Why Organizations Thrive: Lessons from the Front Lines for Nonprofit Executive Directors

By Jonathan Poisner

On January 2, 1997, I showed up for my first day of work as the Executive Director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (Oregon LCV).

The Board shouldn’t have hired me.

I was only 30. I had zero fundraising experience, virtually no personnel supervision experience, and had only been involved previously with one other nonprofit organization.

I was given lots of training to make up for my lack of knowledge. They generally covered the specific skills I needed -- fundraising, financial management, and board development, to name a few.

What I rarely encountered was training that identified the patterns of behavior that separate Executive Directors who make their organizations thrive from those that merely do okay.

In my own experience over a dozen years as an Executive Director, and in collaborating with, volunteering with, and consulting for dozens of nonprofits, I’ve come away convinced it’s not primarily about the skill set.

It’s about how those skills are applied, with what emphasis, and with what mind-set.

This is the book I wish I’d been able to read in my first year as an Executive Director. Or my third. Or my fifth for that matter.

The book's fifteen lessons provide a mix of theory and practical tips that should be of value to any nonprofit leader looking to step up the level of their work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jonathan Poisner
• Release date: Apr 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301766314

Jonathan Poisner

Jonathan Poisner has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector.Since fall 2009, Poisner has worked as an independent organizational development consultant, with a focus on strategic planning, fundraising, communications, coalition building, and other organizational development challenges. Poisner also works as an Executive Coach for leaders who’re looking for ongoing leadership development feedback from a seasoned professional.In 1997, Jonathan became Executive Director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters and its sister organization, OLCV Education Fund. During his twelve years leading OLCV, he grew the combined revenue of OLCV and OLCV Education Fund from $200,000 to $1.1 million per year.During his tenure, OLCV’s staff grew from just one and a half full time employees to more than 11 FTE, while dramatically increasing its capacity to involve thousands of volunteers in its work. During his tenure, OLCV’s electoral program defeated more than a dozen anti-environment elected officials and helped elect many more environmental champions to office.Jonathan also led the Oregon Conservation Network to develop shared priorities.“Priorities for a Healthy Oregon” raised the bar in the Oregon Legislature — helping pass new laws that promote renewable energy, recycle electronic waste, protect farmland, and safeguard clean water.Jonathan served on the founding board of the Federation of State Conservation Voter Leagues, where he was a strong voice for growing state LCVs. From 2007- 2009, Jonathan was elected to serve on the boards of the League of Conservation Voters and LCV Education Fund.Jonathan holds dual degrees in Economics and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. He has a JD from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley.Prior to his tenure at OLCV, he practiced law as an associate attorney at the law firm of Arnold & Porter, served as Environmental Law Fellow at Lewis & Clark Law School, worked as an Adjunct Law Professor, and served on the regional staff of the Sierra Club.

Book preview

Why Organizations Thrive

Lessons from the Front Lines for Nonprofit Executive Directors

By Jonathan Poisner

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Jonathan Poisner

Smashwords Edition License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free Ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied, and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form.

Table of Contents

Introduction

How to use this book

About the author

Lesson 1: Relentlessly focus on relationships

Lesson 2: Communicate excessively with your board

Lesson 3: Transform your organization through one-on-one meetings

Lesson 4: Embrace your role in the network

Lesson 5: Long-term and short-term planning are both essential

Lesson 6: Pick some aspect of your program and get exceptionally good at it

Lesson 7: Synergize

Lesson 8: Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate

Lesson 9: Excel at personnel management

Lesson 10: Build a fiscal management system that connects to strategic decision-making

Lesson 11: Invest in a great contact management system

Lesson 12: Manage one big institutional change at a time

Lesson 13: Know and tell your stories

Lesson 14: Become a very good public speaker

Lesson 15: Give away your power

Acknowledgements

Introduction

On January 2, 1997, I showed up for my first day of work as the Executive Director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (Oregon LCV).

The Board shouldn’t have hired me.

I was only 30. I had zero fundraising experience, virtually no personnel supervision experience, and had only been involved previously with one other nonprofit organization.

A few weeks into the job, I had the good fortune of attending a four-day boot camp designed for nonprofit Executive Directors. The boot camp was very valuable – almost a lifesaver as I struggled to learn new skills. The boot camp covered traditional areas of responsibility for an Executive Director, such as fundraising, financial management, personnel management, strategic planning, and board development.

But even with its value, there was something missing from that boot camp and from other nonprofit trainings I attended over the years.

What I rarely encountered was training that identified the patterns of behavior that separate Executive Directors who make their organizations thrive from those that merely do well.

Of course, part of what separates thriving nonprofits from others will always be better performance at the discrete skills that go into being an Executive Director. All things being equal, the better fundraiser will raise more money. More money allows organizations to do more good.

But in my own experience over a dozen years as Oregon LCV Executive Director, and in collaborating with, volunteering with, and consulting for dozens of nonprofits, I’ve come away convinced it’s not primarily about the skill set.

It’s about how those skills are applied, with what emphasis, and with what mind-set.

Ever since I launched my organizational development consulting practice in late 2009, I’ve been working to encapsulate my thinking into a series of Lessons that any new or newish Executive Director would benefit from learning. Together, these Lessons attempt to give an Executive Director a path by which they can transform their discrete skills into effective leadership.

In the end, this is the book I wish I’d been able to read in my first year as an Executive Director. Or my third. Or my fifth for that matter.

Of course, the book has clear value as well for board members thinking about their role overseeing an Executive Director and for nonprofit staff who’re contemplating a future as an Executive Director.

How to use this book

This Book’s fifteen Lessons are based on my observations of both organizations that have thrived and those that have gone astray, and the more common group in the middle that muddle through doing good, but not great.

Of course, my observations aren’t based on statistically valid experiments.

The book is intentionally short so that it can be read in a single sitting. My suggestion is to read it, let the concepts marinate in your mind, and then re-read it again perhaps a month later. At that point, I’d consider writing down a half-dozen things you should do differently in reaction to the book.

If possible, it would be even more valuable to find three or four other Executive Directors with whom to discuss it, either immediately or after thinking about it.

Several reviewers of an early draft of this book asked about the priority order of the Lessons, in some cases presuming that Lessons presented earlier must be higher priority.

In reality, I am reluctant to declare any one of these lessons as most or least important. Instead, I present the Lessons thematically.

Relationships are at the heart of