A Cornucopia of Ideas

In honor of Thanksgiving, here is a collection of ideas, thoughts, and concepts from the 2009 BoardSource Leadership Forum….

…Foundations are looking more closely at Organization’s financials, they are looking for Organization’s that are sustainable who will be around long after the grant money is used…lagging economic indicators include giving so as the economy recovers giving may still decrease…Board members should include “ask me about (my nonprofit)” in their email signature tags to raise awareness about their nonprofit….millennials are excited about the nonprofit sector and see it as a desirable life career, not just a volunteer activity…
…the new 990 is only the beginning of IRS regulations that will affect nonprofits….pay attention to social entrepreneurs who look at social change differently…things aren’t broken, they are broken open….nonprofits need to market community value…
…a problem in the nonprofit sector is the 1.5 million small, disconnected nonprofits each going their own way, nonprofits need to merge or collaborate more…the Board and the Executive Director are responsible for determining strategy, the Executive Director is responsible for executing strategy… make sure you are measuring the right things…and one of my favorites…if you haven’t failed, you haven’t experimented enough

…the list goes on, but each of these items by themselves could be a post on its own…all good food for thought---without the calories of the Thanksgiving feast!