IWU Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership – Begins in January

We are very excited to have Indiana Wesleyan University’s new MA in Organizational Leadership as a new sponsor of the Not-for-Profit News. As a group, nonprofit leaders know the value of education and I know many of you are looking for options to increase your leadership skills and your employment alternatives. IWU’s mission is to “change the world by developing students in character, scholarship, and leadership”– what better match could there be? This program will be offered beginning in January at the Indianapolis and Merrillville campuses and we encourage you to get more information and see if it might be a match for you. Here are some specifics:

·         Objective of the program - Students will participate in practical experiences complemented by relevant scholarly research to develop their capacity to lead and to enhance their ability to serve in an organization.
·         Program format - The Masters of Arts in Organizational Leadership is a blended format program. Students will meet onsite the 1st class of every course along with the 4th and 7th classes for courses that are 8 weeks in length. Students do online coursework between the onsite classes.
·         Who is the target student? - Current leaders as well as those desiring to become leaders.
·         When does it start? Classes are scheduled to begin in Indianapolis and Merrillville on January 28th.  

Those interested in investigating this learning opportunity further should click on the link for more information. http://www.indwes.edu/Adult-Graduate/MA-Organizational-Leadership/. You can also contact Melodie Briscoe, MAOL Program Representative at 1-888-498-2329 ext 2972 or Melodie.Briscoe@indwes.edu.

Please let them know that you heard about IWU’s new program from the Not-for-Profit News.

Be a Board Member!

October 3 from 4:00-6:30pm, Conseco Fieldhouse is the ninth annual Get on Board hosted by Lacy Leadership Association. 

I am pleased to be a co-chair this year. Over the past 8 years, this event has connected nearly 2,000 local leaders into board and leadership volunteer roles in area nonprofits. There is no charge to participate.

Set up to look like a job fair, you can go to as many or as few booths as you like and learn more about the organizations that are of interest to you. If you aspire to be a nonprofit CEO, board experience is a critical and very interesting way to gain experience and perspective. I see nonprofit leaders/managers that serve on boards that are closely related to their organization or something completely different.

If you are interested in community leadership or making a difference around a particular effort, nonprofits are looking for capable, committed individuals who can assist in championing their cause. Register in advance to help us plan for the crowd and get information about who will be exhibiting. If you are new to the idea of board service, we will hold several brief introductory classes to answer your questions and overview the role of a board member.

One Caveat – in the past, the exhibiting organizations have complained of people who go table to table either selling their services or passing out resumes. Since these organizations have limited time to interact with as many potential board members as they can, we request that vendors and job seekers only attend as prospective board members.

See you there!

Bryan Orander

Join Me in Supporting United Way

United Way of Central Indiana has recently kicked off their annual campaign with a goal of almost $40 mil. Personally, I started supporting United Way when I finished college and entered the working world in 1979(yes, I am that old J). I recall that I started with $5/pay coming out of my paycheck and every year I increased it another $5/pay until I had passed the $1,000/year mark. Today, United Way is still a philanthropic priority after tithing to our church.

I have two brief comments on my personal perspective of United Way:

1) In my mind, United Way plays a key role in studying and responding to many of the most important issues we face in our community. Though they can’t “fix” these problems on their own, they provide a basic infrastructure that we count on to help address them. I am on the board of Southeast Community Services in Fountain Square and the unrestricted operating support they receive from United Way is their life blood. My family makes our annual pledge to United Way ‘unrestricted’ because we know how important it is for the United Way team to be able to allocate resources to the place where they anticipate the greatest impact can be made.

2) Don’t lose your connection when you change jobs. I started my career in the big corporation world and appreciated the ease of payroll deduction. The annual workplace campaign was a convenient reminder and time to renew my pledge. When I changed employers, sometimes United Way fell off my radar and it took a year or more to get back into the cycle. After I started my own business, there was no “campaign coordinator” (it was just me in the office ) and with everything else going on it took me a couple years to get back into the routine. Now, I have our family checking account set to send a donation to United Way every month so that I don’t have another lapse. If you have changed employers or gone out on your own, don’t forget that United Way still needs your support – now more than ever.

Last Chance for Board Booklets! Welcome Survives!

In mid-July, we announced we were liquidating inventory of our four Board education booklets that have sold more than 25,000 copies across the country while we explore moving to ePub formats. In the past 4-6 weeks, our inventory has dropped from more than 1200 booklets to less than 300 and we have sold out of Welcome and Fund Raising, but Finance and Planning remain in limited numbers. Soooooo... you can still save 20% plus get a free CD (The Facilitator Guide is included on the CD) with eight PowerPoint trainings, covering all four booklet topics, Creating Better Board Meetings, and more. The "Finance for Every Board Member" booklet has gotten great reviews for making nonprofit finances more understandable both for non-financial people and for people who are only familiar with business finances. The "Planning for Every Board Member" booklet is not a 'How To' but more about perspective, context, and the board's role in planning. It can be a great complement to "Welcome to the Board" in introducing nonprofit concepts to the first-time board member.

Based on your feedback, we will continue to offer the "Welcome to the Board" booklet in hardcopy since so many of you use it as a handout when you meet with new board members, so we hope to have it back in stock by the end of September. To order the discounted Finance or Planning, please go to: http://www.charitableadvisors.com/ordercdbooklets.html and enter code "Promo7" and then hit apply and it will show a 20% discount on everything you purchase on that page. With each order, we will also include a free Training CD but the system will not show it as a part of your order.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement of our efforts.

Things That Make You Go HMMM! (Nonprofit Hiring)

We included a headline from the general media and a reference last week to the new Nonprofit Employment Report from the IU Center on Philanthropy that prompted a number of inquiries about how nonprofits have added jobs in Indiana through the recession while businesses have cut jobs. Questions along the lines of "Is this true?", "How can this be true?", "We have been cutting for years, who is adding?", etc.

The answer isn't hidden but the headline could be considered misleading for most of us who see hospitals and universities in a separate classification from "regular nonprofits". A clearer headline would have been "Growth of Employment at Hospitals and Universities Surpasses Business Hiring" or something like that.

It is an interesting report and worth a few minutes of your time to explore. Below are a few excerpts that clarify that headline:

· The nonprofit sector accounts for nearly 1 out of every 11 paid workers in 2009, up from 1 in 12 in 2005.
· Over half (54 percent) of all nonprofit employees worked in healthcare, another 13 percent worked in education services, 11 percent in membership associations, 11 percent in social assistance, and 3 percent in arts, entertainment and recreation.
· Nonprofit employment growth was concentrated in the health and education industries (up 9.6 and 4.8 percent respectively), while nonprofit employment decreased for arts, entertainment and recreation, social assistance, and membership associations
· The overall increase in nonprofit payroll was driven mainly by education and health care; nonprofit payroll decreased in social assistance and arts, entertainment and recreation.
· Nonprofit average annual wages grew the most in education (6.7 percent), membership organizations (5.1 percent) and health (3.2 percent), held steady in social assistance, and actually declined in arts, entertainment and recreation (-3.1 percent).


See a summary of the study.

Legacy – Brief Reflections on the Week

 From the first, vague cell phone photo on the 10pm news to the full color videos the following day, we all watched in horror at the unfortunate loss of life at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. A few days later a dear friend who has been sick for over a year, still in her 30s with a young child, goes to be with the Lord. As I watch the news memorialize each of the individuals lost in the stage accident and see the preparations going into the funeral of my friend I can’t help but reflect on whether I am making as much of a difference as I can with my life while I have the opportunity.

Beyond the precious relationships with family and friends, I suspect that almost everyone who reads this newsletter plays a role, either as staff or volunteer, in the work of a nonprofit doing important work. Are we investing enough of our time, energy, and resources to make a difference or just putting in the minimum and moving on to more busyness? What will each of us be remembered for?

Do-it-yourself Professional Development - Sally Migliore, Philanthropy Journal

Familiar with the expression, "No one person can fulfill all your needs?"

In the nonprofit world, it would be appropriate to change that slightly to: "No one employer can fulfill all your professional-development needs."

For nonprofits, particularly in this economy, it's not likely that money is available for professional development or, if it is, it's very limited.

Yet we know it's essential to invest in staff members who are the cornerstone of effective programs in our communities.

The responsibility for professional development is a shared one.

The role of an executive director is to promote a culture that supports employees' growth, while the responsibility of the employee is to take initiative in creating a plan for how he or she can acquire new knowledge and skills.

Professional development isn't an add-on; it's a core part of doing one's job well and with energy and enthusiasm for continued learning and performance.

So, I'd like to propose how nonprofit staff might go about creating a do-it-yourself professional-development plan.


Continue reading the article.http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/resources/special-reports/professional-development/do-it-yourself-professional-development?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Do-it-yourself+professional+development&utm_content=Do-it-yourself+professional+development&utm_campaign=Professional+Development%yourself+professional+3A+Philanthropy+Journal+Special+Report