To what degree is making decisions a central part of your board’s reason for being? If it judges itself on the wisdom of its decisions, then it may be interested in new empirical research that tells us that boards with an odd number of members may make better decisions. The U.S. based Philanthropy Journal recently reported details of the study, one that reveals directors’ preferences for conformity or difference. It caught my attention!
Fall Promises of Multi-Year Funding
The Liberal Party handily swept the New Democratic Party (NDP) out of office this month in Nova Scotia after them having only four years as our provincial government. It is unlikely that voter preferences were swayed at all by Liberal promises for improved support for the nonprofit delivery
Stressed out?
Non-profit executive directors are dealing with a high level of stress, says a 2012 study. Driving Change: A National Study of Canadian Nonprofit Executive Leaders reports that nearly half of executive directors are experiencing levels of day-to-day stress that are excessive or approaching excessive. Are nonprofits unusually stressful places to work?
Conduct becoming
A group of students at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, one of Canada’s premier small post-secondary institutions, started a music project in 2001 they called “Conduct Becoming” to raise money for cancer research. The students decided their project should recognize exemplary behaviour, not the opposite, with which they were so often labelled .
Jigs, reels and non-profits
Here there is more to Scotland than a curiosity about “hairy coos” and ancient castles. Now some senior Nova Scotia government officials are all abuzz about importing social enterprise ideas from across the sea where they feel this idea has taken root more so than here.
Flower Cart Blooms
Most non-profit organizations are serious about the services they provide. Some are also enthusiastic about how well they govern themselves. Nowhere is this more case than with the Flower Cart, a curiously named, but very successful agency in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.
Kenneth Boulding’s Triangle
Kenneth Ewart Boulding (1910 –1993) was an economist, educator, poet, religious mystic, devoted Quaker, systems scientist and interdisciplinary philosopher. He was nominated several times for Nobel Prizes in both peace and economics.
The board needs to get out more
In the June 24, 2011 edition of the online publication Philanthropy Journal, Terrie Temkin, a Florida-based consultant, suggests that “the board needs to get out more”. This struck me as being really good advice.