Defining, sharing and achieving excellent management practices

You could tell by the size of the crowd in the CUNY Graduate Center’s Proshansky Auditorium and by the whispers in the seats between panelists’ comments that attendees of The New York Community Trust’s 2015 Nonprofit Excellence Awards Best Practices Workshop and Awards Presentation were eager for information to bring home to their organizations.

The awards, created by the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee and managed by NPCC in collaboration with The New York Community Trust and Philanthropy New York, recognize an organization’s outstanding management practices in eight key performance areas as identified by nonprofit leaders across the country. The New York Common Pantry, America Needs You and BRC were awarded the first, second and third prizes, respectively. New York Common Pantry is dedicated to reducing hunger throughout New York City while promoting dignity and self-sufficiency. America Needs You supports the economic mobility of first-generation college students by providing mentorship and career development programs. And BRC helps people reclaim lives fraught by challenges such as  addiction, homelessness, and unemployment by restoring hope and dignity and offering opportunities for health and self-sufficiency.

The awards set a high bar. They help organizations distinguish themselves within an increasingly competitive funding environment. They also help the sector, and those outside of it, identify best practices and how they can be replicated.

NPCC President Sharon Stapel called the awards both an “aspirational tool and a guiding tool.”

“The awards also highlight what great nonprofits are doing,” added NPCC Director of Programs Melkis Alvarez-Baez. “And by highlighting that, we’re teaching other nonprofits – but also other businesses and other government agencies – what to fund and what to support.”

The application process is not for the faint of heart. It requires a two-stage written application process and in-person presentations just to become one of six finalists. The awards selection committee included nonprofit management experts from a wide range of organizations including Community Resource Exchange, Adelphi University and the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development. All of the winning organizations did some serious self-assessment and applied more than once before receiving top honors.

“It was last year we said, I think we’re a candidate. We looked at this like four years ago, we weren’t,” said Stephen Grimaldi of New York Common Pantry. “You have to know your strengths and your limitations. We said, we know we’re strong in ‘X,’ ‘Y’ and ‘Z,’ but ‘A,’ ‘B’ and ‘C,’ not as much. Let’s do something about that.”

“Back in 2012 and 2013 we looked at the application and it really pushed us to get our act together,” said Kimberly Harris of America Needs You. “After looking at the application and the management strategies, we thought about them and we really focused more on planning and goal-setting. … We really wanted to make sure that we had a good foothold on our program, our outcomes, that there was consistency in our messaging, that we had the right staff in place – all of those essential things.”

Focus on diversity

Diversity is not just about recruiting a professional to your board who has the expertise you’re looking for – or stating in your proposal that your staff members are “culturally competent.” It’s about determining what kind of diversity is important for the success of your organization. Diversity may mean welcoming individuals to your staff who have been touched by homelessness or have had a family member who struggled with substance abuse. Muzzy Rosenblatt, executive director of BRC, spoke of such an individual as the “invisible person,” whose presence must be sought after when welcoming new team members. He called their presence “transcendent.” “It’s the core of our work and it’s very present in our staff and its very present on our board,” Rosenblatt said. For organizations looking for more traditional diversity, consider culling board members from among corporate volunteers when current board members’ networks yield few prospects, shared Michael Fitzsimons, board chair of New York Common Pantry.

Keeping an engaged board

“A bored board is a dangerous board,” Harris said. She emphasised that it’s important to keep board members busy and helpful to the organization in ways that preserve their passion for the cause without impeding the organization’s progress. “The day to day is not something where a board should be interjecting their own views, because we don’t live it,” said Daron Greene, founding board member of America Needs You. “The people within the organization live it. The board can’t helicopter in, scramble up everything, walk away, come back in three months and say, hey, did you get that done yet?”

The suggested best practices included requiring board members to volunteer or attend workshops during the year, creating new committees – such as an “in-kind committee” – to engage those with a particular passion, and moving less involved members to an advisory council. Rosenblatt shared that a successful board member asks questions informed by their strong knowledge of the organization and a trust that has developed over time. These questions should be asked out of genuine curiosity and concern – not out of suspicion or a lack of confidence in the executive’s leadership abilities. “It’s a privilege to be on a board,” Rosenblatt added.

Other best practices

Lastly, each organization implemented policies that showed a deep respect for leadership and professional development. Rosenblatt shared the concept of helping individuals find a “professional home” where everyone, from donors to staff members to the homeless individuals they serve, is encouraged to grow. He proudly stated that over two-thirds of BRC’s senior management team had been promoted from within.

Grimaldi shared New York Common Pantry’s “prepare, predict and promote” model: During preparation, staff members are offered opportunities to develop leadership skills, such as speaking on a panel or supervising an intern. Senior management team members review job descriptions alongside the organizational chart to predict where future needs will be and promotions are planned accordingly.

Harris uses a comprehensive onboarding process for new staff at America Needs You. Pointing out that you either “hire hard or you manage hard,” Harris said she prefers to hire hard. Her interview process includes tests and interviews with board and staff members. Onboarding includes pitch training, meetings with board members and training on the history of the organization. Each staffer also receives a wristband listing the organization’s core values: “data and results, curiosity, accountability, integrity and community.”

During the in-depth question-and-answer period, organizations sought to take advantage of the managerial expertise in the room. Questions included recommendations for the ideal number of board members and the ideal required donation amount for a board’s “give/get” policy. The answer in both instances: “One size does NOT fit all.”

“That this is done, is important,” Rosenblatt said. “As in any sector, as in any work, there is a range of quality. When the city and state and federal government hire people, they can choose between someone who just shows up and somebody who gets the work done.

“And if somebody isn’t excellent,” Rosenblatt continued, “those of us in the sector, not just those who fund us, should say, you’re an embarrassment. Step up or step out because the work is too important, the sector is too important the reputation is too important to allow those who can’t perform, who aren’t excellent or even adequate, to tarnish the work of so many other good organizations. We have to demand excellence.”