GuideStar Blog

In our first installment of the Women in the Nonprofit Sector blog series, GuideStar’s VP of Strategy Mizmun Kusairi shared her SOS model for success in Women in Nonprofit Leadership. Last week, Peggy Outon, Executive Director of Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management, contributed her story in Women in Nonprofits: Then & Now. Today, we welcome Anisha Singh White as she joins us for the third and final post.

I recently returned from GuideStar’s largest office in Williamsburg, Virginia, for our annual All Staff event. This is our version of an “all hands” meeting – the one time of year when employees from all three offices and the ever-expanding list of remote locations gather together in one place. We spent two days in the William and Mary Alumni house learning from our leadership, listening to external speakers and touching base with colleagues that we only see during this valuable time.

I’ll be honest- I’ve always been a little leery of organizational values. Frequently, these seem to be HR-driven campaigns to increase employee excitement, and, to be honest, they can sound more than a little cheesy. After all, who has time to spend thinking about what we value internally as an organization with pressing time-sensitive projects to complete?

Imagine this: You walk into work one morning, and your supervisor asks you to choose a “clean and chic” template for the organization-wide newsletter, which is set to go out at the end of the day. You run a quick internet search, and find three hundred templates available. Is your next step:

How do you keep in contact with employees across multiple locations?

You know your board of directors—the elected or appointed group of people who jointly oversee your nonprofit’s activities—is vital to your organization’s success. They quietly meet every so often and decide your nonprofit’s future in terms of finances, strategic direction, and sometimes even specific initiatives. And it’s your job to give them enough information to understand just how hard your team is working, what you’ve achieved, and what you have planned, without overwhelming them or getting them too far into the weeds. No small task!

It’s December already – that time of year for cold weather, holiday spirit for those who celebrate, and the nonprofit end of year campaigns! It’s also the time of year that donating with your head, rather than your heart, tends to fly out the window.

Recently, I moved from my office job in Washington, DC to working remotely in a small town in North Carolina. To say this was a huge change is an understatement. I left the bustling, fun offices of GuideStar, where most of us eat lunch together every day, and co-workers know more about my personal life than my mother, to working full-time out of my apartment in a strange, new city.

Just as businesses have customers; nonprofits have constituents. While customers are typically paying customers, constituents are just as vital to the nonprofit. In both scenarios, user feedback is vital for an organization’s success, as feedback sessions allow nonprofits to understand how well they are providing your services, what needs their constituents have, and how they can reevaluate their needs for the future.

Board meetings are one of the most important events for a nonprofit. A lot is expected of organizations during this time-- successfully reporting out last quarter’s progresses, challenges, and expectations for the future are no easy task. A lot rides on the success of a board meeting, and that means stress levels are high for all parties involved.