How Charity Boards Can Make the Move from Operations to Strategy and Governance

One of the biggest challenges for board members of small charities is finding a healthy balance between focusing on operational responsibilities and making time for strategy and governance. It is especially difficult for charities with little or no paid staff, as the board will often be tasked with taking over the key operational activities required…

Nonprofit Toolkit Thursday: Business Continuity Plan

For this month's Toolkit Thursday, I look at a risk management tool for organizations to plan for disruption to their daily operations. In the face of COVID-19, many businesses have had to shift their focus or quickly react to accommodate operational challenges involving workplace access restrictions. And while it is impossible to anticipate every scenario…

Nonprofit Toolkit Thursday: Social Return on Investment (SROI) Analysis

For this month's Toolkit Thursday, I wanted to focus on a tool that communicates to stakeholders the tremendous value of the work charities and nonprofits do. Who can use it? Nonprofits and charities looking to measure quantitatively the social value of their organisation’s work and report to funders or policy makers about how money invested in…

Nonprofit Toolkit Thursday: Risk Register

For this month's Toolkit Thursday, I feature a strategic resource for organizations to help them identify and mitigate risks. I did a deep dive on this tool back in October, but I wanted to include it in the Toolkit posts to give a really simple intro into the Whos, Whats, and Whys. Who can use it? Boards…

Nonprofit Toolkit Thursday: Annual Board Calendar

For this month's Toolkit Thursday, I feature a key governance planning tool for boards: the Annual Board Calendar. As 2019 winds down, it’s natural to think about the upcoming year and what you want to accomplish over the next 12 months as it relates to your own personal and professional goals, but this same forward…

Being an Effective Board Member: Outside the Boardroom

I will admit that serving (yes, serving not ‘sitting’) on a board is not for everyone, but it is a rewarding experience for anyone who wants to expand their professional skills, tackle important strategic problems in our community, and work on implementing good governance and risk mitigation controls.

Developing a Risk Register: How? Why? And what next?

We do a proper inventory of supplies and goods for sale - but what about an organization's risks? Shouldn't we prioritize knowing our inventory of assumed risks more than knowing how much ink cartridges and toilet paper we have on hand? A risk register is a very important strategic resource for organizations to help them…