An Evaluation Myth: Evaluation Is Too Expensive
Nancy Rosenbaum, Director of Research and Evaluation, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)

Many in the non-profit community have an aversion to evaluation because they say it costs too much. With funding for programs in short supply, leaders in many non-profit organizations would rather devote resources to services than to evaluation projects. Up until recently, this was certainly the case at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) a youth development organization where I work. What led to this change and how has it affected our work?
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Developing Resources of the Community for the Community
John Vogelsang, Associate Director, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

The US Census Bureau projects that by 2050 Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino/as, Native Americans, and other people of non-European descent will represent over half of the U.S. population. In New York City, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans currently comprise over 60 percent of the population. In San Francisco Bay County, Asian Americans alone are 30.8 percent of the population. Though generally still behind that of the non-Hispanic white population, incomes are also rising among these groups leading to more interest on the part of mainstream charities and foundations to tap this new wealth. However, ethnic groups have been stereotyped as receivers, not givers, and many mainstream foundations, community trusts, and nonprofits still need to develop culturally sensitive approaches to engaging these donors. They also need to examine how their focus on engaging and serving wealthy individual donors is impacting the larger purposes of the respective communities. Emmett Carson and others have said that the interest in tapping the new wealth may be a continuation of the major shift in community foundation's philosophy from being a collective voice for the shared interests of the community to serving those with the most resources. Instead of influencing community dialogue and fostering shared understanding, foundation's success is being measured in how much they are able to build a larger asset base.
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Effective Fund Raising For Human Service Organizations
(from the Journal for Nonprofit Management, Vol. 1, 1997)
Bonnie Osinski, Consultant (formerly Director of Development, Glaucoma Foundation)

Many of the basic fund raising principles which have proven to be effective over time are based on the experience of large hospitals and universities. The knowledge gained from work in these institutions has made an enormous contribution to the core technology of the entire fund raising profession.
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Executive Transitions: Nonprofit and Grantmaker Opportunities
Don Crocker, Executive Director, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

A dramatic increase in the turnover of executive leadership within the nonprofit sector is imminent. Research indicates that the nonprofit sector is undergoing leadership transitions at a rate never before experienced. Change is always a challenge, but within every change there is both risk and opportunity.
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Fostering Sustainable Collaborative Relationships
(from the Journal for Nonprofit Management, Vol. 3, 1999
John Vogelsang, Associate Director, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

As nonprofits face reduced funding and greater competition for resources, the era of independent institution building is quickly giving way to an era of collaborative relationship building. While collaboration is a concept and process that has been around and tried for some time, many are still uncertain about what it is and how to foster a sustainable collaborative relationship.
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Futuring: A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach to Strategic Planning
John Vogelsang, Associate Director, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

Strategic planning continues to be one of the most frequently requested nonprofit consulting services. Client's constructs of what strategic planning is, however, range from a one-day board and staff retreat to a six-month or longer process involving extensive research of trends, opportunities, and challenges. Most express the hope that the process will help them develop the "right" plan that will provide a map to the future or at least position their organization to survive for the next three to five years. Those who want to conduct extensive research often express the belief that if they can gather the right amount of quality information they can avoid predictable pitfalls and bring about desired outcomes.
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Making the Most of the Internal Interim Directorship
Robert I. Goler, Assistant Professor in the Arts Management Program, American University. Robert I. Goler was recently awarded a Fellowship in Museum Practice to continue his research on interim directors at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Education and Museum Studies. He can be reached at rgoler@american.edu.

When a nonprofit organization's director leaves in a time of financial pressure, most boards appoint an internal staff member as the interim leader. Executive searches are expensive, and most institutions welcome the temporary "budget bonus" created by an internal appointment because four out of every five dollars often go toward salary costs. While recent management literature has suggested that nonprofits benefit from the designation of independent professionals as interim directors when their leaders leave the organization, relatively few organizations choose that path. For small, under-funded agencies hiring an independent professional is seldom an option. But what are the effects of the decision to appoint an internal staff member for this transitional leadership role?
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Strengthening Boards of Nonprofit Organizations
(from the Journal for Nonprofit Management, Vol. 5, 2001)
Anne Gardon, Organization Development Consultant, Strategies for Change

Nonprofit organizations spend significant time and resources convening boards of directors with mixed results. On the one hand, there are organizations that have forged meaningful board roles and practices that effectively advance their mission and community interests. These boards have successfully translated models of nonprofit governance to their particular organization, or they have crafted their own framework for board functioning from the unique purpose, history and values of their organization.
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Values Based Organization Development
(from the Journal for Nonprofit Management, Vol. 2, 1998)
John D. Vogelsang, Associate Director, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

Many for-profits are finding that in order to respond quickly to constantly shifting markets, they need structures and systems that are clearly defined yet flexible, fully implemented yet capable of rapid change. Many for-profits have also instituted decentralized structures that rely less on control by a central office and more on a shared sense of belonging to the same company. This type of organization structure requires a shared understanding of their core purpose and core values and how to continually use that ideological base to reshape their strategic directions and structures.
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