When something is important enough to you, they say you should “put your money where your mouth is.” What happens when you don’t? Today’s Fast Build is about holding grant makers accountable for equity and inclusion. In it, Nic shares the second recommendation to hold grant makers accountable – ensure they “put their money where…
How do you hold grant makers accountable? Who’s going to do it? We’ll wait…. Today’s Fast Build topic is holding grant makers accountable for equity and inclusion. In it, Nic shares the first of two recommendations for holding grant makers accountable by requiring them to share what they have done or are doing about equity…
Are you asking the same diligence questions that you were asking your grantees 5 years ago? And is your governance structure the last thing on your mind? These questions will reveal if you are keeping up with the shifts occurring within the sector…. Today’s Fast Build topic is about reflecting on the infrastructure trends we…
Think fast: Is your nonprofit a membership corporation? Okay. What decision-making authority do your members have (and we don’t mean board members)?
I’ll wait. 🙂
Did you know that knowing the answers to these questions can strengthen your infrastructure and impact?
Today’s Fast Build topic is the role of membership in governance. Nic explains what statutory membership is and why it is critical that you understand the role membership plays in governance within a nonprofit.
When you are designing your governance structure, ignoring membership will impact the way you are building out your organization. We have to be thoughtful and deliberate about how we include membership into our governance structure and how we intend to work with or without a membership to ensure a nonprofit is building the way it should.
How are you thinking about the role of membership in your organization’s governance? Let us know in the comments!
You can follow the link to watch Episode 48.
Does a #nonprofit organization having a single organizational value make you question its commitment to the work? Do more values = more commitment?
Today’s Fast Build topic is how having too many organizational values can jeopardize your infrastructure.
When an organization has a long list of organizational values listed on its website or in its communication materials, it’s a signal to us that the leadership and team within that organization likely struggle with understanding and articulating what their organizational values are.
We have to stop conflating an increase in the number of organizational values with creating an organization that follows those values. Focusing on identifying core values that resonate with the work and your approach, not more values, is critical to building a strong infrastructure and a sustainable organization.
You can follow the link watch Episode 47.
Do you think you could build a perfect organization? A perfect board? A perfect team? What if we told you that chasing perfection is a race to the bottom?
Today’s Fast Build topic is about pursuing a “continuously improving” infrastructure instead of a “perfect” infrastructure. Nic shares 2 reasons why pursuing a “continuously improving” infrastructure is the goal and why pursuing a “perfect” infrastructure is actually settling.
The first reason is that we live in a dynamic environment that is constantly evolving and changing. The second reason, and it builds on the first, is that when you build an infrastructure with the thinking that it will continuously improve, you have a very different mindset towards the work that you’re doing.
When we aim to continuously improve our infrastructure alongside our work, that is when we can become transformative.
How are you continuously improving? Let us know in the comments!
You can follow the link to watch Episode 46.
Recently, we have seen organizations requesting help with incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into their grant making. We know the issue as soon as we see the request and we know those requests are missing 2 important building blocks.
Today’s Fast Build topic is about how to build an effective grant-making process. Nic shares the third and final building block you need to build an effective grant-making process for your organization.
The third building block is that you must ensure that the core and overall design of the process are equitable and inclusive. This third building block comes after consideration of the first two building blocks, which are understanding your organization’s values and understanding and defining risk.
At each building block phase, you address equity and inclusion in your approach, analysis, discussion, and struggle, and then finally ensure that the entire process has been assembled in this way. After years of building grant-making processes and infrastructure, we do not believe there is any other way to build an effective grant-making process.
How are you thinking about equity and inclusion in your grant-making process? About your values? And about risk?
Let us know in the comments!
You can follow the link to watch Episode 45.
If we separately asked you and a colleague who works closely with you to define risk, would you share the same definition? What if we asked everyone in your organization? Would everyone’s response be the same or would it change based on grantee type, leadership, or location? Is it okay if it does?
Today’s Fast Build topic is about how to build an effective grant-making process. Nic shares the second of 3 building blocks you need to build an effective grant-making process for your organization.
The second building block, based on designing and structuring grant-making processes for many years in different regions of the world, is understanding and defining risk. Unless you get clear on how your definition of risk aligns with your organization’s values, you cannot build an effective grant-making process.
A grant-making process can be effective when the organization pays attention to how it defines risk and struggles well with getting that definition right. Are you struggling well? Let us your thoughts in the comments.
You can follow the link to watch Episode 44.
What if we told you the reason you should build a process, but our actions revealed a different reason…could you build it?
You would be surprised at how many times we build core processes without knowing the “Why” or with conflicting “Why’s.”
Today’s Fast Build topic is about how to build an effective grant-making process. Nic shares the first of 3 building blocks you need to build an effective grant-making process for your organization.
The first building block is that you need to understand your organization’s values. Without understanding and articulating its values, an organization will never build a grant-making process that is effective and allows the organization’s goals and strategy to show up in the way it is awarding funding to organizations and individuals.
This is not a one-time transactional conversation. Instead, it is highly revealing and iterative. And once you define and understand your values, you can then move to the second building block. This building order is critical to creating an effective and sustainable grant-making process.
How are you building your #grantmaking process? Let us know in the comments!
You can follow the link to watch Episode 43.
How do you plan for an organization that does not exist? Have you ever done that? We do it all the time. It is partly why we specialize in creating peace of mind.
Today’s Fast Build topic is about transitioning from concept to public charity. Nic shares the second of two key considerations for transitioning to public charity status. It is the second part of a two-part series.
The second key consideration is to take the time to plan your strategy. This planning includes articulating your vision, mission, priorities, proposed activities, and other goals that you have for your organization. Trust us, the time that you take to think critically about your organization will pay off in multiples.
How do you support your concepts to transition into a public charity? Could you do it even better? Let us know in the comments!
You can follow the link to watch Episode 42