The association community owes a great deal of gratitude to Dr. John Carver. The fundamental governance/management principle, “The board sets policy and the staff implements policy” has been recognized for well over fifty years. Yet it is largely because of Carver’s work that the term “governance” has been added to the lexicon of modern association […]
Your organization benefits greatly from the swift, conclusive decisions of your board. They create policy, clarify direction, and ultimately establish the foundation for forward movement within the organization. But what happens when the board stalls in their decision-making role? How can you help your indecisive board get back on track? Also read: Emphasizing the Objective […]
Helping to run a successful Non-Profit Organization (NPO) is difficult during the best of times but when there are conflicts among board members, especially when these problems involve high-ranking board members, those who have been members of the board for many years, or individuals who are prominent in the community, things can go south exceptionally […]
That counsel was printed on the cover of the booklet that sat atop a stereo system that I recently purchased. “To obtain the best possible performance read the manual – ‘carefully and thoroughly’.” Read the manual – an unfamiliar concept to most of us when we purchase new equipment – even more alien when it […]
A meeting can be the most effective way of unleashing the creative energy, the imagination, and the hands on ability of volunteers and staff. Or a meeting can be the most ineffective, time-wasting frustrating experience ever inflicted upon volunteer and staff. Something we’ve learned over the years is that the problem isn’t the meeting itself, […]
Monitoring the performance of the board and the CEO is an important role of the board of directors, and more NPOs are assigning a higher priority to this role than in past years. AMC surveys of NPOs have shown fairly consistent growth in the use of written appraisals of board members (from 11% in 2005 […]
If you’ve ever wondered what the fundamental differences are between the Traditional, Carver and Complementary Models, we have broken down the differences for you in the below comprehensive chart. Traditional Traditional Complementary Complementary Carver Carver Function Board role Staff role Board role Staff role Board role Staff role Strategic Planning Approves Provides limited input […]
How are you leveraging membership to assist in governance and management of your not-for-profit organization (NPO)? This is an important question we asked a NPO during a recent refresher session on the Complementary Model of Board Governance. Their answer. “We don’t have committees”. After digging deeper, we discovered that they have informal “working groups” doing […]
It is estimated that there are over 300,000 not-for-profit organizations* operating in Canada. This number includes: charitable organizations, such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Community Living organizations; trade associations, such as the Roofing Contractors Association; professional groups such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants; professional regulatory groups such as the College of Teachers; […]
One of the most significant differences between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations is in how they gauge organizational achievement. In for-profit organizations, success is often measured by the organization’s stakeholders simply by looking at the “profit” generated by the organization. For publicly-traded companies, success is frequently tied to the share price of the organization’s stock. It […]
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