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June 2006. Issue # 2
IN THIS ISSUE:
News: Build Capacity: Your Fiscal Department Can Be a Resource
Tools: Planning for Success
Transitions: Successful Recruitment
Welcome to Our Summer Newsletter!
Whether you're interested in branding, or recruiting, business planning, or just getting more out of your accounting department, you can read about it here. Send us your feedback and suggestions for future issues, and feel free to share this one with your friends, associates and fellow board members. We also invite you to visit our website, www.krasneplows.com, to read more about KrasnePlows and the impact of our work.
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Branding for Nonprofits?
Yes, you can develop your organization's identity without compromising your integrity or spending a fortune. Read DK Holland's great new book, Branding for Nonprofits: Developing Identity with Integrity, to demystify the concept and see how nonprofits of all sectors can benefit. It is chock-full of real world examples that can help you explain what it takes to become brand-savvy, and why it should be a priority for any forward-thinking nonprofit.
Go to DKHolland.com and find out more about the author and her work.
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News: Make Your Fiscal Department a Resource, not an Obstacle
"We can't get our contracts vouchers out on time!" is a cry we hear frequently. The good news -- agencies have secured more contracts over the years, expanding programs, adding staff; the bad news -- their fiscal departments haven’t kept up. Staff’s skills and accounting systems haven’t evolved to meet changing needs. Late cash in the door makes for unhappy vendors waiting to be paid; delayed, even inaccurate accounting entries lead to out of date and unreliable financial reports.
Whether as interim Chief Financial Officer or on a project basis, we identified and eliminated major obstacles: staff with vague, overlapping job responsibilities; time-consuming and error-prone procedures arising from unclear, redundant and even manual steps; sophisticated, expensive general ledger systems used as check-writing devices, not set up to report critical receivables or payables detail; and late, incomprehensible financial reports without year-end estimates or cash flow projections.
We meet together with program and fiscal staff so that each begins to understand that the fiscal department is an important and valuable ally, helping to deliver quality programs. Working with various organizations, we may collaborate with our affiliate, Fiscal Management Associates (FMA), and with Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) as part of the FMA/NFF Joint Funder Initiative.
To find out more, click on "Read More" below.
It's really about getting the best value from your fiscal staff and systems so you can focus on delivering quality programs. Read More
Tools For Success: Business Planning for Sustaining a New Venture
It’s very easy for a creative, charismatic executive to believe that his latest idea will attract willing funders and enthusiastic buyers. Many people have the misguided belief that if they build it, someone will buy it. But those who are mindful of limited funding dollars will want to test their innovative new product. We were recently retained to do just that – ascertain the market demand for a new program to spread and sustain innovative new products over time. By interviewing representatives of different market segments, we confirmed the program’s key benefits and possible obstacles, determined the potential demand for the services at what price, and identified program refinements to make it more attractive. Using our findings, we can prepare a realistic business plan based on a solid foundation with reasonable revenues and needed resources for a successful program over the long run.
Finding out what your funders really think about a new program can help you develop a viable program that supports the community you serve. Read More
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Transitions: Successful Recruitment is More Than Filling that Empty Chair: Don't Overlook Cultural Fit and Environmental Factors
The search for a new executive director can be challenging for a board, even when trustees think they have the knowledge to do it themselves. Recently we were engaged with our affiliate, Leadership Recruiters, to assist a board in the middle of a search – they had two internal candidates and some interesting external possibilities, so the board chair tossed and turned every night over making the right decision. Before screening resumes or jumping into candidate interviews, we insisted that the search committee let us do an organizational assessment. Besides the staff and board, we talked to funders and industry experts to understand better the environmental landscape and the agency’s culture. Often these parties are overlooked, yet they can provide the search committee real insight into broader issues, like future funding trends, or how the agency itself is perceived. Invariably we find out more about what the organization may need or unknown opportunities it might realize. The search committee could compare candidates objectively and make a better decision because we helped it identify the decision-making criteria upfront. Already we have seen the board unite in common purpose to ensure its new director’s effectiveness and move the organization forward. Now the board asked us to coach the new executive director during the initial transition to assure her success and build a strong working relationship with her board.
Don’t rush your hiring decisions – asking key stakeholders for advice as part of your leadership change can help ensure a successful leadership transition. Read More
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