presentation about something exciting that is happening in your organization, or ask them to make a speech. It’s hard to say “no” if you are expected to speak at the event.

Question of the Day: What other strategies have you used to encourage your board members to attend your NGO’s events and fundraisers?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

Sometimes when it is too easy to find board members for your board, you may discover that at least one of those people is using your board membership as a resume builder. Over the years I have come across a few resume builders when putting together NGO boards. These personality types can be a detriment to your board, as they can prevent the board from running effectively.

However, there are actions that you can take to weed out people who are resume builders before they get on your board of directors. These are the actions you can take:

• Ask the existing board to suggest potential board members – It helps if new board members are already known to an existing board member, because then they can usually attest to the person’s commitment and reliability.
• Request a resume and references – Inform potential board candidates that you screen all potential board members and then make sure you do. It is best if you ask for at least one person who has worked with them on a board in the past, if they have worked on boards before. Past behaviour is the best gauge for how a person will perform in the future.
• Develop a set of questions – The Executive Director and Nominating committee should develop two sets of questions. One set to ask of the potential board members references and the other to ask the nominee. Make sure you ask questions about reliability, attendance, ability to work collaboratively, and their preparedness for meetings.
• Interview the candidate – The Nominating committee for the board and the Executive Director should interview potential board members to be certain that they are on the same page with the current board. That is not to say that a new board member shouldn’t have innovative ideas, but rather that they understand and follow the processes already in place for implementing their ideas.

Question of the Day: What other ways can you suggest to weed out resume builders in potential board candidates?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias

Envisioning the Future International

http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

Your strategic plan will only be as effective as who you invite to participate in the process. In fact, sometimes, it is even a good idea to set up more than one planning session in order to avoid diluting the ideas by having too many interest groups involved in the same session. So plan well, which groups its okay to clump together and which ones to have a separate session for.

In my experience, the best plan for strategic consultations works in this way:

• Make the target population consultation open to everyone – The best way to ensure you hear a variety of perspectives is to invite your clientele and any other stakeholders from the community who might have an interest in participating. This keeps the process open and transparent and gives the entire community an opportunity to provide feedback.
• Keep Board members separate – By this I mean, invite your board to attend the public sessions with your clientele, but encourage them to hold back their comments and input until they have their separate consultation, in order not to dilute the voices of the clientele.
• Staff member consultations should be done separately – Your staff have a unique perspective in that they know the organization from the inside, and so to get the most benefit from their input, it is best to have that consultation separately because they will offer ideas on how to improve the processes within the organization.
• Group funders and partner organizations together – In one of the strategic plans we did, we combined our funders and partners and the results were fantastic. Funders are more aware of your organizations challenges than you often think they are. Our funders offered vital ideas on what issues our organization should be addressing in upcoming years. The good part about including your partner organizations is that they can attest to the challenges your organization is facing, and it is good both for the funders to hear partner organizations’ perspectives, it is equally as valuable for partner organizations to hear funders’ perspectives.

Question of the Day: Who else do you feel a non-profit organization should include in their strategic planning process?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca , Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/