Good Governance— Leadership Excellence

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Capacity Partnership Group

Glen Peterson

Good Governance—
Leadership Excellence

A Workshop in #Policy Governance®

Saturday, February 26, 2011

9 AM – 2 PM; Lunch included

Whittier Area Community Church
8100 Colima Road, Whittier, CA 90605

“Boards: Bar Fights, and Beautiful Music:

how to avoid the one, and make lots of the other”

A workshop in board governance for nonprofit and community benefit organizations, we will examine the practical usage of Policy Governance, a comprehensive model of board governance. This is a new paradigm for governance and ensures organizational results and accountability that is safe and fair. We will look at the foundational work of the board—the work that no other group of volunteers can be expected to do.

A board of directors needs to know its job and have the right tools. The job of governance is about values, vision, empowerment of both board and staff, and the strategic ability to lead leaders. This workshop looks at how a board of directors brings added value to a new organization. The workshop is designed as an introduction and to help everyone from beginners to veterans. It is for new board members and executives.

As workshop participants, board members and staff leaders will gain an appreciation of leadership through governance; define the roles of management and board distinct from one another; identify the unique job outputs of the board; and learn how to avoid meddling and "rubber-stamping" by boards.

There is a nominal fee of $85 for the first person from an organization and $25 for additional persons from the same organization will be charged. Lunch and materials are included. All fees are due and payable in advance.

Future Policy Governance workshops to be offered in 2011 include: Ends Policy Writing, Policy Writing Blitz, Monitoring, Connection to Ownership.

For more information call Glen at 562/400-4739.

Sign up here.

More from Capacity Partnership Group here.

Post Office Box 693

Whittier, CA 90608

gpeterson@capacitypartnership.com

562/400-4739 [mobile & voice mail or text]

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Advocacy, nonprofits, the Supreme Court Decision

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I pondered this question out loud a couple of times over the last week. Here is information from Alliance for Justice. More information on this and other advocacy issues and nonprofits can be found here. I pretty much figured this was the answer.

Question: Does the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United mean that a 501(c)(3) organization can now support or oppose candidates for public office?

Answer: NO.  501(c)(3)s remain subject to federal tax law’s absolute prohibition on intervening in an election campaign on behalf of or opposition to a candidate for public office.  Therefore, little will change for public charities and private foundations as a result of this opinion. For more information about what Citizens United Means for Tax-Exempt Organizations, see our report:  http://www.afj.org/connect-with-the-issues/citizens-united-overview.html.

If you have any questions about lobbying or other issues related to nonprofit advocacy, please call Alliance for Justice's toll-free technical assistance hotline at 1-866-NPLOBBY or email us at advocacy@afj.org.  

This is from Alliance for Justice's weekly Advocacy Digest. Further questions should be directed to them. I am not an attorney and nothing I say or put on this blog should be construed as legal advice.

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Organizational Transparency

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Some great thoughts here about transparency and a safe accountabilit from the CFO (Chief Euphoria Officer) at Ben and Jerry's.  For people who were in today's workshop on Policy and Procedure, this is a good follow-up on this topic and great question that came up during the Q & A.

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IRS Offers Tips for Year-End Donations

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Individuals and businesses making contributions to charity should keep in mind several important tax law provisions that have taken effect in recent years. You can read more about that at the IRS website here. 

And here is a video:



And in Spanish:



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Good Governance—Leadership Excellence--Workshop, October 17, 2009, Whittier, CA

Welcome back!

"Boards, Bar Fights, and Beautiful Music: how to avoid the one, and make lots of the other."

Saturday, October 17, 2009; 9 AM – 3 PM; Lunch included. Whittier Area Community Church, 8175 Villaverde Dr., Whittier, CA 90605

A board of directors needs to know its job and have the right tools. The job of governance is about values, vision, empowerment of both board and staff, and the strategic ability to lead leaders. There are 3 job outputs that a board of directors must accomplish that no other group of volunteers can. Do you know what those are? You will if you attend this workshop. This workshop looks at how a board of directors brings added value to a new organization. The workshop is designed as an introduction and to help everyone from beginners to veterans.

As workshop participants, board members and staff leaders will gain an appreciation of leadership through governance; define the roles of management and board distinct from one another; identify the unique job outputs of the board; and learn how to avoid meddling and "rubber-stamping" by boards.

A nominal fee of $50 for the first person from an organization and $20 for additional persons from the same organization will be charged. WACC will provide scholarships for Whittier organizations that serve the poor or disadvantaged of the community.

Board Governance is the job of the group granted full accountability and full authority for value produced on behalf of those who morally if not legally own the organization. It is the servant-leadership work of the highest and initial authority within the organization.

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Exectuive Compensation and the Board of Directors

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At our workshop I pointed to new IRS reporting requirements and California Nonprofit Accountability Law requiring boards of directors of nonprofit organizations to set executive compensation and monitor that expense. In the context of smaller nonprofits we often don't worry about overpaying. But is can be and is a problem. The recent corporate scandals involving the financial sector demonstrates that and the Wall Street Journal says nonprofits need to watch out too!

". . . the IRS has signaled more aggressive oversight of charities as various compensation scandals crop up among nonprofits." Wall Street Journal, Pay at Nonprofits Gets a second look

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BBC reports Obama agrees with me

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The chief executive and chairman of troubled US car maker General Motors will step down at once, at the request of Barack Obama. --BBC

In my workshops with board of directors of community and faith-based organizations I often use boards of equity corporations as examples of both good and bad behavior of boards, CEO's and to illustrate the concept of ownership.

Recently I have been commenting that the CEO's from US automakers and financial institutions who are sitting in front of Senate hearings explaining why their companies have failed to produce a profit or even enough money to sustain ongoing operations demonstrated that boards of directors are not achieving accountability on behalf of stockholders. My understanding that a CEO should lead an equity corporation to achieve increased value of equity for stockholders would be the only criteria for continuing employment.

So, the boards didn't live up to their responsibility, stockholders didn't act at a stockholders meeting, therefore, the Whitehouse took some kind of action. GM's CEO will be stepping down at Barack Obama's request. I'll post more news as I find it. BBC is reporting it here.

Los Angeles Times General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner to step down.

Wall Street Journal: Chrysler CEO Not Likely To Follow GM Wagoner's Fate.

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