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Exposing the Elephants: Creating Exceptional Nonprofits

At last! Here is the book on nonprofit management that you were hoping someone would write. Providing an insider's look into the need for change, Exposing the Elephants: Creating Exceptional Nonprofits gives an eye-opening assessment of the state of the nonprofit sector today, as well as practical and useful recommendations for real change from within.

Despite lofty statements about their mission, staff and board energies are often consumed by infighting and politics, leaving little time and energy for mission activities. Exposing the Elephants takes an honest look at the fundamental obstacles facing the nonprofit sector. Here are five elephants to consider:

Earth to Board Elephant: Board and constituent realities conflict. Boards and CEOs give lip service to the fact that they listen to the needs of their constituency; in fact, the group that really has their ear is volunteers, particularly vested volunteers—those who are more concerned about their own vision and individual role within the nonprofit than with the nonprofit’s needs as a whole.  The danger arises when board decisions are based on this small group rather than the much larger constituency.

Board Fiddles, Rome Burns Elephant: Small clatter drowns critical sound. Boards believe that all policy and strategy comes from the board. In reality, how could a board comprising part-time volunteers who meet infrequently and who are removed from day-to-day operations possibly create all the policies and strategies necessary for the efficient functioning of a multilevel organization? The result is a board that becomes immersed in business management strategies and ignores governance policies and strategies—that fosters under-performing CEOs who thrive by shifting accountability onto the board.

Taming the Smile, Not Skill Elephant: Congeniality trumps performance. Volunteers measure CEO and staff performance by likeability and give little or no value to professional performance. Paid staff is rated by its “Q” quotient —a board member opinion about how congenial and accommodating the staff member is. Hiring high-Q CEOs or rating their performance by their Q quotient is especially dangerous, because CEOs determine organizational culture. Over time, high-Q cultures weed out the fittest and let only the congenial survive.

Read My Lips Elephant: Rhetoric substitutes for results. This elephant’s motto is, “Say something loud enough and often enough, and people will believe it’s true.” Yet, nonprofits are not what their leaders say they are; nonprofits are their mission accomplishments. When leaders ballyhoo something that can’t be backed up with the resources needed to deliver those plans, they risk losing donors and members when reality hits.

Quick Summary:  How do you eat an elephant? Answer – One bite at a time.

Holding old mindsets and dogmas up to the light of day, this insightful book uniquely shows you how to get your nonprofit to go beyond "business as usual" with practical, workable solutions harvested from openly examining cultural standards and organizational performance in a fresh new perspective. Exposing the Elephants will reignite your vision and passion for your nonprofit, taking it from "stuck" to exceptional. To preview the book visit: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471792217,descCd-google_preview.html

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