Some people have a ton of skills, making them great candidates for executive director jobs. But do you need to them to demonstrate that they have a strong passion for your work? It’s going to be hard to find someone who has both the skills and passion. Both can be developed, but you have to assess whether they are a good fit for your organization at the current time. Below are some considerations to help you make a decision.
Do your employees struggle to fit in kids’ activities, doctor’s appointments and errands during the work week? Do they use work time to talk to their kids’ teachers or to check in with their elderly parents? Are they feeling overwhelmed with all their responsibilities both at work and at home? Reduce the number of hours they have to work, and everyone wins. Flexible schedules is one benefit most nonprofits can offer, and it is highly valued by employees.
Somehow, American culture has gotten stuck on the idea that 40 hours per week is full-time. In reality, employers can choose to define full-time as fewer hours, and doing so has huge benefits for your workforce.
UPDATE: From October 2018 to December 2019, I was the Healthy Food Access Project Collaboration Manager for Community Action. The final Healthy Food Access report/community assessment is now available.
Further details on the project are below.
We’ve all seen the applicants: yet another middle manager has “found their calling” and wants to transition from a corporate job to a nonprofit position. It’s easy to be skeptical that they just need a job and will leave as soon as they find a higher paying position. But some people really are ready to make the transition from the business world into a cause they care about. How do you find those people and how do you help them make the transition?
It isn’t enough to have every seat filled on your nonprofit’s board. A great board has strong leaders with diverse skills and perspectives, who are willing to step up and grow the organization. Learn to build a stronger board by filling the right seats with the right people and cultivating leaders within. You’ll take back practical ideas to grow your organization. The training is targeted at board chairs and executive directors.
Workshop fee: $15 for Cause Collective Members, $45 for not-yet-members
It can be hard to assess how you compare to other nonprofits. As with any human endeavor, we want to compare ourselves to bigger and better nonprofits, without really knowing the story behind their success. Instead, you are better off steadily improving your organization to be stronger and more resilient based on best nonprofit standards.
The Nonprofit Association of the Midlands provides its Guidelines and Principles for Nonprofits free of charge to Nebraska and Iowa nonprofits.
Executive Transitions WorkshopEvery executive director is going to leave their position. It could be in 6 months, it could be in 16 years. No matter when it is, the transition process will be much smoother if the organization has consistently planned for it.
This training will benefit executive directors and board members, starting by helping you initiate the conversation and proceeding through a full plan for the organization. We will cover all the steps an organization needs to take now to prepare for future transitions whether they are sudden or planned months in advance.
The workshop will include:
Workshop fee: $15 for Cause Collective Members, $45 for not-yet-members
My best employee, the one who had been at the organization the longest, wasn’t performing up to his previous standards. This was the person who had been the person I’d relied on to get things done for the last few years. He had the enthusiasm and passion for the job. But it was getting more and more frustrating to work with him.
As an executive director, your departure brings about a huge change for an organization. It is challenging to know when it is time to leave, both for yourself and for the sake of the organization. How do you decide when it is time to go?
As an executive director, I had a board that I enjoyed working with, but there were friction points. I now realize that the answer to these was simple, I needed a contract.
The truth is that boards aren’t great employers. The board-ED relationship is always a somewhat awkward one. An ED has 9 or 12 or 15 bosses, who are technically supposed to act together, but in reality they don’t always manage to do that. Plus the board composition changes regularly, so the ED’s relationship with them changes as well.