We did it, nonprofit leaders. We made it to the last month of 2021.

You’ve gone above and beyond all day long, all year long. That was true all day long, all year long in 2020, and in the years before as well.

But right now, you might be feeling like you are running low on fuel.

With the holiday season in full swing, I can not stress enough how important it is for you to take advantage of any time you have right now to rest, recharge, and replenish your energy.

I recently had time to do this as we began our yearly celebration of Hanukkah in my household. And as I took some time to reflect on the story behind this special time, I realized that there is a very important lesson for every nonprofit leader in the miracle of Hanukkah.

So if you have been feeling the nonprofit burnout creeping in lately, I invite you to watch this video to learn what it is. No matter what holidays or festivities you participate in during this time of year, this lesson just might be the inspiration you need to keep your passion for the work fully ignited.

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It was my first day on the job at GLAAD. I sat down to meet with our then Director of Finance, and he nearly wept as I pulled my HP 12c calculator out of my backpack.

Why so much emotion?

At that moment, I didn’t know if it was because he could see that I knew numbers and that maybe, just maybe, I could help save the place…OR if he was thinking, “Holy smokes – she knows numbers. She’s going to get one look at these and get on the next plane back to NY.”

Turns out it was the former.

Now I want to be clear: I did not have a background in Finance… but I didn’t have math anxiety either.

That’s because thanks to a most excellent boss over at MTV Networks, a really nice and awfully smart man named Mayo Stuntz, I learned something very essential — numbers tell a story.

Back then, numbers told us a story that led us to create the MTV Video Music Awards and then its Merchandising Program (pretty darned good stories they were too!).

These days, I meet at least quarterly with my business manager. As she ticks and ties the numbers, I ask tons of questions that usually go something like, “So what’s the story this year-to-date P&L tells me? What’s going well? Where are the red flags?”

When you ask the right questions and learn how to get to the bottom of the story, budgeting actually becomes really simple. Like a finance person I once worked with told me a while back, “It’s only a budget.” I laughed then (odd words coming from the lead bean counter), but now I get what she meant by this:

A budget is just a benchmark. A good, solid set of numbers that reflect what you know and what might be terrific estimates (as well as a few shots in the dark).

And as a nonprofit executive director, it is your job to make your best effort to create this set of benchmark numbers and then (here’s the really important part) tell the story behind the numbers in a way that all board members, regardless of financial literacy, will really understand.

To help you to do that, I have developed an easy-to-use nonprofit operating budget template. You’ll find a bunch of them on the internet but they are just that — templates. What I’m going to offer you is a basic template and also some advice on how to best use it to tell the story behind the numbers. Because as I said above, the numbers tell a story — but you need to learn how to tell it.

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You’ve all heard it: “Sure, we can do a retreat, but PLEASE no icebreakers!”

These words were probably uttered by a board chair or executive director whose sharing skills are about as good as mine were 15-20 years ago. That was around the time when I led my first nonprofit retreat as an executive director — I wasn’t big on sharing.

So you can imagine how terrified I was when I heard the request, “Tell us something the rest of the group doesn’t know about you.”

My heart thumped. My mind raced. Would anyone care about my vintage baseball collection?

Then, a staffer volunteered to share first, “I’ve decided to transition to become a man.”

I figured out two things at that moment. First, I learned that icebreakers can be very powerful. Second, I learned that I had to do better than my stinkin’ baseball card collection.

When it comes down to it, there are two big reasons why nonprofit leaders (and people in general) hate icebreakers:

1. Most icebreakers are terribly, horribly awful. (read: they suck.)
2. People don’t understand why they matter (and how powerful they can be).

The good news is that we can fix both of these in just one post! Seriously.

You see, these two problems are related. Once you figure out why they matter, you can design icebreakers that don’t suck and that meet their intended goal.

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Our Board Treasurer and Director of Finance were presenting our $5mm budget and back then (late 90s) there was always a conversation about the cost/benefit of direct mail.

Fair enough. After all, snail mail can cost a lot to send and the direct return is not often that great.

But then a board member brought up that “piercingly strategic” question. Yes, that’s sarcasm.

“So what is the cost of a first class stamp?”

We have a $5mm budget and this board member’s primary concern is the cost of a first class stamp? Talk about tripping over pennies on your way to dollars.

Two big takeaways from this story…

1. Board members should ask questions.
2. Board members should not ask every question.

So I thought I’d offer ten suggestions about the kinds of questions they should ask.

But BE FOREWARNED!

In this list, there is not a single softball question. And some of these questions may get the Executive Director’s hackles up.

Whatever hackles are.

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It bears repeating: Founders are remarkable.

You won’t catch them sitting idly by waiting for things to get done. They have this unique kind of social vision that enables them to spot the gaps that need to be filled and the problems that need to be solved in their communities.

But, things begin to get a bit more challenging for nonprofit founders the moment someone says, “I’d like to donate.”

If you’re like many founders, this is likely the first time you’ve even thought about building a board.

So where do you start?

Most founders start with what I call the “FOF” board. FOF stands for “Friends of the Founder”. I’m talking about your tight knit circle. Maybe family, or even chosen family–either way they are 150% behind your mission and delighted to say, “Yes!”

They probably have no idea what they’re saying yes to. Maybe you don’t really know either.

WHERE MANY FOUNDERS DROP THE BALL

Way too often, FOF boards develop into what I call a “Make Way for Ducklings” board.

So many founders make the mistake of filling their first board with ducklings – folks who say “let me know how I can help,” but are unavailable, unqualified, or just simply unsure of how to contribute.

Why?

Because it takes time to find board members you really need and the paperwork is due TODAY.

Your first board may start this way, but with a different perspective and some fine tuning, you can make something different happen. You can set your organization on the path to “built to last.”

Here’s the recipe…Continue Reading