Helping Your Leadership Avoid Bad Decisions

By Ken Tysiac

Many faulty business decisions can be traced to “confirmation bias” that leads people to unwittingly seek information that bolsters what they want to believe, says Brigham Young University accounting professor Doug Prawitt. “We don’t realize it when we do that, but it’s a very, very powerful human bias”. Prawitt is co-author of “Enhancing Board Oversight: Avoiding Judgment Traps and Biases”, a white paper on business judgment released Wednesday by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

Their simple process seems obvious but is being well received and put into practice at both the board and leadership team levels:

- Define the problem and identify fundamental objectives.

- Consider alternatives.

- Gather and evaluate information.

- Reach a conclusion.

- Articulate and document rationale.

Click here for access to White Paper.

Dollars to Deeds: the Life Cycle of Social Enterprise – April 11

On Wednesday, April 11, 2012 the IUPUI University Library Philanthropy Collections will host Dollars to Deeds: the Lifecycle of Social Enterprise, a ninety-minute forum looking at social change, with speakers from three outstanding organizations at different points in the social enterprise life cycle—start up, sustainability and long-term impact. The forum takes place from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in the Lilly Auditorium on the lower level of the IUPUI University Library at 755 W. Michigan Street in Indianapolis. A public reception will follow the event. Guests can also visit the Philanthropy Archives from 2:00-3:00pm prior to the forum.

Dollars to Deeds special guests include: Barbara Kerkhoff, a self-described orchestrator and co-facilitator for Indiana Voices of Women, an Indianapolis-based group that facilitates programs for women to share their stories and gain leadership skills. Ted Levinson, Director of Lending at the San Francisco-based RSF Social Finance. For over 25 years, RSF has been expanding the definition of social finance by providing loans, gifts, and investments that foster social and spiritual renewal. John Hunting, founder of the Beldon Fund—a national foundation established in 1982 to promote sound environmental policies.

There is no charge of the event. For more information go to: http://ulib.iupui.edu/ps2012 Questions? Contact Kindra Orr at 317-278-2338

Bryan Orander
President of Charitable Advisors and Publisher, Not-for-Profit News


www.CharitableAdvisors.com 
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317-752-7153

NEW Job Ad Feature - Job Candidate Questions

As a nonprofit leader or manager your time is valuable and limited. We have a great way to save you time in the resume review process. Our next step in utilizing the capabilities of our new jobs database (Fall 2011) is the ability to include job specific questions so that candidates can more closely match their experience and qualifications with your position. Wouldn't it nice to know, upfront, if your candidates for Development Director had experience with a capital campaign or how familiar they are with social media? These questions provide a writing sample that you wouldn't see otherwise and discourage unqualified candidates from applying, further reducing your resume review time.

Your organization may have discovered that sending out questions for candidates to answer can assist in matching their experience to your needs, but it extends the search timeline and takes a lot of administrative effort. The Charitable Advisors applicant tracking system makes these questions part of the résumé submission process so that you receive the résumés and question responses simultaneously.

The fee for this service is only $99 in addition to the cost of the job ad. If you request this service, we will send a sample list of questions and request you to select or provide your own for a total of 4-6 questions to be included. Please allow adequate turnaround time to select questions and get your position posted in the next newsletter. Submit your ad or request the sample question list at ads@notforprofitnews.com or contact me with questions.
Bryan Orander
President of Charitable Advisors and Publisher, Not-for-Profit News