Organizational Management

MYTH: I didn’t apply to IRS for 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status, so I don’t have to file Federal annual nonprofit tax returns.

MYTH: For my new nonprofit, I will put all family members on the board of directors, and we will control the organization.

MYTH: Nonprofits are not allowed to make a profit from their activities.

MYTH: I am going to convert my for-profit business to a nonprofit business.

Good news! You’ve submitted a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) and been invited to follow up with a full proposal. Now it’s time to actually write the thing. Here’s a system for making sure that your proposal is inclusive, accurate and compelling. It takes a little time but it’s worth it.

There are about 4,000 chambers of commerce across the country that have at least one staff person. Membership can include one-person enterprises, very small “mom-and-pop” stores, small firms, local manufacturers, all kinds of companies that deliver all kinds of goods and services to the community. Why should a nonprofit organization consider joining the local chamber? Here are a few ideas about how chamber of commerce membership might benefit your nonprofit organization.

Covid-19 and the shutdown have put the role of nonprofit boards in sharp focus. It’s a good time to reexamine your understandings and expectations of your organization’s board. What is it that boards actually do for a nonprofit? A good way to think about it is to remember the “required and elective” scheme.

Your nonprofit has done an assessment of board membership and determined that you need a few new members to fill particular roles and responsibilities. Instead of simply asking friends if they want to join, consider doing a search as if you were hiring a senior executive.

The question always comes up: “Who’s on your board and why did they join?” Some of the worst answers are often the most common: “They’re a few friends of the founder. . . the executive director just went out and appointed some people. . . they joined years ago, nobody knows what motivated them.” Nonprofit boards are too important to be left to this kind of random “personal roundup.”

Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli historian and author, says that for humans to make it into the next chapter of our story, we need two things: resilience and the capacity to embrace and survive the big changes we will face. Resilience isn’t a dreamy concept, it’s a real thing. It’s the ability to “bounce back” after an injury or accident or catastrophe. Here are some ways to help people, and nonprofits, get back up after the knockdown blows of 2020.