I’m thrilled that my recent post “The Power of Why” on the Mission Connected Blog was included in the 4/14 Carnival of HR, which “features recent posts from the best of the HR and management blogging community”!
Monthly Archive for April, 2010
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For an update to this story, please see
Great News for Harlem School of the Arts!
New York City’s Harlem School of the Arts, a nonprofit institution which for nearly half a century has offered children and young adults training in dance, music, theater, and the visual arts, locked its doors on April 1st. A decision on whether or not the closing will be permanent is expected next week. The story has attracted considerable attention from the media, including multiple stories in the New York Times and the New York Daily News and on WPIX. It has also triggered emotional reactions from the community, including former and current students and parents. A Facebook group started by supporters of the school has grown to over 1,300 members in two weeks.
Nonprofit effectiveness is not necessarily measurable in financial terms. Much of the media coverage and public reaction has highlighted strong feelings and opinions on the part of the community as well as current and former administrators and board members. There does seem to be a general consensus among the media, public, some employees, and even some former board members that the school’s downfall resulted from an extended period of fiscal mismanagement. Parents in particular have been very vocal about their lack of confidence in the abilities of the current board, and while the board is seeking at least $500,000 to reopen for the remainder of the academic year, parents and other members of the Facebook group are suggesting that donations not be made to the school until such time as the board is replaced.
While one New York Times story highlighted a number of specific financial issues, including questions about the school’s failure to meet the benchmarks of a $1.5 million grant to strengthen its financial, marketing, and fundraising efforts, the use of a $1 million mortgage taken on the school’s building in 2007, and nearly $500,000 in payroll tax arrears, it failed to provide what I could perceive as a complete and objective look at the problems that had befallen the institution. To satisfy my own curiosity, I decided to take a look at the most recent form 990s as well as the media reports and other publicly available information. In this post, I want to share some of what I found to be some of the most notable data and patterns from those findings, as well as some questions that my findings raised for me and that might also be on the minds of those interested in the school, including students, parents, donors, and funders.
Continue reading ‘By the Numbers: Harlem School of the Arts’
My new post on the Mission Connected Blog, “Human Resources Maturity and the Three P’s, Part 1“, takes a look at the first two of three basic phases in nonprofit organizations’ human resources maturity, each of which has implications for the design and effectiveness of key human resources processes. Later this week, part 2 will examine the third and final phase, and outline some questions that nonprofit managers and human resources professionals should ask about their own organization.
In this video, nonprofit executives and board members are reminded of the risks associated with not having a formal executive compensation policy and provided with guidance as to how to strengthen their organization’s governance of executive compensation.
View the video version of this post.
A recent survey found that 73% of nonprofit organizations have a formal policy to review executive compensation. As a human resources and management consultant to nonprofits, what I found striking about this statistic is that it means 27% of organizations do not have a formal policy.
Continue reading ‘Are Your Executive Compensation Bases Covered?’
Quantity, quality, and diversity in this week’s roundup of interesting nonprofit sector jobs in and around New York City from my Twitter stream, clients, network, and other sources:
Continue reading ‘NYC Nonprofit Jobs – 4/10/10′
“He was spurred on by the conviction that
the world needed his immediate presence.”
– Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
For 400 years, Don Quixote has stood as one of the most influential works of Western literature. The official lifespan of the Quixote Foundation, named after Miguel de Cervantes‘ whimsical character, will be only 20 years, but the foundation’s leaders hope that its impact will be as eternal.
They are, you see, choosing to go out of business.
Continue reading ‘Quixote, We Hardly Even Knew Ya!’
In my previous post on the Mission Connected Blog, I made a case for the use of salary ranges by nonprofit organizations as a tool for ensuring equity and competitiveness in pay practices, linking pay to performance, communicating current and future opportunities to employees, and managing compensation costs. My new post, “Salary Ranges, Part 2: Anatomy of a Salary Range”, examines the construction of salary ranges and some of the considerations involved with their implementation and management.
My new post on the Mission Connected Blog,“Salary Ranges, Part 1: Why Ranges?”, makes a case for the use of salary ranges by nonprofit organizations as a tool for ensuring equity and competitiveness in pay practices, linking pay to performance, communicating current and future opportunities to employees, and managing compensation costs. In Part 2, we’ll examine the construction of salary ranges and some of the considerations involved with their implementation and management.
Here’s this week’s roundup of interesting nonprofit sector jobs in and around New York City that I came across via my Twitter stream, clients, network, or other sources:
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