At this year’s Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp, Vance Yoshida, Senior Manager at La Piana Consulting, and Lynn Luckow, CEO of Craigslist Foundation, presented an informative session on "Governing Boards: From Good to Great." Vance and Lynn provided useful tips on a common and difficult issue for many nonprofits: how to create and maintain a strong […]
governance
Leadership Through Board Service – YNPNsfba
Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at an event for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (YNPNsfba) on “Leadership Through Board Service” with Bruce Marcus, San Francisco State University Instructor of Volunteer and Board Management, Ann Lehman, Planning and Policy Specialist and Partner at Zimmerman Lehman, […]
Leadership Through Board Service – YNPNsfba Program on May 24
NEO Law Group's Emily Chan is one of the expert panelists discussing Leadership Through Board Service, a 2-hour program on Tuesday, May 24, starting at 6:15 pm, hosted by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of the San Francisco Bay Area (YNPNsfba). Emily will be joined by: Ann Lehman, Nonprofit Planning and Policy Specialist and Author of […]
Highlights of the BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2010
The BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2010, released at the 2010 Leadership Forum in San Francisco, reports on data collected from surveys of 978 chief executives and 780 board members (all BoardSource members as of the survey date). While the sampling methodology did not allow for results that are representative of the sector as a whole (e.g., […]
Three Cups of Tea Scandal Offers Lessons for Charities & Trustees
Teaching moment? Read our opinion piece in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Three Cups of Tea Scandal Offers Lessons for Charities and Trustees. Here’s a teaser: Consider public expectations in every report and publication. View the informational tax return as a public-disclosure document, not just an IRS form. Watch for potential conflicts of interests involving top […]
Form 990 Policies – Is it better to check “yes” or “no”?
The questions regarding certain governance policies referenced by the revised Form 990 have caused quite a stir since the revised Form 990 was released. Scattered throughout the Form 990 (2010) are governance questions which may be influenced by the presence or lack of policies, such as: Conflict of Interest Policy (Part VI, Section B) Executive […]
5 Questions for Nonprofits
The “5 Questions” title is a popular one, and I’ve seen a couple of good ones this week (thank you, Twitter!). The first was written by Nell Edgington for Social Velocity; the second is from Charting Impact, a joint project of Independent Sector, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and Guidestar USA. Social Velocity: 5 Hard Questions […]
BoardSource Leadership Forum 2010 – Part II: Top Ten Legal Risks for Nonprofit Boards
In the session “Top 10 in 2010: Legal Risks Facing Nonprofit Boards” at the BoardSource Leadership Forum 2010, Melanie Lockwood Herman, Nonprofit Management Risk Center, and Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum, Venable LLP, presented their list of the top ten legal risks facing nonprofit boards: Exposures from social media use, misuse, and naiveté Going rogue: the unhappy […]
Board Recruitment Demonstration Project
Hildy Gottlieb, a highly respected author and consultant to nonprofits, is leading the creation of a new charitable nonprofit, Creating the Future (CtF), that will recruit its founding board based on the process outlined on her best-selling board recruitment manual. Gottlieb describes the three critical sets of qualities to be considered: The Must-Have Qualities: Those qualities we […]
Not Just a Resume Booster: Tips for evaluating a nonprofit before joining the board of directors
Today is your lucky day. You received an offer to join a board of directors of a nonprofit and you readily accept. You cannot be more excited. It seems like a perfect fit. It has a mission you care about and you cannot help but think how great it will look on your resume. But […]