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Is Your Nonprofit Risk-Aware?

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Life moves fast. In our haste to manage and innovate, we can overlook potential risks. Sometimes while we’re racing to keep up, accidents happen. Spokes is here to remind you to slow down and take a thorough inventory of who and what you need to protect.

Nonprofit board of directors are legally responsible for managing risks that could affect stakeholders and nonprofit property. These risks fall into a few distinct categories:

  • Governance risks – Is the board diligently overseeing the organization? Are they making reasonable decisions?
  • Financial risks – Is the board utilizing financial best practices to prevent fraud and ensure accurate bookkeeping?
  • Legal risks – Is the board adhering to laws and regulations regarding human resources, donations, and grants?

It’s in everyone’s best interest to make a plan for a deep and lasting commitment to safety, reputation and mission-protection. So where do you start?

Know your risks.
We sign up for risks anytime we host an event or launch a new program. Challenges and obstacles are inevitable; some come as surprises, while others can be assumed. Per the SAFE: Sound Advice for Functions and Events booklet, “Good prior planning, which includes safety and emergency procedures, appropriate documentation, and adequate staffing and security can both mitigate risk and reduce insurance costs. Not planning ahead can have a huge impact on both your reputation and your financial stability.” Click here to download.

Also, make a plan to watch Spokes video series Best Practices in Nonprofit Governance at your next board meeting. This short and information-packed series offers practical tips and strategies for protecting yourself and your organization. You can access the videos through your Member Benefits page after logging in to Spokes member portal.

If you’re a fan of checklists, the Free Management Library offers a Checklist of Nonprofit Organizational Indicators so your entire board or committee can track organizational goals and accomplishments.

Are you adequately insured?
Directors and Officers Liability, Volunteer/Participant Accident Insurance, General Liability…there are a wide variety of insurances available to nonprofits. A wise nonprofit will weigh innovative programming and supportive community services with a clear understanding of potential risks. The Nonprofits’ Insurance Alliance of California and Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance has handy brochures that you can pick up at Spokes for details.

Do you have updated policies in place?
Policies protect and steer the board and staff as they fulfill the organizational mission. They are a reference tool for appropriate action, ethical decision making, and for dealing with potential or actual conflicts. Spokes has templates available for board-related policies, personnel policies, and financial policies. Examples include whistleblower policy, conflict of interest policy, and a gift acceptance policy. Contact us for details.

Finding Success with a Succession Plan!

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There is change afoot in the nonprofit sector; in San Luis Obispo County and across the country, boards are seeking new presidents, and nonprofit executives are transitioning to new jobs. Even in our Spokes microcosm, the search for new leadership is on. CEO Lesley Santos Dierks is moving to a volunteer role as a board of director and consultant. Using Spokes’ carefully crafted succession plan, Spokes board and staff are reorganizing, facilitating great potential in this next phase of Spokes evolution.

Why does your organization need a succession plan? Succession planning is a discipline that enables organizations to reduce reliance on any one person or small group for critical functions, thereby building sustainability. Infusing an organization with new individuals is a healthy opportunity to expand viewpoints, diversify, and clarify the organizational vision. Considering that only 27% of organizations surveyed by the 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices reported that they had a written succession plan in place, it’s clearly something that needs to be added to the agenda.

Organizations experience leadership transition for a variety of reasons. At a minimum, best practices require regular turnover at the board level with term limits. Sometimes there is an unanticipated opening on the board or staff or a natural transition of a long-time leader. And, maybe your volunteer-run organization is hiring its first executive staff person. In each case, a succession plan is key to keeping stakeholders confident and preventing service recipients from experiencing delays. Here are tips to ensure your organization’s future transitions are as smooth as possible.

  • Create clear job descriptions and roles for all volunteer, board of director, and staff roles; monitor and evaluate successes (and failures).
  • Put policies and procedures on paper so any new volunteer and/or staff can get up and running quickly and efficiently. Start with a simple checklist, and imagine walking someone else through each step. Developing an operations manual for your processes will ensure consistency and uniformity. For details on creating these policies for your organization, click here.
  • Continually train and cross-train all volunteers and/or current staff to minimize disruption from unexpected changes. Job shadow or utilize Lynda.com to help staff and volunteers learn the new skills and technologies they need to succeed one another. Spokes consulting services can also be a huge assist!
  • Spread the wealth: make sure donors have relationships with more than one person in the organization. At your next event, make it a priority to introduce your donors to more members of your leadership team.
  • Spokes offers classes and resources to help your board and staff learn the best practices of nonprofit management. Allow us to train them on the basics while you focus on teaching them the more nuanced functions of your operations.
  • Take advantage of member benefits like Executive Director Roundtables and Board President Roundtables. At your next board or staff meeting, play Spokes Best Practices in Nonprofit Management video series.
  • And, when an unexpected transition occurs despite great succession planning efforts, remember that Spokes offers Executive Search services through its consulting program. Learn more here.

Competitive Nonprofit Wages Are Important

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Legislation just passed that prohibits employers from asking job candidates for their salary history. This is great news. In the nonprofit sector, employers can no longer base their salary offers on how much the candidate previously made; in contrast to other sectors, these numbers are notoriously low.
But, how is an employer supposed to know fair compensation rates?

The answer lies in the Center for Nonprofit Management’s Compensation and Benefits Report. Every year, approximately 400 nonprofit organizations in Southern California participate in the survey to define comparable compensation data for various staff positions respective to an organization’s budget, responsibilities assigned, and geographic location.

Unfortunately, recent survey results have not provided a clear picture of benefits and compensation in San Luis Obispo or Kern Counties due to low participation among nonprofits in those regions. CNPM states, “The strength of the C+B Report survey is the diversity and volume of participants.” Toward that end, CNPM is urging Central Coast and Central California nonprofits to complete the survey prior to February 16, 2018. So, Spokes Members, let’s contribute our data to the C+B report for the survey’s benefit – and ours!

Completing the survey requires one individual from your organization to complete two questionnaires – one specific to compensation and bonuses paid to your organization’s employees, and another specific to employee benefits. The questionnaires are online and no more than 20 minutes is required to complete both of them. The most appropriate person to answer the survey is typically the Executive Director or CEO as s/he will need to know your organization’s operating budget, the salary and related job responsibilities for each staff position, and your organization’s personnel policies specific to health/retirement benefits, time off, paid leave and telecommuting practices.

The deadline to participate in the survey is February 16, 2018.

Once it’s published Spokes will have a copy of the 2018 C&B Report in our resource library to share with all of you. Thank you, in advance, for contributing your data to ensure that this resource is as valuable and relevant as it can be to our local nonprofit sector!

Giving Great Gratitude: Tips for Donor Appreciation

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Did you know that nonprofits receive nearly 31% of annual gifts during the month of December each year? In fact, 12% of all giving occurs in the last three days of the calendar year. And, were you aware that donors are more likely to give to your nonprofit again after they have received an average of three “thank you” responses?”

With all that is happening during this busy season, it is easy to choose to wait a few weeks to thank a donor for a gift. Doing so, however, could be costly. In many ways, how you respond to the donation you receive tomorrow will determine if you receive another donation this time next year.

Fortunately, giving thanks can be fun and creative; it doesn’t have to feel like a chore. To help inspire you to give great gratitude, we have compiled a few helpful tips:

The Balance, a financial management resource website, outlines the fundamentals of donor stewardship including quick, personalized thank you responses. One great idea explains how to use a postscript to catch your donor’s eye and better convey your key message. Read all the details here.

The fundraising platform Classy suggests designing a “welcome package” for first time donors and broadcasting short testimonial videos to offer meaningful thanks to multiple donors. Read Classy’s “Top 15 Creative Ways to Thank Donors” for more details on these ideas and other quick and easy ways to thank donors through websites and cultivation events.

In addition, last week’s issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article, “Do’s and Don’ts When Writing Donor Thank-You Letters by Timothy Sandoval includes the following suggestions:

1. Don’t send the same thank you letter to every donor. Donors will begin to catch on, ignore your letters, and the thanks you wish to express will begin to feel less sincere.
2. Keep your donor thank you letters short – no more than one paragraph, if possible.
3. Switch up your opening line. Most donor thank you letters start with “Thank you for your generous support…” Make your thank you letter stand out from other nonprofits by using an atypical opening statement that grabs your donor’s attention.
4. Embrace “snail mail.” As we become more and more overwhelmed with electronic communication, actual letters become rare – and appreciated.
5. Make sure someone prominent at your organization personally signs each letter.

We wish for your nonprofit lots and lots of opportunities to say “thank you” in the next few weeks. We hope these resources will offer you new strategies to do so more easily, meaningfully, and memorably!

Getting Board Members to Agree

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Consensus. Harmony. Unity. These are the goals of every nonprofit board. Unfortunately, they are rarely part of their reality. So, how does a board leader honor every individual around the table while encouraging them all to move forward in agreement?

In his recent article for Fast Company, “This Is Why Your Passive-Aggressive Office Note Didn’t Work,” Shane Snow suggests that understanding each individual’s outer and inner expectations is the key to creating group agreement. Snow cites a framework presented in author Gretchen Rubin’s latest book, The Four Tendencies, that identifies different personalities and how best to empathize with and appeal to those personalities–rather than avoid them or fight them.

• Upholders will do anything to meet a work deadline (an outer expectation) and also their New Year’s resolution (an inner expectation). They’re self-starters and highly reliable, but they can be defensive and rigid.
• Questioners tend to be good at meeting their inner expectations, but they need to be convinced why to do something before doing it, this way they can decide for themselves whether it’s worth doing. They’re comfortable bucking the system but can suffer from analysis paralysis and get impatient with people who just accept things as they are.
• Obligers are motivated above all else by helping others and by following rules. They can be counted on as responsible but can have trouble imposing limits or saying “no.”
• Rebels are motivated by freedom of choice and self-expression. They don’t want to be told what to do; they want to decide what to do. They’re great at being independent, spontaneous, and creative but not at being disciplined.

Read his entire article here to learn more about your own personality type, better identify the personalities of your peers, and gain strategies to use this framework to create more true consensus in the board room, with your colleagues, and in your personal relationships, too!

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