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- Succession Planning: Something to Think About
Harvey Matchullis: Dave – so appropriate and especially in light...
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Donors and volunteers. It’s the stuff that will make or break a not-for-profit organization.
Gain insights from an infographic entitled Top Five: Where and Why People Donated Their Time and Money, produced by YourCause. Review the following infographic which illustrates how people donated their time and money to non-profit organizations in 2010 and 2011 and consider how your organization may be able to improve fundraising and volunteer efforts accordingly.
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THE ORGANIZATION
A $10 million charity. Not too big, not too small, but still making an impact.
THE CEO
The same CEO has been in the role for 25 years. Yeah, he’s underpaid, a little tired, but heck, he’s only 67 years old and he’s assured the board that he’s good for at least another 5 years. What he’s not telling the board is that they’re stuck in an old compensation model and he can’t afford retirement.
THE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
The 45 year old Director of Development of that very same charity has been there 7 years. He’s seen it grow from $3 million a year to its present $10 million triumph, largely because he moved the organization’s fundraising initiatives from the stone age to the new millennium, even though he and his team had only a shoe-string budget to work with. He joined with the promise that if he worked hard, and raised a lot of money, he could be the CEO someday – replacing the same CEO who was 60 years old when he started, but who is now starting another 5-year term. He lays awake at night wondering if he should start looking for a VP role at a large charity or even a CEO role of a similar-sized non-profit organization.
THE NEWBIE
Then again, there’s the 22 year old, whose fresh out of university with a specialization in not-for-profit management and holds a certificate in fundraising. She was hired for a Development Officer role advertised at this very same $10 million charity figuring that if she stayed for 18 months she could use it as a stepping stone to another opportunity that pays more than minimum wage…with career upside…at a bigger shop downtown…where she might even get a benefit plan.
THE QUESTIONS
Okay, I know this is a terrible and unfair characterization – this kind of thing doesn’t happen in the charitable sector. Right?!
From the examples above, the questions that begged to be asked are:
- Is it fair that an underpaid CEO has to work beyond retirement age to afford to live and stymies the advancement of the next generation of leaders?
- Is it fair that a next generation leader is denied access to more leadership opportunity when they’ve been pivotal to the success of the organization?
- Are we sending they right message to emerging leaders if we don’t make attractive leadership opportunities available them?
- What is the true cost in people, resources and organizational impact in the absence of a credible and viable succession plan?
THE ANSWERS
The answer rests in intentional and purposeful succession planning.
When it comes to succession planning the questions your organization needs to candidly consider are:
- Are we serious about it?
- Are we implementing it?
- Are we only giving it lip service?
THE BOTTOM LINE
Succession planning is not primarily about age, career advancement, or the size of organization. What matters most is the continuity of leadership and the implementation of leadership development so that an organization continues to meet its mandate for the sake of all the stakeholders involved.
Submitted By:
David Hutchinson, CEO and Partner of Hutchinson Smith Inc.
Connect with David
dhutchinson@hutchinsonsmith.ca
Toronto: 416.855.1872
Toll Free: 1.866.499.6621
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Dreading participating in your upcoming board meeting knowing that it will last for hours on end, cover the same agenda items you seemingly addressed in the last two board meetings, and be full of drama between the chair of the board and the treasurer?
You’re not alone. Not even close.
Gain significant insights into common board dysfunctions and how to overcome those challenges from an online radio conversation hosted by Renee McGivern on WebTalkRadio.net titled, Nonprofit Spark – Overcoming Board Dysfunction. Throughout the hour-long webcast, the following board governance challenges are addressed:
Common Dysfunctions of Boards:
- Lack of distinction between roles of board members and roles of staff
- Unprepared to transition from a volunteer-based organization to paid staff organization
- Poor delegation skills
- Communication breakdown between goals the board developed for organization and goals the staff developed for the organization
- Lack of big-picture vision thus focusing too much on minute challenges
- Time management solutions
This radio interview is well worth your time.
You’ll hear from Susan Mogenson of Brown Dog Consulting who is an expert on non-profit governance. There’s no dysfunction that she hasn’t seen and helped boards solve. She provides practical advice and a context for thinking about the role of the board; a lack of clarity about this role often is a source of the dysfunctional behavior.
Furthermore, you’ll appreciate what Allan Teichman – a volunteer board president of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association – has to say too. He gets into the nitty gritty of practices his board uses so it’s effective and fulfilled. Both guests use the Policy Governance model of John Carver. Allan discusses how the model helped turn his board away from drama (no pun intended!) and conflict.
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Just like our friend Brady Josephson of re:charity, we too at Charity Executive love infographics – and I mean love. Like love, love. Every morning I head to my desktop with coffee in hand to read my RSS feeds, a couple of which that are solely devoted to the infographic space.
You’d probably be surprised at how many infographics are created on a daily basis and be even more surprised to see the topics on which they cover. Case and point – I offer Exhibit A: “The Hairy Truth About the Moustache [INFOGRAPHIC]“. Enough said.
Yet infographics, generally speaking, seem to be indicative of the way communication is evolving. Ever since 2012 rolled in, there has been non-stop speculation and foreshadowing indicating that people want to consume media and information faster, which means folks will have little patience for reading. Popular response is striving to creatively communicate one’s message through visuals and graphics, rather than words. Hence the rise of the infographic and other social media avenues such as Pinterest. (Side note: Check out this article entitled How to Get Your Nonprofit Started on Pinterest from Nonprofit Tech 2.0.)
As an executive leader within your charitable organization, what thought have you given to this seemingly inevitable trend? Have you considered how it may impact your organization’s message, donors, employees, and communication channels? A similar question was posed in late 2011 by Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com. Ironically, see the infographic below for a summary of responses.
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If you were asked in an interview with a non-profit organization whether you were a “doer” or a “thinker”, how would you respond?
In a blog post called, Are You A Doer or a Thinker? found on her self-entitled blog Sarah Mackey, this young professional in non-profit management explores the best way to answer this particular question depending on your interests, skills, and experience.
Should you be more inclined to answer that you are a “Thinker”, consider the following roles within a non-profit organization:
- Budget Analyst
- Board Member
- Fundraising, Prospect Research
- Foundation Program Officer
- Grant Writer
On the other hand, should you lean more toward the answer of a “Doer”, perhaps the following roles are more suited to your personality and strengths within a non-profit organization:
- Fundraising, Corporate Relations
- Special Events Coordinator
- Press Secretary
- Volunteer
Read Mackey’s full blog post here and glean your own insights as to how you would answer the question: “Are you a doer or a thinker?!”
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