"Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation which is not nourishing to the whole woman.” -Maya Angelou

Coming into Public Allies, I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I thought I would do was learn about nonprofit organizations or maybe do some volunteering. Mostly, I just wanted to get my foot in the door of the nonprofit sector. After graduating from MCC, I was confused about what I wanted to do with my degree. I knew I was supposed to have all of these new opportunities open up for me, but I didn’t even know where to start looking. When you spend all your adult life working a job you hate because it provides the income needed to support your family, you don’t really think about what you would do if you could do anything else. I came across Public Allies and it looked like a great program. It was like a paid internship where I would learn about nonprofit organizations, and receive an education award at the end. I was more than excited to apply.

“Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.” -Roy T. Bennett

This year I have learned a lot about myself. These valuable lessons have been, in most cases, more personal than professional. Because of Public Allies, I learned my peers consider me a…

Skip the resolutions and let’s talk about goal setting for your nonprofit. July 1 represents a new fiscal year for many nonprofits, a time to review programs and previous goals to be sure they’re aligned with the mission and to establish new benchmarks. Without a clear plan, your nonprofit will likely serve less people than you intend. Where do you begin?

Start with WHY.

The reason we say ditch resolutions is because they’re often not well thought out so they fail. We want your nonprofit to be successful in its mission. 

Simon Sinek reminds us to think about why we’re doing what we’re doing. Honestly, whether you’re in nonprofit or for-profit work, remembering the reason you’re serving a particular group is vital to moving the organization forward. 

What will you do differently this year? Review the mission statement - cure cancer, end homelessness, provide affordable housing for working families - whatever it is, ask yourself if the programs from last year helped the organization reach its goals.  

From WHY comes strategic planning and goal setting.

Develop and refine short-term and long-term goals. Working with key staff and board members, identify areas of improvement as well as past winning strategies. 

• What are the short-term goals? These are measured in…

Nonprofit executives play a critical role in the performance of the organizations they lead. Executive turnover can be tumultuous and costly for an organization in terms of money and effectiveness. By planning for the transition, organizations can minimize the risks and costs while taking advantages of the opportunities it brings. Several strategies can help nonprofits to plan and manage a successful leadership transition:

Build Board Capacity

Hiring and supervising the executive director is one of a board’s key responsibilities, yet many boards are underprepared for the transition and lack the experience needed to manage the process, according to Michael Allison in “Into the Fire: Boards and Executive Transitions."

Training and educating board members on the executive transition process can help prepare them for this important responsibility. Organizations can also seek to recruit board members who can be strong leaders during the transition. 

Focus on the Opportunities

Boards often view the executive hiring process as a simple problem of filling a vacant position, according to Don Tebbe, Amanda J. Stewart, Mary Bear Hughes, and Tom Adams in “Executive Succession: Closing the Gap Between Ideals and Practice.” By assessing the organization’s current position as well as its vision for the future, the board can…

Member based nonprofits and trade associations have been consistently losing ground in the volunteer sector and are challenged with remaining relevant and retaining members. In a field that is known for the lack of capacity building and infrastructure funding, nonprofits must be strategic in how they allocate time, treasure, and talent. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “nonprofit leaders must focus more attention on innovation, measuring the impact of their efforts, and creating funding structures that encourage risk taking, according to a report  from Independent Sector." An approach that member-based organizations may consider from the private sector is Lean Startup, which provides a scientific approach to creating and managing startups in order to get a desired product into customers' hands faster. The Lean Startup method teaches you how to drive a startup: how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It is a principled approach to new product development. Applying this concept to nonprofits is another accepted means to include the nonprofit sector as a viable player in the business sector, with management capabilities that are equal or exceed the private sector in efficiency.

Taking risks in the business sector is considered research and development. It can drive up costs (pharmaceuticals…

If your nonprofit is serious about long-term sustainability, succession planning needs to be part of the overall plan for the organization. The team has poured their hearts and souls into setting goals, developing strategies, and recruiting staff and volunteers, only to have all that work potentially go to waste when a leader leaves the organization. Disruption happens and the more prepared the organization is for change, the better for long-term success.

Write it down:

BoardSource reports that only 27 percent of all organizations have a written executive succession plan. That means nearly three quarters do not. In the event the executive director leaves, there will be a transition time to not only figure out an interim leader but a process to identify a new one. Without a written plan, assumptions may be made that aren’t aligned with the overall vision and resources spent to start a process that should have already been happening. 

If there is not written succession plan, consider the following:

• How can the existing leader help with the transition process? It can take months to find the right replacement even in the best of circumstances. The current leader can provide feedback about the organization from their unique…