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CNL’s mission is to help nonprofits become the most effective organizations they can be, and effective organizations MUST assess and evaluate all areas of their business. Performance assessments often raise concern and even fear. Many people associate them with judgment, unfairness, and the need to defend one’s actions.

However, without appropriate monitoring and feedback, it is difficult to figure out whether you, your board, and your organization are meeting goals and making progress. In a nonprofit, there are three different types of assessment that the board should undertake on a regular basis: its own self-assessment, performance assessment of the executive director (E.D.), and organizational assessment of overall health and development needs moving forward.

Board of Directors Assessment

Every board should assess its own performance on a regular basis to see where improvements need to be made. There are numerous tools available to facilitate the task. As Board assessments are being done, it is important to make sure that adequate time is given to implement any recommendations and affect change. And, as Susie points out above, it is good to use the same assessment for a while in order to see change over time.

Some of the benefits of board self-assessment include:

• clarifying the responsibilities of the board and individual board members — and creating a mutual understanding on what these should be
• directing the board’s attention to issues that it may be neglecting or not performing as desired
• sending a message that governance is important and that doing it well allows the board to better serve the organization

A board also should determine how it handles individual board member assessment.

This could easily be tied to the full board assessment process by asking board members to rate their own performance at the same time. This gives board members an opportunity to see how they are doing and reflect on how much they are contributing and whether or not they want to stay on the board.

Some boards conduct peer evaluations—asking board members to evaluate the contributions their peers are making to the board work. It is probably best to have the executive or board development committee coordinate this effort and communicate with individual board members privately to determine together whether any changes are needed and to give necessary support or accolades for commitment. Under any circumstances, it is a good practice to assess every board member’s performance before a new term is granted.

Assessment of the chair’s performance can be performed by the executive committee or the entire board can provide comments through an anonymous and confidential process. No matter who participates in the evaluation, the results should be communicated to the chair in a private meeting. This evaluation provides the chair with feedback on his or her style, leadership, and facilitation skills; his handling of the board’s challenges and key focus areas; and his capacity to keep board members engaged.

Executive Director Assessment

Every board should carry out an E.D. performance evaluation on an annual basis—and keep a written record of the results as a way to protect both the executive director and the board. The process should rely heavily on the job description for the position and the previously identified priorities and projected accomplishments for the year. To be fair, the process should be mutually agreed upon, and the performance goals should be measurable.

In addition to providing constructive feedback for the E.D. on what works and what doesn’t, the process allows the E.D.to feel more comfortable about her/his own strengths and areas in need of improvement. Even though salary adjustments should be based on performance, the actual discussions on compensation should be separate from the performance evaluation process.

Organizational Assessment

Most boards monitor the organization’s financial performance on a regular basis by reviewing the financial statements prepared by staff and comparing them to the previously approved budget. In their reports for board meetings, program directors elaborate on the triumphs (and hopefully also on the shortfalls) of the programs to allow the board to judge which activities most successfully meet the goals. A dashboard report — succinct performance indicators that can be read at a glance — is a practical and quick tool to set the overall performance record straight.

It is relatively easy to determine the quantitative measures for accomplishments. Quantitative data—we feed 200 homeless individuals daily—do not necessarily tell the full story, however. To assess how well the organization fulfills its mission often goes beyond bare numbers. When it is not possible to draw a direct link between the work of the organization and the improvements in the community, it helps to identify the extent to which individual customers or clients feel the impact of the services. Qualitative data present valuable success stories (i.e., the services provided by the shelter helped a homeless person find a job and permanent lodging). When methodical surveys of all the constituents are not possible, anecdotal feedback can help tell a story. Together, raw numbers and stories of changed lives provide a more comprehensive picture of the organization’s accomplishments.

Did you know that CNL covers some of these areas in our various programs and services: Board Evaluation basics is included in our Board Essentials workshop, offered twice a year. The upcoming E.D. Academy will focus on Strategic Leadership and both the E.D. Socials and Board Exchanges are great forums to share evaluation tools and help one another in implementing better evaluation processes in our organizations.  Of course, you can always enlist a consultant from the C&C Network to assist your organization in the evaluation process, whatever it might be.

Evaluations can help organizations assess their overall organizational health and how well the Board of Directors, Executive Director, and staff are contributing to an organization’s health and impact.  One way to look at organizational health is to look at the extent that Strategic Leadership is being utilized.

The following is based on these tools: Diagnostic Tool for Strategic Leadership: Filling Essential Gaps in Nonprofit Leadership by William F. Meehan III & Kim Starkey Jonker, Nov. 8, 2017 and Engine of Impact: Essentials of Strategic Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector, Nov. 14, 2017 by William F. Meehan III & Kim Starkey Jonker.

In these resources, William Meehan and Kim Starkey Jonker identify seven essential components of strategic leadership that set high-achieving organizations apart from the rest of the nonprofit sector. Together, these components form an “engine of impact”―a system that organizations must build, tune, and fuel if they hope to make a real difference in the world.

Drawing on decades of teaching, advising, grantmaking, and research, Meehan and Jonker provide an actionable guide that executives, staff, board members, and donors can use to jumpstart their own performance and to achieve extraordinary results for their organizations. Along with setting forth best practices using real-world examples, the authors outline common management challenges faced by nonprofits, showing how these challenges differ from those faced by for-profit businesses in important and often-overlooked ways.

A recent study conducted by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society that drew responses from more than 3,000 stakeholders in the sector, including executives, staff members, and board members at nonprofits and foundations found that:

“The best nonprofits are able to master seven elements that constitute what we call “strategic leadership”. These include; mission, strategy, impact evaluation, insight and courage, organization and talent, funding, and board governance. These elements work together as a system. An organization that exhibits strong performance in all seven areas becomes an “engine of impact” and is capable of achieving real impact on a scale that is adequate to current needs.”

The study also found that a large majority of organizations fail to thrive in all seven areas of strategic leadership and that in three of these areas—board governance, funding, and impact evaluation—at least half of all nonprofit respondents indicated that their organization struggles to perform effectively (for more details on this study, read the report in the Stanford Social Innovation Review).  Regular and consistent assessment can help organizations determine their specific areas of struggle and the factors that contribute to those struggles—all necessary for implementing actions to improve their performance and overall impact.

For those of you curious about how your own organization fares in its practice of strategic leadership, use their Engine of Impact Diagnostic tool. It’s based on the same analytical framework used to develop the survey and takes just 10 to 15 minutes.  You will find additional resources to help you evaluate your staff and leadership in the Tool Box portion of the newsletter.

Joy Folkedal, Governance Specialist & Curriculum Developer, with Board Source, offers a set of resources for Board Members to consider in telling your organization’s story.

• Create “Mission moments” at board meetings and staff meetings to share stories which can then be shared with other networks about how your organization is advancing its mission. In our last Board Source staff meeting, a staff member shared a quote from our membership survey about the specific things Board Source was doing to partner with their organization and their impact. Sometimes a board member shares some great feedback from a donor visit with other board members.  The idea is that staff and board members are thinking about the mission and sharing these ideas with other staff or board members. This then gives both staff and board members stories to share with their networks about your organization.

• Board Members telling their own stories can also advance the mission. http://www.thestorytellingnonprofit.com/blog/3-ways-non-profit-board-members-can-tell-stories-raise-money/ focuses on having board members tell their personal story about why they joined the board, impact stories about how the organization is impacting their stakeholders and advancing the mission, and the founding story of the organization.

• The Board Source Stand for Your Mission Campaign encourages board members to advocate for their organizations by telling their stories. One suggestion is to have board members answer the question at their next board meeting, “What have you done since the last board meeting to advance the mission of the nonprofit?” you can also share the discussion guide with your board: Stand For Your Mission Discussion Guide

Joe Garecht offers advice for Executive Directors on How to Tell a Compelling Story in The Nonprofit Fundraising Digest. The Digest is updated daily with the best articles on nonprofit development from around the web, and offers a free Weekly Fundraising Round-Up by email.  Although this post focuses on fundraising, these tips apply to whatever circumstance requires storytelling about your organization. Here is the slightly modified post…

4 Tips for Telling Your Nonprofit’s Story
As nonprofit fundraising professionals and executives, it is sometimes easy to get caught up in the minutiae of our work. We speak in acronyms, highlight statistics, and pore over spreadsheets as we seek to change the world. Your nonprofit story, is much more than jargon and numbers. Donors and prospects are searching for meaning; they want to get involved in something much bigger than themselves. In order to engage them, you’ll need to speak directly to their hearts and minds.

Here are four ways you can tell your nonprofit’s story in a way that is compelling to donors.

1. CAST A BIG VISION

Donors don’t want to invest in a small vision, yet many nonprofits think small in their donor communications. Every organization, no matter how small, is capable of casting a big vision and capturing the attention of donors, volunteers, and other supporters.

Your nonprofit may only be working in one small corner of one small town, but for the people you serve, your work is life-changing. When telling your nonprofit story, show people the lives you have changed, the outcomes you have achieved, and the work that would be possible if you had more resources at your disposal.

Just like any good story, frame yours to have its cast of characters, including the hero and the villain. The villain is the social problem you are addressing, be it sickness, poverty, or hunger.  Then, invite your donors to become the heroes of the story by getting involved and making a gift.

2. APPEAL TO CORE HUMAN VALUES

Before beginning my career in nonprofit fundraising, I worked in politics. One of the biggest lessons I learned about political communications is that there are certain things all people want, which political consultants call “core human values.” They are things like safety, freedom, good health, and a better life for our children. We may argue about how to achieve those things, but nearly everyone wants them.

Successful nonprofits tailor their messages to appeal to these core human values as well. In addition to showcasing the “features” of your work, such as how many research studies you run or the number of hot meals you serve each day, focus on the “benefits” of your work—the core human values you are working towards.

The best way to do this is to make sure donors understand the “big picture” about your work.  If your nonprofit is providing home heating assistance, be sure to tell donors that you are keeping families safe from the cold, and allowing them to live healthy, comfortable lives. Yes, you can tell donors about your individual programs, but be sure they understand the big vision behind your work: to keep families warm and healthy.

3. USE REAL EXAMPLES AND OUTCOMES

Statistics and outcomes do have their place in your nonprofit’s story, but primarily as support for your overall, big picture vision focused on one or more core human values. When using statistics and discussing outcomes, one of the best things you can do is to put a “face” on the numbers by relating them to real-life examples about your work.

For example, if you are telling donors about the number of scholarships you gave out this past year, highlight the story of someone who received your scholarship. Demonstrate how the donor’s gifts allowed Amber to be the first in her family to go to college, or Jim to be able to go to night school while caring for his three children during the day.

The best fundraising communications build an emotional connection with the donor. Real world examples, stories, and outcomes are a great way to show how your work has changed lives.

4. MAKE IT A CONVERSATION

When telling your nonprofit’s story, don’t “talk at” your donors and prospects. The best way to build better donor relationships is to make your fundraising a two-way conversation.  This means casting a big vision, and then asking the donor what they think about your work, why they are interested in your mission, and how they would like to get involved.

There are lots of great ways to make your donor communications feel like “two-way” streets.  These include sending out donor surveys, inviting readers to send in stories about your work, asking followers to share pictures from your events, and asking your donors for their advice. Relationship building is key and the foundation of great fundraising; conversation is the basis of great relationships.

Question:  I care deeply about my nonprofit, but WHY do I really need to become a public speaker as long as I can talk to my Board and clients about our work?

Answer:  Because the ability to speak directly, concisely, and honestly about our work builds interest and confidence in our organization. Public speaking comes naturally for some, but not for all. We don’t want to brag, so we say less, which means we may not inspire others to feel as we do about our work.

That’s unfortunate. We are engaged in our public service mission to help make our community and people’s lives better, so it is important that we not only engage people’s interest, but inspire them to join us in public service.

In addition, research shows that most nonprofit funding comes from individuals. This clearly underlines the  importance of developing relationships with individual donors since that is where the money comes from!

Are you an Executive Director?  The leadership role of an E.D. requires constant communication with people in various walks of life. And, while we can use our brief “elevator speech” about what our organization does and contributes, each of us needs to “dig deeper” to truly inspire others. Do you have a story about why you are involved in the organization?  What are the two or three critical services that your organization provides?  Having the story and answers to these questions at your fingertips – or on the tip of the tongue – can make all the difference in the world when we find ourselves:

• Asked to speak to community service organizations about our work
• Talking at board meetings or to prospective donors about how our organization betters the life of the community
• Engaging staff and volunteers on getting our work done
• Making a “pitch” for other organizations to collaborate with us.

Are you a Board member?  Your role has multiple sides – helping set direction for the organization, communicating the nonprofit’s work to friends and community and advocating for resources. Each of these roles requires that you be able to talk about the organization – the big ideas, the WHY, as well as the WHAT you get done in the community.

Are you a staff member or volunteer in a nonprofit?  Although you may not be the leader of the organization, you are an advocate for its work. Having thought through why you work or volunteer for the organization is important, but can you put that into words? The “why” of what you do may be your own personal story, the story of those your organization has helped, or an impact statement about the community. But it needs to be short, concise and inspiring, so others will join you.

“Ideas are the currency of the 21st Century,” says Carmine Gallo in his bestselling book Talk Like TED.* For nonprofit organizations to reach their maximum potential, they must be able to communicate their ideas and tell their stories in ways that capture the attention of partners, donors, volunteers, and the public. Whatever your role in your nonprofit, the ability to succinctly and passionately carry the message about your work is critical– for you personally, for your organization, and for the community you serve.

We each care about something very deeply. And, we have to find our own way to share that passion, through stories, humor and a new twist on an old or new idea in order to engage our audience and convince them to share our passion.

Like virtually everything else in life, becoming a passionate, powerful and inspiring communicator takes time and practice. We hope you will join us this Friday for our session with Janice Dunn.

WHAT TO DO

• Use icebreaker activities to help participants relax and get more comfortable with one another in this setting. Choose the activity based upon the culture and style of your organization and your goals for the retreat. Schedule a social event or group exercise before each formal session in the retreat.
• Get to work. Create the agenda for your retreat based on your goals. The retreat should include content specifically tailored to meet the objectives set by the Executive Director with Board and staff input.
• Take frequent breaks: Your retreat time should allow time for members to talk informally and relax. Encourage participants to stand up, move around, and talk with one another.
• Close the meeting on a high note.  The Executive Director will probably have the last word, affirming his/her commitment to the retreat and summarizing what has been accomplished.
• Follow up after the retreat. Send out an online survey to participants to assess results. Distribute any documents developed at the retreat and how what was discussed will be put into the organization’s practice.

WHAT NOT TO DO

• Overschedule for fear participants will get bored. Allowing opportunity for discussion and participation is more important.
• Arrange the seating in theater or classroom style. These arrangement discourage participation and open discussion and make it easier for individuals to stop paying attention. Consider a circle, u-shape, rounds or angling long tables towards a central aisle.
• Vote or make official decisions. Retreats are designed to encourage participation and encourage creative thinking, not to make binding decisions about the organization. This is particularly important if participants do not typically have organizational decision-making authority.
• Plan a retreat without full commitment of the board and executive leadership. Without the commitment of leadership, it will be difficult to get full attendance and board and staff will not likely be engaged in follow-up activities.
• Fail to establish realistic, meaningful objectives. Clear objectives are important for increasing participants’ willingness to act on the outcomes of the retreat or to commit to future retreats. It’s important that the objectives of the retreat not be the product of one person or a small group of persons.  Staff involvement in retreat outcomes and organization are essential for retreat success.
• Wait until the last minute to get a facilitator involved. The more a facilitator knows about your organization, the more effectively he or she can help you achieve retreat objectives.
• Facilitators can also ensure the retreat schedule does not adhere to a traditional meeting style or normal business presentations.

See Tips for your Retreat, extrapolated from Board Source: “The Board Retreat: How to”.

Organizational retreats are useful occasions to get away from day to day operations to focus on building trust, strengthening staff relationships, and educating people on some aspect of the organization’s mission, strategic goals and operations.  Where to start? What topics might be addressed? How much will it cost?

The purpose and content of an organizational retreat needs to be discussed with, and agreed upon, by the Board, organizational leadership and staff. Ideally, the board sets direction and the executive director and key staff initially draft the purpose of the retreat, the objectives, activities to occur and potential recreational opportunities to be provided. Participating staff should also have a real, not rubber-stamp – role in defining the retreat objectives and activities. Aim for 100% staff inclusion for best results.  The following outline is a starting point for planning your retreat.

A retreat can have multiple purposes. Those purposes need to be clearly and concisely stated. Clarity of purpose will help organize the retreat and identify the best location. Regardless of whether the retreat is designed primarily for educative or relationship building goals, or BOTH, an ideal retreat does not occur in an office setting and provides recreational opportunities as well as meeting work objectives.

• Are you seeking to see your program in action in the community as a way to spark innovation in your service delivery?
• Are you visiting other providers of related services in order to build coordinated services?
•  Is this the occasion to train everyone in the use of the new hardware/software programs and provide access to specialists who can answer questions as staff practice with the new technologies?
•  Is there some organizational issue –  a new Executive Director, the death of a long time staff member, changes in the organization’s budget – that needs to be discussed and reflected upon, with a professional facilitator?
•  Does your team “just need a break” – an opportunity to socialize and celebrate a recently completed project, event or milestone? Will the recreational opportunity be inclusive of all staff?

Whatever the agreed upon purpose, it’s important to have board approval and staff “ buy-in” on retreat purpose and location. The answers to your questions about “What is the purpose of our retreat?” and “Where should we host it?” will help you decide on the following:

• When should we host a retreat and how long should it last?
  • Retreats can be as short as a few hours or over most of a weekend, but need to be planned well in advance and budgeted to meet everyone’s needs.
• Who will facilitate and who should be involved in the retreat?
  • Good facilitation is key. A good facilitator won’t participate in the retreat as a working member, or have a stake in the outcome, so think about an “organizational friend”, who understands your mission and goals AND has the expertise to listen, remain neutral, understand how participants think, synthesize ideas, make decisions and handle disagreements that may arise.
  • Staff retreats should have 100% participation for maximum usefulness in building staff trust and common understandings. Depending on the organization, the executive director may or may not wish to invite board members, volunteers or community members.
  • Staff input on facilitation and inclusion is essential.
• How should topics be addressed?
  • It depends on the subject matter. Technical experts for technical topics. Program specialists for education on timely subjects. Organizational leaders for assessing organizational challenges and long range strategic planning.
  • Relationship building requires a skilled facilitator to lead team-building activities. As outlined in Board’s Source’s RETREAT: HOW TO, key objectives for a relationship building retreat may include:
    • Identifying barriers to collaboration
    • Building bridges to improve communication, trust and cohesiveness
    • Strengthening staff relationships
    • Improving relationships among staff and organizational leaders, board members and the community.
• How should we get ready?
  • Avoid lengthy presentations at the retreat and reports that can be read in advance of your retreat. If needed, data should be provided in easy to read formats in advance.
  • Provide all participants a package of information with the meeting agenda, logistics and perhaps a thought-provoking article, well in advance of the agreed upon time for the retreat.
  • Make sure that recreational activities are varied, inclusive and of interest to staff.
  • Budget and ensure that resources are realistically allocated for your retreat. Useful activities can occur in a meeting of a couple of hours, although an overnight always provides opportunity for people to get to know one another outside of the work environment.

Material for this article was drawn from Blue Avocado and Reframing Organizations by Bolman & Deal. The full text of “The Board Retreat: How To” is available at Board Source.org.

From National Nonprofit Leader, Joan Garry:

It’s all in the planning. Here’s what you need:

1. The retreat must be owned by its participants.A top down approach is a recipe for failure. If YOU want to have a retreat because YOU think that the group should be discussing what YOU want, re-think and re-frame. When a group has a shared investment in the goals and outcomes, you all win.
2. Hire a facilitator who doesn’t simply direct traffic and keep the “queue.”I always joke with my clients that if I have one weakness as a facilitator, it’s keeping the queue. I’m too busy listening, capturing ideas, synthesizing, and helping to clarify the important points people are trying to make. You are hiring someone who is outside of your process; be sure that this person is smart, strategic and is a first rate listener. That is how you take fullest advantage of the objective point of view. Oh, one more thing. Hire a facilitator who is not afraid of being honest with the head honcho. This will be key in prepping her/him and in debriefing as well.
3. Reach out to every single retreat participant for input.Ask each participant to answer a single question like, “This retreat will be a success for me if _________________,” and send the responses to your facilitator. This gets you important information and buy-in.
4. Review participant feedback with E.D. or Board Chair.What do you all see? What are the trends? It is through the lens of this feedback that retreat goals should be set.
5. A nonprofit retreat agenda is not simply a collection of agenda items.It must have an overriding purpose or theme. The best retreats take participants on a journey. Agenda item B builds on item A and so on.
6. Identify a space that comes as close to ‘pampering’ as possible.If ‘pampering’ is unattainable, shoot for comfortable. A donor’s house maybe?  Something other than a conference room and definitely out of the office, if you can swing it.
7. Never ever put the word “icebreaker” on the agenda.You’ll regret it. People hate them and cringe when they see the word. Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them. Of course you should. Just be sneaky about them, build them in organically, or just call them something else.
8. Shoot for agenda quality over quantity.Are you bringing overworked, stressed-out staff members to a retreat with so many agenda items that it makes staff members feel overworked and stressed out? Fail. A breathless pace to a retreat is a waste of time and money. Divide your day into large blocks. Focus on the most important big things.
9. Every retreat agenda should bring the work or the clients into the room.At one retreat, I had participants role play a diverse set of clients. I gave each one a client narrative. The staff member shared her/his story in the first person as that client and the rest of the group asked questions about her experience with the organization. It was very moving. And it helped turn “work” into “mission.”
10. Debrief ASAP.Your facilitator should provide you a summary of evaluations within one business week following the retreat along with flip chart transcriptions and any other analyses the facilitator was charged with. Last, but perhaps most importantly, the agenda for this debrief is not simply a self- congratulatory job well done. It must include a plan for implementation that includes quarterly extended meetings that enable the attendees to review action items and assess results.

Joan Garry Consulting is available at: www.joangarry.com