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 their mouth is.” It is the second part of a two-part series. If the only time a grant maker’s advisors or consultants are people of color is when it’s sourcing…
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 in their grant making. It is the first part of a two part series. In particular, we should require every grant maker that publicly shared they were focused on 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 said to watch in 2021. Nic shares her thoughts about the 2 trends – diligence and governance – that she said we should watch last year and what has happened…
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.
Build Up Companies
The Build Up Companies team is made up of people located across the world.
