From The Board of Directors
We are writing to report on the findings of the community process that was undertaken this summer by The Nonprofit Center task force. As you may recall, the Board convened a group of community stakeholders who had an interest in preserving the mission of this valuable community resource. This group was charged with exploring the needs of the nonprofit sector, assessing the viability of delivering those services and making a recommendation to the Board on how to proceed. We thank all who participated in our stakeholder meetings and/or filled out the survey. Your time and your thoughtful and honest feedback are appreciated.
From June through September the task force met four times, convened three gatherings of stakeholders and conducted a community-wide survey of the nonprofit sector. They also researched other organizations with missions similar to that of The Nonprofit Center that are successfully operating in other communities. The task force concluded that the greatest area of need was among smaller organizations, and this conclusion was supported by conversations with regional funders. For smaller nonprofits, the most valued and most-needed services are:
- Education and Training to support managers, staff, board chairs, and board members.
- Convening and Connecting individuals and organizations with similar interests, for example, executive director roundtables, grant writers, or organizations that could potentially partner on grants or projects.
- Offering Referrals to high quality service providers and experts who have been screened.
- Back Office Services such as financial, legal, human resource and IT services.
The need for these services appears to exist in Kitsap and Thurston counties as well as Pierce County. The task force recommended two possible courses of action to the board:
- Rebuild and rebrand the organization, focusing on the four areas of high-need identified above. This option would require the infusion of significant start-up capital and the recruitment of highly dynamic and visionary management and board leadership.
- Responsibly close The Nonprofit Center to allow the mission to be carried on by other interested parties in the community. This option would require the board to be conscientious about ensuring the well-being of current clients and protecting any assets of the organization so that they can be handed off to another organization serving the needs of the nonprofit sector.
After careful and deliberate consideration the board has decided that the course of action that will best advance the mission of serving the nonprofit sector and the communities we serve is to formally dissolve The Nonprofit Center. We will be taking steps over the next few weeks to do so responsibly and ask for your support and understanding throughout this process. The Nonprofit Center has added significant value to the Puget Sound nonprofit community and this is of course a direct result of the dedicated, committed and passionate past and current staff, volunteers, and community members who have so generously donated their time, sweat and tears for this vital mission over the years. The board wishes to thank everyone who has been involved with The Nonprofit Center.
For those agencies currently being served by Center staff for your financial services, Alan Strand and Christine Garst will continue to provide nonprofit bookkeeping services. Their professional and knowledgeable services will continue to be an asset for the nonprofit sector and we thank them for their contributions. Alan can be contacted at www.notforprofitaccounting.net and alan@notforprofitaccounting.net. Christine can be contacted at cbgarst@gmail.com.
Despite the challenges facing all of us and The Nonprofit Center these past few months, we are heartened by the task force process. It brought to light the significant level of community engagement and energy for the continuation of nonprofit capacity building services to exist in the south Sound. It is the sincere hope of the board and the task force that this positive energy will result in other organizations and individuals stepping up to rebuild, recreate and find solutions for improving the capacity of the nonprofit sector to make our communities better places to live, work and play.
We are confident that leadership will emerge from those who expressed a desire to continue this mission into the future and we encourage you to be an active participant in whatever should develop. Thank you for your continued support during this time and for sharing your thoughts, opinions and expertise.
The nonprofit sector has a proud past in this region and makes a significant impact in all of our lives. We are confident in the resiliency, passion and determination that exist in our South Puget Sound nonprofit sector.
Sincerely,
Dave Petrich, Board President
Joe Lawless Board Vice-President and Task Force Chair
Last week I had dinner with good friends and, as often happens, the conversation turned to nonprofits and community service. One of my friends expressed a frustration at wanting to be helpful at the leadership level but she thought she didn’t have much to offer, not being a business woman.
I hope I convinced her otherwise because she would be a very valuable board member for a nonprofit. She does have a great deal to offer in terms of community connections, values and outstanding common sense. She understands how groups should work, and she is great at follow-through.
She also doesn’t like fund raising. She doesn’t want to be told how much to give. On that topic she’s less than convinced, but maybe she can be brought around. I am not a fan of giving board members a specific amount of money they must give. Instead, board members should be invited to make a gift that is equal to their commitment to the organization. Let them determine what that amount is.
Our conversation turned to mission, and my friend talked about reading of a growing interest in people writing their own mission statements. She thought she might give that a try. I hope she does, and I hope all of you do. If you can write down your mission, then it will be much easier to connect with an organization whose mission relates to yours. And, if you share missions, you are going to be a fantastic board member, volunteer, staff member or donor.
Serving on a nonprofit board is, in my opinion, one of the most important things you can do for your community. It can also be one of the most challenging. I do not want to scare people off with these words because every nonprofit organization needs committed volunteers to lead them into the future. On the other hand, I hope to help board members understand the substance of their role so they can do a better job.
Many people want to learn more about what it means to be on a nonprofit board. Below is a short quiz that may help. It is based directly on the “Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards” developed by BoardSource.
We call this the “Healthy Board Checklist” and here are some of the indicators. Ask yourself if these are true statements for your board.
- All board members regularly prepare for, attend and participate in meetings.
- The mission is clearly defined, and board members can state it without looking it up.
- The board regularly spends time learning about trends in the field of service.
- The board exercises diligent financial oversight.
- The board is involved with policies and issues rather than day-to-day management (except with grassroots organizations).
- Each member of the board makes a personal financial contribution each year.
- All board members are actively involved in raising money for the agency.
- Board members set aside personal considerations for the common good and act ethically.
- Working relationships among board members and with staff are harmonious.
If 7 to 9 of these statements are true for your board, give yourselves a gold star. Would you like to become mentors for members of other boards? If so, give us a call at The Nonprofit Center.
If 5 or 6 of these statements accurately describe your board, you’re ok. You need to do a little work, but you’re on the right track.
If only 1 to 4 statements are true for your board, it’s time to take a hard look at setting some development goals for your board. Involving everyone on the board in some training and planning would be a very good first step.
For just shy of eight years, I wrote a column for The News Tribune on nonprofit topics. Many of the columns focused on governance, so we’ll be reprinting selected ones from time to time.
On the theme of celebrating boards that do things right, I got some great news the other day. For obvious reasons the details are omitted, but the key factor is that they worked together to create change. This particular board has wrestled for a long time with a number of challenges. They are an established organization, and they have had an unusual structure that no longer is effective.
Structural changes are the most difficult, and this group was no exception. But they get the gold star for the day because they worked through the difficulty. They have taken a critical and significant first step toward this change. It ran counter to their history, but the board members realized that the change was necessary to future survival.
These are very wise board members. They set aside their personal feelings for the good of the organization. They are moving carefully forward, not making radical changes all at once. They are staying focused on their mission. These are best practices that all board members should embrace.
The most important of these, as you have heard me say before, is focus on mission. It seems so obvious. But I have seen it happen time and again. Challenges arise, and board members can get distracted by trying to solve the problem at hand in any way possible. When the mission is kept in the forefront, their focus is on the shared purpose, not on the individuals sitting around the table. And, amazingly, when the shared purpose is primary in everyone’s mind, the solution often presents itself right away.
So here’s your lesson for the day – remember that everything flows from mission. If you do that, as did the folks I mentioned earlier, you’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish.
