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Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Funding Strategy…

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As a nonprofit organization, do you often feel like your approach to pursuing grants is haphazard, or do you feel unsure which grants to invest your limited resources in pursuing?  

Once your organization has formed and organizational priorities have been set, developing a funding strategy is an important and often overlooked next step. If your organization has a development director on staff, this may not be the case, but many small to midsize nonprofits have yet to reach this stage in their growth.  For these nonprofits, one of the most significant challenges is knowing which grant pursuits align with their mission and organizational goals, and which ones are most worth investing their resources in pursuing.  Frequently, nonprofits seek grant opportunities as they fall in their lap instead of taking a more proactive approach of identifying which applications would yield the greatest return on their investment. Developing a grant funding strategy is one way to mitigate the risks inherent in grant seeking by putting in the upfront time now to identify the best pursuits.  

An effective grant funding strategy is a road map of which grants to pursue over a 12 to 18-month time frame, based upon programmatic alignment, the funder’s giving priorities, the funder’s track record of giving to similar projects in the past, the competitiveness of the grant program, factors related to the funding guidelines, and the amount of work the application requires. An effective funding strategy will further identify the steps an organization needs to take to prepare them for the application process and ensure that they are funding-ready.  

If you need support with your grant research and writing, Spokes has resources for you.

Can you fire a volunteer?

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In a recent Spokes roundtable, the topic of the “dysfunctional volunteer” came up. Most volunteers are valuable assets for or organizations. We couldn’t do what we do without them. But occasionally, we experience a volunteer who is not contributing, or worse, creating a drain on the organization.

There are various forms of dysfunction. A volunteer may promise but not deliver. He may not have the knowledge or skills to be of help. She may distract staff or other volunteers from what they need to be doing.

As with hiring employees, the best approach to recruiting volunteers is to have a sound system for vetting them, learning about their talents and interests, and matching those to the tasks your organization needs accomplished. Sometimes, though, things just don’t work out. For the benefit of both the organization and the volunteer, it may be time to part company.

The following two resources provide sound advice on how to let a volunteer go in the most respectful and productive manner.


Before you convene…

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Whether we’re talking about our staff, our board members, our constituents, or the public at large, bringing people together can be a productive way to deal with the challenges we face. But convening people can also waste people’s time or, worse, backfire.

Fortunately, there are steps we can take to help ensure that when we convene, we succeed! The Rockefeller Foundation has a long history of convening groups to grapple with weighty problems. The Foundation follows four core principles:

  • Focus on a single purpose.
  • Design for the experience.
  • Be intentional about participants.
  • Make commitments explicit and deliver.

Learn about each of these as well as additional tactics to make your convening more effective in this article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Retaining Staff

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Finding qualified new staff can be very difficult, so at Spokes June 2023 Symposium we focused on how to retain the staff you already have on board. It’s a national problem! Consider:

  • In 2022, a record 50.6 million U.S. workers quit their jobs, accounting for 70% of total separations. This is the highest level in the history of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which dates back to 2001.
  • While quits are down from the record highs of 2022, in January 2023 dipping below the four million mark for the first time since May 2021, they were back up to above four million this February.
  • This year, 56% of surveyed U.S. workers said they’re likely to seek a new job compared to 51% in 2022.

Here are some resources recommended by our panel of experts:

Executive Committee Membership

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Can someone be on the executive committee who is not a member of the board of directors?

It’s an interesting question. The short answer is, “Perhaps, but probably not.” As can so often be the case, it depends on the situation. Here are things to consider.

Look at your bylaws

A great place to start is to read your bylaws. What do they say about committees? Do they specify that there is an executive committee? Do they say who should be on it? Do they say what the executive committee is supposed to do?

For example, I recently was helping an organization whose bylaws said nothing about an executive committee, but they did include a provision that the board could establish committees by resolution, and that “all committees have the full authority of the board” (italics mine).

Board committees

The next thing to consider is the type of committee. There are two types—board committees and non-board committees. With a few exceptions, the board may delegate authority to board committees. According to California law, all members of board committees must be directors.

On the other hand, membership on non-board committees is not restricted to directors. These committees, also called advisory committees, can serve a variety of purposes. As that name implies, they can provide counsel to the board. The board might also assign various tasks and responsibilities to them. For instance, a non-board committee might develop fundraising plans or be responsible for volunteer training. Because non-board committees have no legal authority to act in place of the full board, anyone may be a member. Non-board committees are often used as a way to engage additional people in the work of the organization.

Returning to the example above, since the organization’s bylaws clearly state, “all committees have the full authority of the board,” any committee established in the organization would be a board committee. Only board committees can make decisions on behalf of the organization, and all members of board committees must be directors.

So, what’s the answer?

If the board has delegated authority to the executive committee, then all members of the executive committee must be directors. Certainly, others might be invited to attend executive committee meetings and/or provide input, but such people are not members of the committee and do not have a vote on motions or decisions. Theoretically, a non-director could be a member of the Executive Committee, but only if the Executive Committee was given no authority to act. In such circumstances, that executive committee would, in fact, be an advisory committee. And what would be the sense in that?

And don’t forget…

State law trumps your bylaws. If your bylaws include any language that suggests non-directors can be members of your board committees, it’s time to revise your bylaws.

References

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