Blog
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Scary nonprofit quotes
In honor of Halloween 2021, here are the the scariest things I’ve heard from nonprofit leaders. These are paraphrases as I wasn’t writing them down at the time. If you…
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Effective board governance in a nutshell
Not every one of my client engagements involves work with a board of directors, but enough do that I can safely say I’ve worked with a lot of boards and…
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Facilitating hybrid meetings
Good facilitation is a core part of my work. Since I had already begun facilitating many meetings online pre-pandemic, the switchover to all virtual meetings for the last 16 months…
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Five ideas for staying focused as an executive
Quite a few times in my years as a consultant, I’ve encountered Executive Directors who accomplish tasks very effectively. Their writing is cogent. Documents they produce are always well-formatted. They…
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The bricklayer parable and nonprofits
An Executive Director working for a former client recently invited me out to have lunch at a park and then go kayak on the river with her. We spent most…
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Investment Plans as a strategic planning tool
In many strategic planning processes, prioritization among competing potential ideas or strategies becomes the linchpin of the process. If organizational identity isn’t at stake (e.g. vision/mission), the organization doesn’t face…
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Ticket to Ride and nonprofit leadership
One of my pandemic “weaknesses” has been the amount of time I’ve spent playing Ticket to Ride – the online version. For those not familiar with the game, you can…
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The Ten Commandments of Fundraising
When I first became Executive Director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, one of my early conversations was with Sam Schuchat, who was my counterpart at the California LCV.…
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Naive optimism
I recently was speaking with Amanda Caffall, who helped start and currently leads the Commons Law Center, a relatively new nonprofit. The Center is clearly thriving, even with the challenges…
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Strategic Planning and the board-ED relationship
I recently wrote an article for Blue Avocado on the board-Executive Director relationship. When I talk to nonprofit leaders about strategic planning, they often voice some of the obvious benefits…