The Nonprofit Governance Puzzle: Finding the Perfect Fit for YOUR Organization
Your organization may have the best, most creative and brilliant leadership, but as Yale School of Management’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld described to CNBC: “It’s not crazy to talk about Theranos, or WeWork, Groupon, MySpace, WebMD, or Naptster — so many companies that fall off the cliff because they didn’t have proper governance, they didn’t figure out, how do you get the best of a genius?”
This is just as tr
ue of nonprofits as it is at for-profit organizations. Governance matters, as does accountability. Nonprofits, which pursue a public-benefit mission are granted special privileges, and are subject to distinctive laws, regulations, and reporting requirements. We operate under public trust and are answerable and accountable to a variety of stakeholders including our donors, clients, and constituents. In spite of the energy and good intentions that leadership can bring to the task, nonprofits often struggle to address organizational challenges and sticky situations, or to hold board or staff accountable, because there are no guiding policies or procedures to provide a framework to work off of.
A strong governance framework – with the appropriate “guardrails” – is absolutely essential to a nonprofit organization’s ability to do this successfully and transparently. And there is no “one-size-fits-all”. Since nonprofit boards operate as volunteers, governance in nonprofits becomes – as Dennis D. Pointer and James E. Orlikoff call it in their book, “The High Performance Board: Principles of Nonprofit Governance” – part-time and occasional work. Therefore, having established governance principles – effective bylaws and appropriate policies supported by operating procedures that are specific to your organization – can provide the consistent foundation to good governing decisions.
The purpose of the two-day “The Nonprofit Governance Puzzle: Finding the Perfect Fit for YOUR Organization” workshop is to provide participants (board members and volunteers, CEOs, executive directors, and other nonprofit staff) with a solid foundation of governance principles. It will walk participants through the basics of what an effective governance model may look like for each of their organizations, and will offer in-depth discussion (with examples for participants to use) of the policies and procedures organizations should consider implementing based on their mission, operations, and programs.
Presenter Anjali Kaul Zutshi, Executive Director of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, brings to this workshop her 29+ years of experience in nonprofit fundraising and management, both as a board member as well as an executive herself. Anjali has spent her time in the nonprofit sector understanding and building her knowledge of nonprofit governance, financial management, budgeting, exploring and implementing non-conventional financial mechanisms and structures to help nonprofits succeed in their mission.
DATES/TIME
July 10th & 11th, 2024; 2:00 – 3:30 PM Central Time daily
REGISTRATION
$70 (Early Bird until June 28, 2024, 11:00 PM Central)
$80 (Regular until July 8, 2024, 11:00 PM Central)
PLATFORM
ZOOM (a link will be provided closer to the workshop day)