Nancy Lublin was right on the mark in a Fast Company article when she observed:

The biz model [for nonprofits] destines us for burnout. We take people with big hearts and crush their souls; you sign on to help cure cancer and then leave because you’re just shilling rubber bracelets. You want universal literacy, but the only way to move toward it is a big chicken dinner at a fancy hotel.

She is speaking about the problem created by how nonprofit volunteers and staff are managed and how nonprofit volunteers and staff should approach their work.

This problem affects both volunteers and staff. It is indicates poor placement, supervision and management.

I think the nonprofits with few or no staff are especially vulnerable to this problem. It starts with poor volunteer screening and placement system. It continues with poor or no supervision. And is aggravated by poor planning and coordination by the board and leadership.

BUT all of these issues have relatively simple ways they can be solved.

When you screen for connection to mission, for governance vs results and for personal interests, the volunteer can be placed in the position that will maximize results and minimize burnout.

When committee chairs are placed effectively and given training in supervision, the volunteer will see results and have a sense of fulfilling the mission to which they are connected.

When the Board is focused on governance and creates a management team, the volunteer will function in an effective and rewarding environment.

None of these steps are expensive. They do require an experienced person to help create the operating system.

We do can help do that.

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photo credit: DieselDemon

Inver Hills Community College Inver Grove Heights, MN beginning September 28, 2010

Minneapolis Community and Technical College Minneapolis, MN beginning September 29, 2010

Nonprofit Organization and Operation: A Hands-on, How-to Approach is designed for nonprofit entrepreneurs and volunteer leaders from organizations somewhere between the “start up” and the “staff up” phases. By taking an approach that is tailored to the needs of class participants, the course will help you to develop an organization with the means and resources to be successful. Topics of the course will include but not be limited to:
Beginning a nonprofit
Recruiting and organizing board members
Building committees and leaders
Building and leading a management team
Recruiting and placing volunteers
Creating plans and measuring results
Operating a results oriented organization
Creating resources
Communications

The course will use lecture, small group discussion, peer-to-peer discussion of issues brought in by participants, and case studies. There will be assignments to be completed outside of class, with the opportunity for feedback each week. You’ll have the opportunity to discover resources here that will help you focus your efforts as you move through the various steps of launching a functioning nonprofit organization.

Nancy Lublin has once again hit a nail on the head with her new column in Fast Company March 2010.

Read it and learn.

In addition to her suggestions to organizations: 1. Don’t be crazy. 2 Ground people, don’t grind them. 3. Give them a break.

I go back to my big three: 1. Get you committee chairs off the Board. 2. Have a management team. 3. Screen and assign volunteers based on their interests and abilities.

Have you just got one started?

Where do you go for technical assistance?

What questions do you need to answer as a nonprofit entrepreneur before you organize a new nonprofit?

You can find a lot of information on boards and board training.

You also need to know about how to find, screen and assign volunteers. How to select and train committee chairs.

Another area that most organizations miss is the management team. You need to be able to create and run a management team in an all volunteer organization.

I  will be dealing with all of these questions and other topics.
photo credit: BozDoz

Does the communication and decision making in your organization get hijacked?

A friend recently shared with me and an interesting observation:

In both emails,…, I think we have examples of what I might call Management by the Many, or Management by Email Group. In other words, anyone who has an agenda can simply put an email group together, sent out their communication to the group, and either go ahead with their plan feeling as though they have the whole group’s agreement and that they are acting in the best interests of the organization, or hope to get feedback and then take action – hence, Management by sending an email to the group of your choice.

Organizational process and communication need to be two way at all times. The flow needs to be from the Board to the Director to Committee Chairs to members, guests and email recipients – and back up – equally in both directions.

Corporations have trouble with this. Why should we expect nonprofits to be any better?

Have you had problems with this? How have you solved them?

photo credit: Lars Plougmann