Non-Profit Executive Directors: Do’s and Do Not’s for Using a Grant Writer

Executive Directors (ED) are busy people. They’ve got a lot to deal with from the day-to-day operational stuff to constant fund raising and donor-cultivation. Most ED's of large organizations have a grant writer on staff while in smaller organizations the ED may do most of the grant writing.  Some organizations choose to hire an external grant writer and that can create some confusion about the role of a grant writer.

 

Here are a few Do's and Do Nots for ED's as I have come to understand the proper use of an external grant writer.

Grant research
Do - Provide the researcher with specific direction on fields of interest, types of funding desired, existing grant maker relationships, level of funding desired, list of information desired for each grant maker.
Don't -  “Do Nots” in this category are failing to do the “Do” list!

Preliminary phone calls to assess interest
Do - Better to make these calls yourself; but, if you’re going to ask someone else to make them, have a detailed conversation about what it is you want funding for and how you want to provide the services.
Don't - Ask your grant writer to make these calls simply based on fields of interest.  It will waste everyone’s time and make your organization look unprepared.

Letter of Inquiry writing
Do - Ask your grant writer to write these for you.
Don't - Forget to read and edit LOI's carefully before they are mailed.

Grant writing
Do - Ask your grant writer to write these for you.
Don't - Forget to review, respond, and edit one or more drafts; provide adequate feedback; provide data and a budget; sign all necessary forms; get a copy of the final grant submitted.

Respond to inquiry phone calls from a grant maker
Do - Take these calls yourself.
Don't - Assume that a grant writer can replicate your ability to sell your mission and close the deal.

Some of the potential benefits to an Executive Director in using a grant writer are:

• Time savings;
• Consistent quality in grant applications;
• Higher funding rates;
• More applications being submitted; and,
• Fewer lost opportunities through consistent and timely research.

A grant writer can be a great asset to your organization when used in the proper way; however, the positive impact of hiring a Grant Writer can be minimized by asking them to carry out tasks they’re unqualified for, or by not providing adequate support.

 

Related Posts:
Working with a Grant Writer: You Get What You Pay For
Good Grant Writers are like Wedding Planners

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Grant Writing Services
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3 Ways Non-Profits Build Trust with Grant Makers

There are literally tens of thousands of prospective foundations to sift through as you seek non-profit grant funding. Each foundation has its own timeline, guidelines, and fields of interest. All foundations have one thing in common, they look for evidence that your organization is trustworthy before giving you a grant.

New non-profits may find it hard to get their foot in the door with a foundation. Here are three key things to pay attention to that will increase your chance of building trust with foundations so you can secure grant funding:

1) Build it – Build a solid base of local support before seeking grants. I define support as donors, volunteers, and partner organizations.
2) Account for it - Establish an accounting system that would make a CPA proud and then conduct an annual audit to prove it’s as good as you think it is. If you can prove you are trustworthy with small amounts of money, someone might trust you with larger sums.
3) Prove it – By this I mean collect evidence - hard data and anecdotal – to show your programs are working and are appreciated.

If you serve undernourished sea turtles then keep records on how many turtles you take care of this year. A variety of data may be collected such as how many you turned away (if any) for lack of support or how many survive and return to the sea. Ask for written statements from volunteers, take a survey of the community, work with local marine organizations, talk to the media about what you do, join the local Chamber of Commerce, take pictures, and post videos online. Find a volunteer who is a scrap booking enthusiast and let them run wild. You goal is to build a portfolio of evidence that you’re active and effective. Don’t forget to put all this evidence online!

Finding grants for a non-profit organization is a lot easier when you can validate the impact of your programs and prove you are skillful in managing them.

Related Posts:

How is Your Organization's Governance Equilibrium?
Assessing Results: Are You a Quant or a Qualit?

Recommendation for Starting a Non-Profit: Plan First – Do Good Second

Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, has more good advice for non-profit organizations that want to flourish:

I get about a call a week from people who have formed a non-profit organization recently and want to find grant money to help them get going. Unfortunately, many of these well-intentioned folks are ill-prepared to turn their good ideas into action. As I begin to ask questions about their organization, they have few answers. What they mostly know about what they want to do is based on speculation and assumptions. I find that they have rarely done any meaningful preparation before filing the paperwork to establish their 501(c)(3) status.


I fear that many these good people will fail at their efforts to start a non-profit because they haven’t done due diligence before what is, in reality, starting a business. If these people came to me before they went to the trouble and expense of starting a non-profit, I would recommend that they complete a business plan for the enterprise first. It isn’t that their ideas are bad; it’s just that they never asked the questions that would tell them if the idea is viable.

It is a huge mistake to think that simply because an idea is worthwhile, that it is also going to generate sufficient money to support a viable non-profit entity. Some of the best non-profits I know are in a continual battle for funding - scraping and scratching to make their budgets balance - even with GREAT results over many years.

Creating a business plan for a non-profit will help people craft a viable model or inform them about the lack of viability of the idea. Mind you, I am not saying that people should not start non-profits; I am simply saying that planning any enterprise before launching into implementation is always a wise course of action.

Here are some key questions that a business plan is designed to answer:

1. Are the services needed?

a. Where are they needed?
b. What exactly is needed?
c. Who needs them?
d. How much service is needed?

2. Who else provides these services?

a. Is there room to compete?
b. Who funds the competition?
c. Where are they and who is served?
d. Where are the gaps in their services?

3. What kind of budget will be needed to get it off the ground?

a. Develop a budget detail.
b. Research potential sources of funding
c. Identify potential partners

These and other important questions about starting a non-profit can be resolved through the planning process. Before paperwork and fees are filed for non profit status, a Board of influential and knowledgeable people should be assembled to help guide the process of founding the organization. One person with a great idea can get something remarkable going that does tremendous good in the world, but without comprehensive planning, a great idea may die on the vine. I think that if more people did sufficient planning, they might find that their ambitions to do good would be better served by being on the Board of, or volunteering with, an existing non-profit organization.

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A free webinar for non-profit boards - The Law
 
A free webinar for non-profit boards: Board Member Roles

Grant Writer Recharged and Writing

Derek, our non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, is back from his vacation and ready to get back to work:

My vac’s and hol’s* are over for now and I definitely feel recharged by the beauty of the Faith Valley where I was fortunate enough to spend a few days. People not from Northern California may think that beaches, surfers, bikinis, and Hollywood are an accurate representation of California. Many people outside California do not know that Northern California exists at all, or if they do, they may think that San Francisco is representative of our little piece of Paradise.

I know it’s probably irrational to let you in on the truth, mostly because you may want to come here to live, thereby overpopulating the place with ATV’s. But I trust your ability to comprehend the value of the place pictured here, and the rarity of being able to experience such an unspoiled environment and to care for it properly.

If you do plan to come visit the places pictured here, please treat the place with the reverence it deserves. By that I mean, pack out your trash, be careful with camp fires, don’t shoot anything, catch and release what you can’t eat, don’t strip limbs off trees to cook marshmallows with, etc. In other words, just be a good human please, and if you don’t, my mother will probably be castigating you publicly in the meadow with a fury known only by the few who have survived it.

Here are a few pictures:

Faith Valley, Alpine County, California, USA – (One of three connected valleys, Hope, Faith, and Charity – Interestingly, this picture looks a lot like the one that Veronica chose for my previous post and strangely, she has never been there!)

A coyote – (Wiley-looking ¿qué no?)






A Faith Valley sunset – (ahhhhh…)

I’ll be using these pics for my desktop background for a month or two so I can quickly go back in my mind to the peace and serenity of that place, the breezes blowing the sage, the Chickadees chattering while busily cleaning insects off the pines, and the screech of the Marsh Hawks chasing away the Bald Eagle who dared to soar through their territory.

Back to grant writing now – and happily so - recharged as only Faith Valley can make me (well, maybe Kauai too).

*Canadian for vacation





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Deadlines are Like Burritos

Most people work better with a deadline. I find that not having a deadline only means that I re-prioritize my work so that tasks with a deadline get pushed to the front of the list while the tasks without a deadline are always getting pushed aside. Some of those no-deadline tasks are years old. Like the blue spray paint and sand paper I bought two years ago to refinish some folding wooden chairs – which, to date are not sanded or blue.


We recently had a grant with a published deadline, and then - about 72 hours before the deadline - the agency declared that the deadline was being extended indefinitely, but would be reset sooner than later. So naturally, right after breathing a sigh of relief, panic set in.

Having no deadline for a grant is unnatural. It’s like a burrito without a tortilla. A tortilla wraps up all the ingredients together nice and neat, like a deadline wraps all the work up together. A grant without a deadline is just a tostada. It’s a pile of lettuce, cheese, meat, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa, all piled up on your desk. What do you do with it? There’s simply no neat, easy way to finish it.

A grant without a deadline is just a mess. It’s narrative that’s never going to be finished because writing is never done anyway. It’s a budget that’s going to be constantly tinkered with because the more you change the narrative, the more you’ll have to change the budget. And, it’s all going to get pushed aside anyway by other emerging deadlines.

I like having a deadline. It gives you something to wrap up your project in, like a canole shell; but I guess I shouldn’t mix my grant-as-food metaphors.

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Related posts from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link:

Grants Are Like Box Lunches

Some Grants Are Like Peanut Butter

Grants Are Like Sausage

Grants Are Like Donuts

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Don't Forget! You can learn grant writing online at our Online Learning Center.

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Preparing for the Grant Writing Process

Here's some advice from non-profit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, on preparing for the grant writing process and staying focused while you work on your grant:

It is entirely possible that as you read this that you are either taking a break from writing a grant, or that you are seeking inspiration as you prepare to write one. In either case, you are probably experiencing the anticipation of mental engagement with a narrative that becomes a consuming process throughout the narrative creation.

The grant writing process is mentally challenging so it’s wise to prepare yourself before you write and to think ahead about your writing process.

Here are some things I do that may be helpful for you to consider:

1. Get enough sleep. You won’t get more quality writing done by staying up later.
2. Eat the right foods. If you’re hungry or spaced out on Twinkies, your narrative may go off track.
3. Take your normal exercise. Sitting and writing is hard on the body and if you get uncomfortable, it’s harder to write well.
4. Set up a low distraction, comfortable place to write. No unneeded electronics, no kids chirping for snacks; it’s time to isolate and focus. Use good lighting and acomfortable chair. Have some snacks and beverages at the ready.
5. Be organized before writing. Nothing is worse than getting into a rhythm on a narrative only to come to a screeching halt because some key piece wasn’t anticipated and is missing and since it is Saturday as you write, there’s no way to get it ‘til Monday.
6. Set a realistic goal for the day. Know how much you want to complete of the narrative so you feel good about your writing. Finishing the narrative should only be your goal once. ( OK, maybe twice)!
7. Go somewhere else to read your drafts. Two things I like to do with my drafts after I print one out to review: a) I like to go somewhere else to read it like a coffee shop or outdoors in summer, and b) I like to read it out loud to myself since I often get too close to the narrative to hear it in my head after a while.

Remember the dog in the animated cartoon “Up” that is introducing himself and suddenly a squirrel distracts him? Well you don’t need too many squirrels in your day to take you off-task while writing. Getting ready to write requires that you plan ahead to minimize distractions as much as possible, life happens but the squirrels can sometimes be kept at bay.

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Related Posts:
 
Time Management Tips for Grant Writers
 
Form a Grant Planning Committee
 
Facing the Blank Page
 
Relax....and Tell Your Story
 
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Try our GrantTips iPhone App!
 
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The Anti-Creativity Checklist for Non-Profit Leaders

Lisbeth Cort, author of the blog, "Nonprofit Execs on the Edge" shared this excellent video for leaders about 14 things you should never say!!!

It's an Anti-Creativity Checklist....



My Anti-Creativity Checklist from Youngme Moon on Vimeo.


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Vsit GrantGoddess.com for mroe advice for non-profit leaders.

Superman, Where Are You?

We are facing a big deadline this week.  We have multiple grants due at the same time and everyone has his or her head down and nose to the grindstone, but we can always count on Derek to help us see the humor of it all.  Here are some humorous thoughts from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, on slowing down time when deadline time is racing closer.

Time flies when you’re approaching a deadline. I’m pretty sure that Superman is the only being, real or fictional, who can turn back time. If you’re approaching a deadline - mere mortal that you are – here are a few places you can go where in my experience time can actually slow down.

1. The DMV.
2. Customer service calls to the phone company.
3. Jogging on the indoor track at Sun City.
4. Meeting with an IRS agent.
5. A long line at the grocery store with a rookie cashier, a bad receipt tape, and a customer who’s using their debit card for the first time while arguing about the amount her single tomato was discounted.
6. The post office at lunch.
7. Watching the calendar after hiring a building contractor with a bunch of Better Business Bureau complaints.
8. Technical support calls from – or to – India with “Roger”, “Jason”, or “Howard”.
9. Auto dealerships after giving up your car keys.
10. Driving and waiting for the “Code 3” police car to pass you knowing you were five mph over the limit.
11. Waiting for a copier repairman or anything else on grant deadline day.

So if time seems to be going too fast and your deadline is staring you down like an angry railroad union member at the helm of a locomotive, take yourself away to a place where time slows down. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could merge these time warps and make it slow down for important stuff and speed up for annoying stuff? Oh Superman, where are you!?

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Related posts:

Grant Writing and the Space/Time Continuum

Stress Relief through Laughter

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Don't forget to visit GrantGoddess.com for tips and ideas to improve your grant writing skills!

Some Grants Are Like Peanut Butter

Here we go again..... Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares yet another food-related grant writing analogy.  What do you do when the words just get stuck in your head?

In all the time I’ve been writing grants, I find that some grants flow easily out of my brain to my computer and others get stuck to the roof of my mouth like a spoonful of peanut butter. I sit at the computer during those times like my old German Short-Haired Pointer “Tucker” eating peanut butter, just gumming and gumming and gumming but not able to free up the narrative.

It’s hard sometimes to figure out why I’m stuck with a grant, but often it’s because I don’t have a clear picture of the program I am writing. Oh, I know what the program is about, but I just can’t explain how it’s going to work. Here are a few things I try to get the narrative “peanut butter” off the roof of my mouth.

1. Develop a logic model for the project. This forces you to outline your thinking in a sequential (and logical) way.
2. Do a little reading about the topic area you are writing about. Sometimes that gives me the spark I need.
3. Talk more to the client about the program design and get them to expound on how they see it working.
4. Try to write the abstract. If you can’t write a summary of the project, this may explain the parts of it that you’re stuck on.
5. Revisit your goals and objectives. Sometimes your objectives are just activities and if they are, you’ll get stuck because you won’t have anything new to write about in the program section.

So when you’ve eaten a big gob of peanut butter and its stuck to the roof of your mouth and you’re sitting at the computer trying to get unstuck, try one of these five ideas. Hope it helps!

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Related Posts:
 
Facing the Blank Page (Or, Beginning to Write)
 
Try a Change of Perspective
 
Some Thoughts from the Coach on Setting Your Intent
 
A Few Words from the Coach about Focus
 
 
Want more tips?  Visit GrantGoddess.com!

Grants Are Like Sausage

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, must be hungry.  Last week, he shared with you how Grants Are Like Donuts. This week, he writes that grants are like sausage. Enjoy his post about the importance of processing and editing your final grant proposal:

Like making laws, writing grants is sort of like making sausage, a messy process not too appetizing to watch. Processing a grant, like making sausage, involves lots of parts getting thrown together, with tons of information being ground up into a palatable chunk of copy.


Have you ever chomped down on a piece of cartilage in your sausage? Kind of slows you down doesn’t it? But when sausage is properly ground, you probably don’t ever come across anything too chewy! Reading a badly written grant is kind of like that piece of cartilage that you have to stop and chew on a while.

Here’s a piece of copy from an actual grant that, in my opinion, represents chewy cartilage. This kind of chewy writing makes your brain do a lot of unnecessary and unpalatable mental chewing.

“LEP students at J. Doe elementary school have a high level of psychomotor and spatial/mechanical skills that will be utilized through computer assisted instruction to enhance language learning activities. In selecting LEP students for participation, attention was paid to the Special Education criteria required by the State Education Agency. Special Education students are diagnosed using appropriate instruments and will be served accordingly.”

I have to guess at what they were trying to say, but it sure was chewy! This grant should have been processed more, and by that I mean edited, reviewed, commentary invited, revisions made, and re-edited – then edited once more. Chewy grants don’t score well and don’t get funded. So be sure to process-process-process!

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Related posts from the archives:

Trust the Grant Writing Process

How Can the Grant You Just Finished Help Make You  a Better Writer?

Good Grant Writers Are Like Wedding Planners

Faux-Ethics Debate on Percentage Contingency Fees in Grant Writing

Non-profit consulant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares his thoughts on the controversial topic of grant writing contingency fees:

Paying grant writers a percentage of the grant funds is often presented as a black and white issue in the nonprofit world. Whether paying a contingency fee is ethical depends on whether the percentage represents a reasonable amount of money for the work involved; the same principle that applies to a flat fee for services. I argue that if a contract for services is negotiated ethically and it results in a reasonable level of payment, there is absolutely nothing unethical or sinister about the practice of percentage contingencies. I suggest to you that a contingency arrangement can actually increase grant writer accountability.


Fundamentally, paying a percentage fee would only be ethically wrong if it were ethically wrong to pay for a grant writer’s services. It is self-evident that the amount of money paid to a writer should be proportionate to the work involved. A flat fee would be unethical if a grant writer were to accept a guaranteed grant writing fee and then do a poor job of writing the grant. It would also be unethical for a grant writer to accept a flat grant writing fee for a grant that they were fairly certain the organization would not receive.

A reasonable contingency percentage is very ethical because the writer has to do the best job possible to get the grant funded. The writer is also not likely to accept a grant that has a low likelihood of funding because on a percentage, the writer takes all the risk! If the grant isn’t funded, they don’t get paid! What is more ethical on the part of a grant writer than that?

The bottom line in any contract for services is reasonableness. The reasonableness in consulting fees is based upon the market and upon the value of the work. Only a non-profit administrator gets to decide what’s reasonable and their Board should be reviewing these decisions. If a grant writing contract results in a fee of $5,000 being paid to the writer for say, a $95,000 proposal, would it be a more ethical fee just because it was guaranteed to be paid whether or not the grant was funded? I say absolutely not, there is no nexus between ethics and reasonableness, and a flat fee for services.

I once heard of contingency fees being charged in the field by a consultant that I felt were out of line and unreasonable. This consultant was not successful and the natural market forces drove her out of the business. Such abuse is probably where the ethics of the practice has come into question; however, to paint contingency fees with a broad brush as unethical is just silly and unfair.

Many grant writers work diligently with agencies to obtain funding for them on contingency arrangements. This is helpful to agencies with cash flow problems. It is up to each non-profit to establish contracts for grant writing services that are reasonable and representative of the market rates in their area no matter what the form of payment.

I’ll go one step further in my argument by suggesting that the entire debate is faux-ethical in nature. American Association of Grant Professionals (AAGP) member regulations state that, “Members may accept performance-based compensation, such as bonuses, provided such bonuses are in accordance with prevailing practices within the members’ own organizations and are not based on a percentage of grant monies.”

The AAGP regulation that approves bonus (which is a contingency) proves their regulation against contingencies as faux-ethical. AAGP means to argue that nobody involved in the process of giving a bonus is whipping out the calculator to determine the bonus amount as a percentage of the grant funds received to determine reasonableness? A bonus amount based on “prevailing practice” amounts must be calculated on something or how could it be supported as mathematically reasonable?! A percentage contingency fee and a bonus contingency are no different, they are both performance-based.

The AAGP needs to stop treating Executive Directors as mathematically-challenged greenhorns who need to be protected from city-slickers with unreasonable contingency contracts. Unethical fees can be charged in any format and I trust that ED's know what is exorbitant when they see it.

The issue of percentage fees simply can’t be painted as black or white; come on folks, I was born on a Sunday, but it wasn’t last Sunday.

Grants for Individuals – A Funding Sasquatch?

Non-profit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, provides some clarity about the availability of government grants for individuals:

I get phone calls, emails, and tweets from people who need a grant for something they want to do like open a coffee shop. These contacts come from individuals, private citizens, who are not affiliated with a non profit organization. These well-intentioned folks just have an idea and need some money to implement it.


The problem is that grants for individuals are kind of like Sasquatch - Many people believe they exist, but nobody I know has ever seen or captured one. Because of this I put grants for average individuals into the “myth” category, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist, it just means I’ve haven’t seen any that give money to start a business. The two individual grants I am aware of are, 1) college grants that you apply for through a college financial aid office, and 2) grants for high level research scientists.
I know there are people who would argue with me and they’d probably take me out to their garage to show me plaster impressions of RFP’s and/or whip out a photo album with fuzzy pictures of big hairy grant checks. But until I see the beast for myself, I will remain a skeptic.
The main reason I am hesitant on this subject is that I have a suspicion the people perpetuating the myth are making money from it. I suspect these people are the unsavory characters I’ve seen on television who work hard at selling books full of free government information.
I know I am sounding a little like Simon Cowell after a weak American Idol performance, but that’s because I don’t like snake oil salesmen. It bugs me when people are misled by a false promise of easy money. Good opportunities take hard work in my experience, and they’ve only come knocking after I was well-prepared for them.
If you want to be a business owner, prepare yourself. Go to classes about being an entrepreneur, read blogs about business, read the Wall Street Journal, join the chamber of commerce, etc. And while you’re preparing, save some money so when you go and ask for help, you’ll have credibility because you have some skin in the game.
If Sasquatch is out there, it’s going to take some looking. Get online and do some research on government websites where they have free information about grants. Try grants.gov where all the federal grants available are listed, go to a federal business assistance center, go to the chamber of commerce, and if all of these sources don’t turn up an individual grant for you then, write a business plan and look for investors.
Having a dream is great! Finding someone to finance the dream is almost as hard as finding Sasquatch.

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Form a Grant Planning Committee

Non-profit consultant and grant writer, Derek Link, offers some advice about forming a grant planning committee:

For those of you brave enough to read a post with such a seemingly reckless title, one that could severely curtail our readership, forfeit RSS feeds by the millions, and perhaps even be banned in certain Western states, please keep reading you intrepid seekers of grant knowledge.
What I am suggesting is that if your organization needs grants, forming a planning committee will enable you to do several important things:

1) Bring potential collaborative partners to the table – Successful grants these days – large ones in particular – often require that there are collaborative partners. This is because there can be overlapping and competing interests. Funders are worried that grant money will be wasted on poorly targeted or duplicative efforts.

2) Accurately targeting needs for grant funding by spending enough time around a table talking, to truly understand an issue from diverse perspectives. Sometimes the answer to a problem is sharing existing resources not seeking new ones.

3) Break past agency turf wars by spending enough time with leaders from other agencies to form solid relationships. Everyone wants the client to win, but sometimes agencies hold their mission so tightly they drive off potentially helpful collaborative partners.
There are other good reasons for forming a planning committee, and there are also cautions. Here are some key don’ts:

1. Don’t accept members who won’t send a decision-maker to the meetings.

2. Don’t keep members who don’t/won’t make the commitment to attend every time you meet.

3. Don’t birdwalk – Make meetings N.E.A.T. (Nature-Expected Outcomes-Agenda-Time).

4. Identify the common priorities using a needs assessment.

5. Don’t keep meeting if common ground can’t be established.

While another committee and another set of meetings may initiate a reaction similar to a carnival tilt-a-whirl, a grant planning committee can yield well-targeted, productively collaborative grant applications.

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Click here for more great grant writing resources.

Assessing Results: Are You a Quant or a Qualit?

In this post, Non-profit Consulant Derek Link offers his thoughts on balanced assessment and evaluation:

In the world of social entrepreneurship the use of metrics for assessment of results has sparked an ongoing debate. The lines have been drawn between mathematically inclined folks who like to measure things using quantitative data (called Quants) and those who want to describe the social impact of programs using primarily qualitative data (called Qualits).

I would refer to myself as a hybrid, a Quali-quant. For me, the argument about which type of data is better is meaningless unless the right questions are being asked. Once you know what you want to know; in other words, once you know what will best demonstrate that your mission is accomplished, the kind of data needed to measure that reveals itself.

And the type of data is usually not one to the exclusion of the other. Typically a result is explained best by viewing it through data binoculars, not through a data telescope. I use the example of a child who comes to school on test day. The Quant will want to examine the child’s test score to see whether he has achieved to an expected level, whether he has raised his achievement from previous test administrations, how he compares to his peers, and how his test scores aggregated reflect on the teacher’s ability and the school’s curriculum and instructional program.

The Qualits, on the other hand, will want to modify the interpretation of the test score with qualitative information. Perhaps the child arrives hungry because the family was late getting up and she never had breakfast. Perhaps the child is sick or was up all night due to family violence. These qualitative factors impact the ability of the child to score well but are difficult or impossible to quantify.

In the end, I believe it is a disservice to the process/program/organization to have an imbalanced approach to assessment of results. Start off by asking the right questions.

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For more resources to help you with the evaluation of your programs, read some of the articles on our FREE Evaluation Resources page or view some of our free  recorded webinars on program evaluation. For an even higher level of support, become a member of GrantGoddess.com.

How is Your Organization’s Operational Equilibrium?

This is the third and final post in a series of three posts on Organizational Equilibrium, written by Non-Profit Consultant, Derek Link. Parts 1 and 2 were posted on February 16 & 18, 2010.

Operations that are out of balance can compromise the accomplishment of the mission through waste and duplication of effort. In this post, the various activities an organization undertakes to carry out its mission are what I am defining as operations. Key factors that can lead to operational imbalances are 1) lack of adequate internal planning, 2) lack of collaboration, 3) inadequate feedback loops.

Strategic planning to accomplish a mission includes identification of critical success factors. Factors commonly include things like raising enough money, employing the right people, or recruiting the right Board members. In order to make sure that the organization has the capacity internally to accomplish its mission, all critical success factors must be identified then activities and feedback loops must be put into place to make sure each one is attended to. Missing a critical success factor can compromise the mission. For example, in planning to cook and distribute hot meals to seniors, nobody was assigned to gas up the van and by the time the gas card was located, the van taken to the gas station, and the food delivered, it all got cold or it spoiled.

An organization that operates in isolation may duplicate effort and thereby waste resources. Using the senior meal example again, what if an organization decided to deliver Thanksgiving meals to seniors this year but didn’t ask any other organizations in the area if they were going to do the same? Suddenly a senior may receive more than one hot meal on the same day while other seniors may have gone without. Collaborative planning can keep such operational imbalances from happening.

Disequilibrium in operations occurs when planning is inadequate and this can compromise the mission. A key mistake that causes operational disequilibrium is lack of feedback loops. Feeding seniors is a good thing but if food is delivered they don’t want, can’t eat, or which requires preparation they can’t accomplish, then food is wasted. But if nobody asks the seniors what they need, want, and can handle, then the mission is compromised by lack of feedback and an operational imbalance is created. In this case, the actual need isn’t being met because feedback from the recipients of services isn’t being collected and used to refine operations.

In order to have a balanced operation, the organization’s activities must be effectively executed, effectively coordinated, and accurately targeted. Organizations must engage in detailed planning that attends to every critical success factor. Organizations must collaborate with other organizations that have similar missions in order to make sure they are being efficient and avoiding duplication of effort. Finally, operations must be designed to meet the real need, not the perceived need. By attending to these three factors, organizations can successfully accomplish their mission.

How is Your Organization’s Governance Equilibrium?

This is the second in a three-part series on Organizational Equilibrium, written by Non-Profit Consultant, Derek Link. Part 1 (How is Your Organization's Fiscal Equilibrium?) was posted on February 16, 2010.

Governance as defined on http://dictionary.com is, “a method or system of government or management.” Non-profit organizations are governed by a Board of Directors who by design set policy, monitor accountability, assist with fund raising, and give direction to the Executive Director. Good governance is a team effort but bad things can happen when the governance of an organization is out of balance; that is, if there are imbalances in power, control, or understanding.

I worked in an organization once which had a publicly elected Board. This creates an interesting conundrum for the executive of the organization because they must be astute politically in order to survive changes in the Board. One particular Board member who was elected was an extremely difficult person to work with. She was smart and gifted verbally so she was able to deter all of the other Board members from standing up to her. She was also mean and enjoyed being in a position of power. She would go on the attack in Board meetings and even on an individual basis with executives of the organization. She eventually lost her seat but not before she had wreaked havoc on the leadership of the organization to the extent that several senior executives left the organization rather than suffer her unpredictable decision-making and verbal abuse.

My point in this is to say that non-profit Boards get to select their members according to the dictates of their bylaws. This puts non-profit organizations in a unique position to select Board members that can bring necessary skills, talents, and connections to the organization. This feature of non-profit organizations is a strength and can lead to excellent governance that is balanced, agile, and intelligent.

The opposite can also be true. If a Board becomes a closed society unto itself and refuses to include members outside a circle of friends, colleagues, or even a circle of thought, governance can stagnate and the same mistakes may be made over and again. Opportunities for change, growth, or reform may be lost.

Another issue with governance can be a Board that depends too much on its Executive Director and cedes responsibility for its role – a Board that becomes the proverbial “rubber stamp”.

I’ve seen “rubber stamps” in publicly elected Boards and with non-profit Boards. Non-profit organizations are frequently established by one or two people who plan to run the operation and then recruit a Board mostly because they must have one, not because they seek to build strong governance. So the founders may seek people who aren’t going to rock the boat.

Governance that relies on a strong leader can function well over time if the Executive Director is a skilled, moral and values-driven individual and, if they don’t leave. Of course as time passes everyone will move on for one reason or another so if governance of an organization has depended on one person, it can leave the organization in disarray.

I’ve found over the years in organizations reliant on one person for governance that there tends to be a pervasive fear in the organization about the person’s health, age, ability to take better offers, and so on.

Keeping the long view in mind is important so try not to depend too much on one individual for governance leadership. Stable governance of an organization is produced by equilibrium of a strong Board and strong leadership.Non-profit organizations are in the enviable position to recruit Board members that create this equilibrium.

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Part 3 in this series (How is Your Organization's Operational Equilibrium?) will be posted on February 20, 2010.

How is Your Organization’s Fiscal Equilibrium?

This is the first post in a series of three on Organizational Equilibrium, written by Non-Profit Consultant Derek Link.

In the present economy, many non-profit organizations would probably say their fiscal equilibrium is a bit off center. Some might even say they’re wobbling like a top spinning slowly down and dangerously out of balance.

If ever there was a time for your fiscal feedback loops to be utilized and re-evaluated, this is probably it. If your fiscal stool had only one leg, you’re probably already on the floor or headed that direction. Sources of funding have dried up rapidly as discretionary income of individuals and organizations has slowed to a trickle.

A wise fiscal plan for a non-profit does not count on one source of income. It’s wise to cultivate multiple sources including grants, donors, planned giving, annual campaigns, special events, merchandising, etc. Weaving together a sustainable intelligent fund raising design creates equilibrium, and paying attention to feedback loops - like timely statistics on income from all sources – can give you valuable information to ensure that efforts to raise money are targeted toward all possible sources.

Diversification of fund raising is crucial at times when donors are struggling (as they are now), and government is giving away lots of grants (as they are now). It’s wise to have strategies for both donor appeals and grant writing. Paying attention to feedback and planning ahead can give your organization something to grab onto when traditional fund raising methods are slow or closed completely.

Another key to financial stability is to have an audit conducted each year by an accountant who knows the non-profit world and can offer sound advice and feedback. This feedback loop not only provides an external review of your fiscal practices, it also adds an important level of accountability.

So in order to stabilize your fiscal equilibrium pay attention to feedback you’re getting right now. There may be changes and adaptations your organization needs to make in order to maximize your organization’s income during this turbulent economic time. By paying attention to your fiscal feedback loops, your organization can survive and thrive while less agile organizations fold up their tent and move along.

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Parts 2 (How is Your Organization's Governance Equilibrium?) and 3 (How is Your Organization’s Operational Equilibrium?) of this series will be posted on February 18th and 20th.