Customizing boards and committees

One of the most important aspects of operating a nonprofit is to have a board which can give direction to the organization. Without being comprehensive in terms of board duties, it must set policy, manage investments, handle personnel issues, raise...

Governance Q&A: Termination clauses in job offer letters

How ethical is it for a nonprofit health care agency to force employees to sign job offer letters saying they agree to let the organization terminate them for any reason and without cause, both during probation and after probation? A...

The key governance questions all boards must answer

It seems that a recurring frustration for volunteers and chief staff officers in the sector is governance — specifically, how to define the roles and responsibilities of the board of directors and staff, consistently follow what has been agreed to,...

Being the best (board) volunteer you can be

It seems there are never enough volunteers to go around. It also seems that too often, people agree to take on volunteer roles without knowing what they’re in for, how much time it will take and the full extent of...

Bill C-470: Transparency, salary capping or knee-capping for the charitable sector?

Late last year, Liberal MP for Mississauga East-Cooksville, Albina Guarnieri, drafted a private member's bill into parliament titled C-470. It passed first reading in October and last month went through its second reading in the House of Commons. While the...

Outcome Measurement: Outcome indicators and influencing factors

This is the fourth in a series of six articles that discuss outcome measurement: what it is, how to do it, and most importantly, how it will help your organization. The content of these articles draws heavily on a framework...

Understanding undue benefit

Charities in Canada are not allowed to bestow undue benefit, a situation where an individual, corporation, or other entity receives a tangible benefit from their involvement with a particular charity. This is a very important issue for charities to understand...

Making strategy happen

The value in planning is not in creating strategy but in implementing it. The purpose of planning includes seeing the positive, tangible results accruing to the organization by instituting and achieving strategic change. Yet too many organizations see their planning...

Governance Q&A: Helping volunteers exit gracefully

Shouldn’t a good organization provide a committee chair with a graceful way to exit within a reasonable time frame? Most of our organizations are highly dependent on the contributions of skilled and passionate individuals, and our lives would be much...

Virtual assistants: Increase your productivity while decreasing your office expenditures

With the state of the current economy, saving money while growing your organization is of the utmost importance. In order to focus on the strategy and development required to take your work to the next level you need two key...