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E-Newsletter -- July, 2005
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In This Issue:
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Wyland's Views on Nonprofit Regulation Featured in Chronicle of Philanthropy |
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From the IRS -- Top 10 Reasons Charities are Denied Tax-Exempt Recognition |
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Carver's Policy Governance Model -- The Only Way for Good Nonprofits? |
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Book Review -- Losing Your Executive Director Without Losing Your Way: A Nonprofit's Guide to Executive Turnover |
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Please Share With a Friend or Colleague! |
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Featured Links:
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Wyland's Views on Nonprofit Regulation Featured in Chronicle of Philanthropy
There is much discussion in Washington-based nonprofit circles and on Capitol Hill about possible new laws affecting how nonprofits are run and regulated. We reported on some of those initiatives last month.
Michael Wyland read a front-page article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (the Wall Street Journal of charities and nonprofits) and wrote a quick e-mail to the author that became a letter to the editor.
For those who don't subscribe, or who missed the letter, we've reprinted the original e-mail (including a paragraph the Chronicle didn't print) on our web site. The letter is titled 'The Best Way to Curb Charity Fraud'
From the IRS -- Top 10 Reasons Charities are Denied Tax-Exempt Recognition
We were searching the IRS web site recently and came across this short, interesting, and slightly amusing information that will benefit any charity seeking IRS recognition.
Carver's Policy Governance Model -- The Only Way for Good Nonprofits?
A colleague recently posted a question in an online discussion group. She was asking for literature citations on research investigating the success of John Carver's 'Policy Governance' model of board/staff relations and nonprofit management.
The Carver model, as it's known, relies heavily on the idea that nonprofit boards should concentrate their activities to broad issues of strategy and policy, leaving operations and management to staff control. Carver devotees believe than only a pure application of Carver's principles will work effectively, but there are relatively few examples of nonprofits that have performed this comprehensive adoption.
We reviewed the scant research that has been performed to date, and the results are interesting. It seems that organizations with boards and executives that are deliberate and intentional about strategy, policy, and roles definition are more successful than organizations with boards and executives that do not focus on these issues. However, there is no evidence that any particular governance model is more successful than any other model in organizations that have focused on the issues of strategy, policy, and roles definition.
So, how a nonprofit is addressing governance and strategy is less important than the fact that a nonprofit *is* addressing these issues in a meaningful way. In other words, one doesn't have to adopt Carver's solution completely to address the legitimate concerns Carver's solutions seek to address.
Book Review -- Losing Your Executive Director Without Losing Your Way: A Nonprofit's Guide to Executive Turnover
Ideally, a nonprofit's executive director (ED) and board have time and energy to plan ahead for executive transition. Many board members have never had to face the daunting, time-consuming process involved in executive transition. ED turnover is more rapid than in years past, owing to reasons such as the increase in nonprofit organizations, changing (and often more demanding) board and stakeholder expectations of EDs, and increased willingness on the part of both boards and EDs to part company over issues of mission, policy, and management.
This book is an excellent description of the basics of executive director transition, including descriptions of factors that lead to executive director transition and checklists for board members, interim EDs, and others to use in making the transition in nonprofit management as painless as possible.
Please Share With a Friend or Colleague!
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