UPCOMING EVENTS

Throughout the year, CNPE offers courses that help both new and experienced nonprofit board members become more effective in their roles. Many people from the business world have valuable skills that nonprofits need but are unsure about how to be the most helpful. These courses explore best practices for board members and teach them about how nonprofits work, including some unique parts of nonprofit governance and accounting.

Upcoming classes include: (Learn more and register at the links.)

• Nov. 8: Be the best board member ever! (In-Person)
• Nov. 13: The Board's Role in Governance (Online)
• Nov. 20: The Board's Role in Fundraising (Online)

ON-DEMAND OPTIONS

We partner with MindEdge Learning, founded by Harvard and MIT educators, to provide high-quality, on-demand, self-paced, fee-based courses to help nonprofits leaders and staff boost their skills. You can find MindEdge’s courses on Nonprofit Management here.

NEED CUSTOMIZED ADVICE?

How well your nonprofit’s board of directors governs is the single largest determinant of your success in achieving your mission effectively and sustainably. Over the years, we have worked with a lot of boards – all of them passionate about and committed to the organizations that they serve.

At the same time, so many board leaders and members tell us that they don’t fully understand their roles and responsibilities – and they don’t know how to leverage the expertise, networks, and passion of the members sitting around the table. These gaps are holding them back.

Our consultants offer several ways for your board to review, refresh, and recommit to practices that will improve their ability to govern and drive mission success:

• Presentation on Board Best Practice. A 90-minute presentation on board roles and responsibilities, structure, and best practice.
  
  
• Board Self-Assessment Survey. Board members take a 20-minute online survey, rating the board’s performance from their perspective. We compile the responses and interpret the results at a board meeting. Our assessment (a) identifies where the board can improve its function and (b) provides a thorough refresher of the roles and responsibilities of the board and board members. (Learn more about our assessment tools here.)
  
  
• Board Development Plan. Board members complete the Board Self-Assessment Survey (above); we help to produce a board development plan based on the survey results. This process typically involves (a) an extended review of the survey at a board meeting, identifying the board’s development needs and (b) a follow-up meeting with an ad hoc board committee to develop the plans goals, objectives, and timing.
  
  
• Board Development Seminar. A six-hour, in-person seminar (or three two-hour virtual sessions) presented to the entire board on board function, roles and responsibilities, and best practices. The seminar is a blend of presentation, case studies, and discussion.
  

Topics include:

• Nonprofit 101: Nonprofit basics and the need for board governance
• Mission, vision, and values
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Nonprofit board structure and function
• Fiduciary responsibilities of board members and boards
• Nonprofit board and organizational strategy
• The board’s role in generative thinking
• Effective meetings
• Effective board member recruitment and orientation
• Leadership, management, and governance and the role of the board

Types of Planning Advice CNPE offers

The planning process is as important as the plan itself. We work with you to design and implement processes that will help you understand the landscape around you, envision where and what you need to be, and chart a course to realize that vision. So when (not if) things don’t go as planned, you can make informed decisions about next steps.

We can tailor these options to your organization’s needs:

• Strategic Plan. Our three- to six-month process helps you develop a traditional, three-year strategic plan. The process includes gathering data (including stakeholder feedback); reviewing your vision, mission, and core values statements; analyzing your internal capacity and external landscape; and identifying broad strategic areas of focus. Our consultants support leadership throughout the planning process; facilitate a board retreat (and staff retreat, if needed); and facilitate and document follow-up meetings with a strategic planning committee to flesh out plan details. 

• Strategic Orientation. Sometimes an organization is not positioned to take on a full strategic planning process but still needs a longer-term roadmap. Our strategic orientation process can guide your organization until a you can pursue a full strategic plan. The process includes helping you articulate a longer-term vision, analyzing your internal capacity and external landscape, and identifying broad strategic areas of focus. Our consultants plan, facilitate, and document a board retreat and a short series of follow-up meetings with a planning team to hone the strategic objectives.

• Operational Plan with a Strategic Orientation. Sometimes, you just need to identify what to do in the next 12 to 18 months. We help you articulate a vision for your organization three years out – and identify monthly and quarterly operational initiatives to accomplish over the next 12 to 18 months that will help realize that vision. Our consultants plan, facilitate, and document a retreat with board and staff as well as one or two follow-up meetings to finalize the plan.

• Scenario-Based Planning. In challenging times, sometimes an organization needs to quickly assess their operating environments and their own capacities, consider the scenarios, and chart and monitor a new way forward. To meet this need, CNPE offers a process to help you develop a nimble, scenario-based, operational plan that:
• focuses on your financial sustainability and capacity/ability to execute programming;
• details objectives, strategies, deadlines, and benchmarks for the next 12 months;
• identifies alternative actions as internal and external conditions and scenarios change;
• specifies communications to key stakeholders; and
• explores collaborations / partnerships

• Mission, Vision, and Values. Your organization’s vision, mission, and core values statements are critical to any planning process. Much more than mere marketing devices or fodder for web pages and brochures, these statements are your organization’s strategic touchstones. Well-crafted statements help you to know what direction to take – and remind you of who you are and why you do what you do. Our consultants can help you create, review, or amend these critical statements, either as part of one of the above planning processes or as a standalone engagement with your leadership.

• To learn more about CNPE’s consulting services or to retain one of our consultants, contact Ed Cortas, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Consulting, at ecortas@cnpe.org or 502-618-5329.