• Have a “lieutenant” — someone who is empowered to act as needed (in addition to you)
• As the executive director, work in deep partnership with the board chair/president. Be seen together. Make sure people know you are team.
• Remember to regularly assess the strengths of individual board members and to have a variety of people on your board.
• Don’t underestimate the importance of the nominating committee.
• Also, boards should do a self-assessment of themselves.
• Other board reminders: make sure your board knows how to read financial statements, make sure they are not micro-managing, and remind them one of their jobs is to “give and get”.
• Encourage the board to set the agenda — it empowers them.

Lynn also spoke a lot on leadership and shared several books that have helped guide her through her years of leading nonprofits. It was such a good reminder that while  even in the midst of the challenges that come with simply managing day-to-day (sometimes hour-by-hour), that taking time for some big-picture leadership is critical.

If you missed the networking lunch or want to follow up on any of these thoughts with Lynn, please feel free to contact her or her colleagues. They are MCN Associate members, have an amazing combined experience and are looking forward to working with nonprofits in Southern Minnesota.

Our next lunch in Mankato will be Friday, March 18!

Last week, during a conference call about nonprofits/public policy/the Legislative Session, I found myself using my outside voice, which is extremely rare for me, especially in the type of meeting I was participating in. There I was, listening to a group of nonprofit public policy experts, meeting in St. Paul, sitting around a conference table while I was at my home office, staring at a small, blue, flip phone. While the group was discussing this and that and how and what could be done, I kept thinking:

“we don’t have time!”
“we need to do something NOW!”
“we have to do something big!”
“do something that will get their attention!”
“and make it easy for nonprofits and more personal!”
“we need to do more than just refer people to a website!”

Some of this I verbalized, and when I did, I was met with a long, awkward silence. While I was by no means upset, I was passionately using my outside voice. Had  I been  a kid on the playground and done that, all the activity would have stopped and I would have blushed and/or turned around and left.  Instead, I signed off and spent the rest of the day ruminating over whether or not I should have spoken up. A week later, with a bit more perspective, I’m glad I did. And I hope that more people with stories to tell about how nonprofits impact their lives will join me and others in using their outside voices.  This Legislative session IS going to impact nonprofits across the state and I implore you to please, use your voice — inside or outside — but find it and use it.

– Learn more about  Bremer’s  cost-saving programs to MCN member organizations