When Key Staff Leaves...

I had a board chair call me the other day (in a harried fit) saying their executive director had died recently – and had worked almost to the end before her cancer at the age of 47 caught up with her. Unfortunately, the Board Chair of this small nonprofit discovered a number of office problems as she tried to fill in as “key staff” until a new Executive Director could be hired. She found that she:

• Didn’t have the passwords to get into the website or the email system to change and update information
• Didn’t have the password to get into the computer or QuickBooks files
• Had to spend hours digging for “key contact” information – like their bankers name and number, account information, the name and contact information of the attorney or CPA or insurance agent
• Couldn’t make sense of the files – the Executive Director had her own mystical filing system and it worked…for her
• Didn’t know what grants were coming in, going out, or needed reporting
• Didn’t know if the annual State and Federal organizational information had been filed

Succession planning for key staff is one of the most important activities a board can do. It fulfills the requirements that a board must be “stewards” of the organization. Planning can be done in a few hours with key staff and the board attending the session. A good facilitator can calmly take everyone through what can be dicey and emotional discussions and decisions about what critical information is needed and what the transition process is when staff leaves – either suddenly or in a plan-full way.

I will always remember what a trainer said to us once at a workshop for volunteer directors: “In times of trouble, structure is your friend”.

Once the succession plan is laid out and documented, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and move on. Although pass words and other items may need to be updated several times a year, for the most part, their succession plan only needs to be reviewed every other year or so, or when big changes occur, like adding lots of staff or expanding programming.

Don’t be caught like this board chair who rang off the line with the exasperated comment “It would have taken so little planning to save so much time!” She is right.

The Buck Stops Where? Funding Your Non-Profit

“Fundraising report?” says the Board Chair at the monthly board meeting. “We have a movie night coming up where we hope to raise $1,500 for the organization. How is everybody doing on ticket sales?”

While this conversation is going on at the Board level, the Executive Director is holding her head and doing what we call “the Van Gogh Scream," that silent open mouth scream (from the painting by Edvard Munch). The organization needs about $30,000 to make up for lost individual giving this year. A movie night won’t cut it. The Board happily moves on to other items on the agenda, cheerfully unaware they are three months away from doom if they don’t get off their duffs.

Most of the time, board members don’t raise funds because, frankly, they don’t know how, and fundraising structure isn’t in place. Here are three things every board member should know about fundraising:

1. It is your job to manage fundraising. In Oregon, it is the responsibility of the board of directors to oversee the organization’s financial affairs – including making sure there are enough funds to deliver the organizational mission.
2. The board should have a fundraising plan, just like a business would, that is tied to an annual budget for the coming year (or two). The plan should identify funding gaps and costs of new organizational programming, and how the gaps and programs will be funded.
3. The board can delegate fundraising tasks lots of ways – to a committee, to an outside fundraising source, to the Executive Director or other key staff. Remember: no matter who you delegate the tasks to, the Board of Directors is responsible for fiscal management and the protection of assets.

In small organizations, we find that most friction and finger pointing occurs between staff and the board over fundraising. With a good funding plan in place and financial gaps targeted for the coming year, as well as a plan on who will do what in the organization to meet the demands of a budget shortfall, the tension will subside and keep energies focused on moving forward. And the Executive Director won’t have that, you know, silent scream look.