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Jul 02

Voices from the field: lessons on collaboration

By Governance

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Partnership, collaboration and merger are terms often bandied around in the nonprofit world. And while the concept of collaboration isn’t new, it has become a hot topic as a way to reduce duplication, increase coordination and contribute to collective impact.

According to a 2014 Bridgespan survey of nonprofits and funders, the overwhelming majority of nonprofit and foundation CEO respondents had taken part in one or more forms of collaboration. The survey found that 91 percent of CEOs have engaged in one of four common forms — associations, joint programs, shared support functions and mergers.

While nonprofits reported the most activity in the less integrated forms, 55 percent of foundations wanted to see more mergers, and 76 percent of nonprofits wanted to see more shared support functions.

In early May, Charitable Advisors partnered with Charitable Allies to host a forum. Six local nonprofit leaders took part and shared experiences and the lessons learned for an audience of nonprofit professionals.

The panelists were: Stephen McCaffrey, president and CEO at Mental Health America of Indiana; David Westenberger, CEO of Indiana Youth Services Association; Jim Morris, president and CEO at Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity; Kendra Belden, operations director, Lutherwood Residential; Janice Hicks-Slaughter, director of partnerships and outreach at the School of Education and Exercise Science, Marian University; and Kim Donaghue, senior consultant, Newgrange Consulting.

As the director of agency services at United Way of Central Center Indiana for over 12 years before her retirement in December, one of Donaghue’s primary functions was building capacity, and in this role she facilitated six or seven mergers. There was one merger she deemed perfect.

“It was an excellent agency that did wonderful work, they were smart in looking far ahead. They weren’t in financial trouble at the time, but they knew that they weren’t sustainable. Instead of waiting until they were in trouble, they decided to be proactive and began looking around at what their options were,” Donaghue said.

Most difficult, according to Donaghue, was identifying potential partners.

“Truthfully they had already identified three possible partners. They really only looked at options that were culturally and mission-appropriate,” she said.

With United Way’s financial help, the agency hired a consultant to help exam its options, and later help pay for merger legal fees.

She thinks the reason this one was successful was because the two nonprofits had complementary programs, and the agency looking to merge had programs that the other didn’t have. In addition, the partnering agency was not only able to hire the entire staff, but hired the former executive director as its development director.

“It was the most perfect marriage, I’ve ever seen,” Donoghue said. “They also absorbed some board members.”

Critical, too, were the separate meetings the consultant convened with the nonprofit’s executives and board members, giving both the chance to talk candidly and think objectively.

“It’s hard work and you need people to think big picture and from their professional selves perspective more than the personal.”

Donaghue believes most funders are receptive to support an agency exploring combinations, but are not as receptive to organizations that are failing and looking for any lifeline.

“From a funder’s perspective, we like to see an agency being proactive about its situation and really look at itself and see what they have to offer another organization,” she said. “If an agency is in dire financial straits, let’s face it, it’s going to be real tough to find a merger partner. There are not going to be a lot of agencies out there that are going to want to absorb someone in financial trouble.”

Not all consolidations are successful. Morris, who became the president of the Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity in 2011, shared an anecdote to illustrate when a conversation can take an unexpected turn.

Over the course of a year, two area Indiana Habitat affiliates discussed merging, and had all but signed the agreement. In the 11th hour, Morris received a call offering a deviation from the original plan. Rather than merging, it wanted to hand over the retail operation to Indianapolis, and keep its executive director at the helm of the local Habitat affiliate. For Morris and his board, this would have been a money-losing proposition.

“It was kind of frustrating. I really struggled with when there is an opportunity to meet a greater demand, and we have an opportunity to be more effective and efficient, but I understand that the humanness of who we are,” said Morris. In the end, the affiliate exec didn’t want to lose her position.

Ultimately, the panelists agreed, relationships are the foundation of successful collaborations.

Belden said a partnership between Community Health Network and Lutherwood Child and Family Services in 2013 led to establishing a relationship with an organization with a specific expertise.

Lutherwood, a locked secure treatment facility for youth who are placed there through the courts, through DCS and probation, has therapists and doctors on staff. The center’s staff witnessed new challenges for some of the residents: They were survivors of human trafficking. To the extent they could help, the Department of Child Services was involved, but didn’t have the expertise to offer programs for these girls.

The facility’s CEO had worked with Megan Jessup, the COO of Ascent 121, a program that provides long-term trauma recovery for teen survivors of trafficking. What if Ascent 121 could provide the much-needed programming and lend its expertise to the situation? The Impact Program, which provides residential care for teen survivors ages 12-18, was designed and Lutherwood entered into a contractual partnership with the Carmel-based organization to deliver this service.

“It goes back to relationships that we already had. Communication was a whole lot easier because we knew her, she knew us,” said Belden.

That relationship allowed open communication and to reach a consensus about programming which has continued. There are weekly partner meetings with both staffs. As an example, Belden shared how Ascent 121’s close working relationship with the FBI affects the center’s work. When there is a pending FBI raid, Ascent 121 communicates with Lutherwood’s staff and the facility’s staff can be ready to house additional residents.

Hicks-Slaughter is not new to mergers.

In 2002, she experienced her first with the merger of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. At the time only about five Big Brothers and Big Sisters chapters nationwide were still separate, and she was the executive director of Big Sisters. After 18 months of meetings, the organizations were blended, and she became COO of the newly formed local chapter.

Her second merger was the Hook’s Discovery and Learning Center with Marian University. The science-based program was a good fit for Marian, and its programming was integrated in the school’s outreach work with schools. And to round out Hicks-Slaughter’s trifecta, she had a role in the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center merger with Marian University in 2014.

At the time, the Ruth Lilly Center noticed trends in declining school field trips, and anticipating a reduction in revenues, the CEO of the center began meeting with different entities to identify possible collaborations. Marian University was one of those places.

“It started out as a meeting to just kind of talk, and after so over so many meetings, many lunches, many conversations, it was decided that there was such a mission cohesiveness, it should come together. Key was that the trustees of Marian and the board members of Ruth Lilly Health Education Center came together in agreement because the case for this was strong.

“We were also incredibly fortunate to be able to make that case to a major funder who provided a merger grant. It was a three-year grant that helped us the staff move out of that facility and transfer all of its programming to an outreach format that emanates out of Marian. I’m now responsible for outreach, and partnership development at Marian but I’m also the director of the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center, and we continue to grow and get stronger,” said Hicks-Slaughter.

She said it was not an inexpensive venture to incorporate staff and ensure a stable presence. In addition, the grant allowed them to incorporate the “wow” factor into the outreach programming, incorporating virtual reality.

In Indiana, according to the secretary of state’s office, from 2007 through early 2015, 441 nonprofits filed for mergers. The previous year, there were 71 on the list, including the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center (RLHEC) with Marian University. Long-time nonprofits like the 25-year-old Ruth Lilly Health Education Center and Hook’s Discovery Center have been reinvented by joining with Marian to continue delivering services to schools through outreach programs.

Both Donaghue and Hicks-Slaughter reminded that it’s important to not let your donors be surprised. Communicate early and often so they know that the organization is being responsible.

Hicks-Slaughter said once the merger was finalized, they invited donors to a reception so they could see and hear from people who were in the new roles.

“They could hear about the future, not just that we merged, but this is why we merged and where we see ourselves heading. And that’s what they want to hear because they’re not all happy about it. Make sure that you communicate with them and continue,” she said.

The 2014 Bridgespan survey also found that CEOs said the more integrated forms — shared support functions and mergers – were more successful, claiming that joint programs failed 20 percent of the time. Often they felt pressure from funders to engage in some type of joint programing, but when the funding ended, so did the collaboration.

While shared support functions and mergers take more to implement in both effort and money, the outcome provided structure to achieve impact.

McCaffrey’s and Westenberger’s organizations are examples of support function partnerships.

McCaffrey oversees 12 subsidiary nonprofits as part of Mental Health America of Indiana. At the time McCaffrey arrived at the organization in 1991, there were several organizations that had spun off and were frail and fledgling.

“We made a strategic decision to say, ‘Why don’t we ask our spin-offs, if they’d like to come back?’”

The plan allowed subsidiaries to keep their boards and make decisions on programs and policies. As part of a larger group, they could benefit from the statewide group’s business expertise, but had to adhere to its accounting procedures, HR procedures, and be supervised by the parent organization’s staff.

“Sort of independent but sort of integrated,” said McCaffrey. “Eventually it became our strategic way of growing and being more secure financially ourselves. I think it’s been a good thing, and it allows us to expand our reach as an organization, with 12 or so many boards and a volunteer and staff reach that’s huge. It has provided lots of options for grants or funder applications,” he said.

Westenberger has had similar experiences, first with nine nonprofits that became one organization, Fountain for Youth in Columbus, and since 2012 as Indiana Youth Services Association (IYSA). His organization has responsibility for more than 30 client organizations that outsource their accounting and HR functions to IYSA. Besides member services, the organization operates its own programs and is now credentialing Indiana youth workers and building awareness of programs.

“Before these small nonprofits had a part-time bookkeeper who may have only had minimal training. Now, they had an outsourced CFO who is Ivy Leagued educated.

“It wasn’t even the value of the service and when you add the value of the service and what you can do with that money in the community, you’re at $1 million all of a sudden. Out of your $18 million, you’re spending collectively; you just added a $1 million in your social return. That’s the driver; not can I save $100 bucks a month on my outsourced accounting,” he said.

Donaghue reminded the group that it’s relationships in the community that afford you opportunities for partnerships. Begin with relationships in the community, then look to state associations and groups and even consultants who might work with a similar organizations and offer valuable connections.

“Again, I just think it’s relationships and keeping your head up for whatever opportunities are out there,” she said.

Nov 13

A helping hand for fundraisers

By Sponsor Insight

By Pamela Clark, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Since 2008, Nathan Hand has raised money for causes he believes in. Working for nonprofits like Christel House, School on Wheels, and the Mind Trust, he has gained a wide range of both field and management experience.  The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy alumnus shared his thoughts about philanthropy, his fundraising career and provided advice for relatively new fundraisers.

Hand joined The Oaks Academy about four and a half years ago and was recently named its chief advancement officer. He says that a few key points stand out about its development program – including that the school and everyone involved with it are “aligned around a set of thoughtfully developed core values” that provide direction for all aspects of its work.

“Our board and leadership are supportive of relationship-based fundraising and understand that we’re in the business of building relationships over time and inviting people to join an incredible mission,” Hand says. “The mission itself is multi-faceted, drawing interest from those interested in (or motivated by) poverty alleviation, community development, racial reconciliation and faith.

“I was always taught to hire people smarter than me, so I’m part of a brilliant team who are experts in their roles, work their tails off, support each other and believe fully in the mission.”

Helping people has been a central tenet for Hand since childhood. “My parents were active in the church and community and expected the same of us kids,” he says. “They modeled a service-oriented lifestyle and always put others first. Many of my early experiences in philanthropy were facilitated by the scouting program, service clubs and activities. They gave me an early understanding of privilege, civic responsibility and the power and beauty of giving.”

Hand attended DePauw University thanks in part to a scholarship that included 20 hours of service each week throughout his four years in Greencastle. He participated in several nonprofit internships and says, “I found myself fascinated by the sector and how various groups came together to address a common concern.  Philanthropy and nonprofit leadership became a focal point. I felt at home in the space and loved jumping out of bed every morning to try and move the needle for a cause.”

For him focusing on fundraising seemed a natural choice. He quickly recognized the centrality of funding to any mission and was not shy about inviting people who could help to join him in achieving funding goals.

“I loved meeting new people, understanding their interests and making meaningful matches between people and causes. During those early internships, several nonprofit CEOs shared that in their career path into leadership, they didn’t realize that much of a nonprofit CEO’s role is fundraising and that they didn’t feel comfortable doing it and/or didn’t know how,” Hand says. “I figured I would study and try to excel at something that would be needed in the marketplace. Frankly, it’s less about ‘development’ or ‘fundraising’ and more about mobilizing and engaging a group of people to accomplish something important.”

Hand’s pursuit of such accomplishments led him to study at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, where he earned a master’s degree in philanthropic studies.

“People are at their best when they’re giving of themselves and that’s enjoyable to be around every day,” Hand notes. “One challenge is that not everyone has a positive image of or experience with fundraising. Too many fundraisers over ask, rush into it, exert pressure and don’t honor people. Philanthropy in its purest form is absolutely beautiful. It should be enjoyed and appropriately facilitated.  Some supporters have been burned by bad experiences and assume they can’t engage with a cause without fear of being treated poorly.”

Hand shared five things that could be helpful to fundraisers who are early in their careers — those with two to five years of experience.

  1. Realize that relatively speaking, this is a new and still unknown profession. Many boards and CEOs are looking for ‘quick fix’ fundraising with overnight results, not long-term sustainable philanthropic community building. It’s likely you’ll need to do a lot of coaching and educating internally. You can’t plant today and harvest tomorrow. Find a place/nonprofit that understands that and hasn’t over-committed themselves. That only adds undue (and unrealistic) pressure to fundraising staff and worse, their community of supporters.
  2. Being an early-career fundraiser is hard. Most of the larger donor relationships are held by the CEO and lead fundraising staff.  Make the most of your role, learn the various parts of fundraising work, and meet with everyone you can. Practice building solid relationships and your comfort level with talking to complete strangers about important things.
  3. Stay on top of trends. People and institutional funders are looking for outcomes, sustainability, scale, etc. More and more people are seeing their philanthropy to be an ‘investment’ and expect returns.  It’s much less about ‘charity’ than years ago. Be ready to champion that thinking internally in your organization.
  4. Thank people. Personally.
  5. Only work for causes and people you believe in.  That’s what will get you through the long days and remind you how important the work is. Seek out great bosses and mentors who share those values.

Hand says newer fundraisers can benefit from professional development and training, but it’s important to look for reputable, research or experience-based programs, whether seeking in-person or online courses. One such example is The Fund Raising School, which he says also is   accessible, has a strong faculty and is a great way to understand the concepts in several areas of fundraising quickly.

Hand, who teaches at The Fund Raising School, also suggests getting involved in as many parts of the nonprofit’s fundraising operation as possible.

“Take any tasks that no one else wants to do. Do them perfectly and ask for more,” he says.

“When it comes to personal fundraising, it’s very hard to ‘go along’ on a donor visit due to the dynamic between the people and the fact that a personal ask is being made. Instead, afterward ask your boss to walk you through how the visit went, what was said, the donor’s reactions and so on. Learn from that and apply what you learn to your own visits as you build your career.”

Pamela Clark is Director of Student Services and Admissions for the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. She has served in university admissions and advising roles for more than 20 years and enjoys working with students and supporting them in achieving their academic goals. 

Sep 29

Former leaders reflect on change, progress

By Feature, Leadership

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors |

Nonprofit careers can start in a variety of ways.

— Willis Bright initially was a social worker, which developed his listening skills.

— Ellen Annala worked for multiple nonprofits, which helped shape her understanding of community.

— Jim McClelland was trained as an engineer but made the transition after a tutoring gig.

— Betsy Bikoff worked in the for-profit sector, but served on nonprofit boards.

— Hoagland Elliott had a lengthy for-profit care before taking on the challenge of leading a neighborhood health clinic.

All five retired from prominent nonprofit careers in the Indianapolis area. Combined, they spent over 150 years in the field.

During their careers, there were changes in the economy, technology, laws and regulations, competition and American culture. The number of nonprofits grew to over 1.5 million nationally, and between 1977 and 1997, increased 115 percent, or about 23,000 organizations per year.

This summer, these longtime leaders sat down with Charitable Advisors to share their know-how, discuss changes they have seen and offer input on what still needs to be changed in the nonprofit world. This is the second story from the conversation.

Two former leaders noted an evolution of executive titles. In the ’60s and ’70s, leaders at both Goodwill and United Way were called executive secretaries. The original titles, according to Annala, made it clear that the executive worked for the board. They have also witnessed a shift in executives’ roles in the community.

“While the executive is still hired by the board, I think over the years, the role, too, has evolved, not just within an organization, but in the city and in the community,” said Annala, who retired in 2012 after 23 years in leadership at United Way of Central Indiana.

In the 1970s and 1980s, nonprofit leaders were casual players in civic projects and in the transformation of Indianapolis. The movers and shakers, mostly from the corporate world, were called the city committee, and generated the ideas that would change the city’s future.

Today, nonprofit leaders have been asked to sit at that table.

Annala thinks that happened because corporate leaders could no longer spend 25 percent of their time in civic leadership roles.

Today’s nonprofit leaders deserve a lot of credit, said Bikoff.

“It takes real talent to be an executive director or CEO of a nonprofit when you think about it. The board chair changes every couple of years, sometimes every year,” she said.

“It’s quite a feat to be excellent, and fortunately, we have some excellent, excellent CEOs and executive directors of nonprofits in our community and we have for a number of years,” said the former Fairbanks Foundation vice president and chief grant-making officer who retired in January.

Another area that has changed during their careers is the boards’ responsibilities. As the numbers of nonprofits increased, so has regulatory scrutiny. In the 1960s, there were concerns about the growing universe of charitable, tax-exempt organizations. By the 1980s, nonprofits supported by grants, contracts and earned income were governed by insider boards. The governance structure of nonprofits has become more professionalized, and the level of expectations for leaders has changed, too.

“There are boards that I have observed that the nonprofit’s leadership was trusted so much, nobody asked any questions,” said Bright who retired in 2012 after spending 25 years at Lilly Endowment.

“When there was an implosion, everyone was scurrying around trying to figure out how to save this organization where a few questions along the way might have enabled the organization to have not only a real purpose that it was serving in the community and adding value, but it would not have gotten into the difficulty it was experiencing at the time,” he said. “There has to be trust with accountability.”

McClelland, too, thinks questions from board members are critical. Earlier this year, McClelland completed 41 years as president of Goodwill of Central Indiana.

“I would tell people on our board, many times the best thing you can do for us, is to ask us the right hard questions. That is hugely valuable. Make sure that we’re thinking things through, that we’re not missing something,” said McClelland.

All five leaders worked through difficult financial times. During their watch, there were a half dozen recessions, including the major recession of 2008. The bursting of an $8 trillion housing bubble and the financial market chaos led to a downturn in nonprofit contributions and return on investments.

But not all the changes that resulted were bad.

“In the nonprofit sector, you don’t have those same market forces and some nonprofits can hang on long beyond their usefulness and, quite frankly, beyond their demand,” said Annala. With the recession she saw clarity and in some nonprofits’ cases, a nimbleness or willingness to change.

“The shift in accountability and competition has forced a sense of being clearer about what you’re doing, who you’re serving, what you’re trying to accomplish and whether you’re doing it. I think there’s a new clarity,” said Annala.

According to Bikoff, planning for the future has become more the norm.

“Since the 2008 recession, more nonprofits and more nonprofit boards are taking planning more seriously, and trying to pay attention to what the organizational strength is, and are leaving behind those things that they used to do that they are no longer doing as well,” she said.

“That’s not all organizations, but a great many of them have tried to narrow their focus and many are also paying attention to their ability to implement those plans, which is almost more important than the plan itself. That is a good sign.”

Bright believes there is an incredible amount of pressure on executive directors to raise money, which has challenged program quality, because leaders have to spend so much time identifying resources.

“I’m not sure resources have increased to the same level as the number of organizations that are out there. For all the talk of sustainability, it makes it very difficult for that to occur,” Bright said.

While urban planning began in the early 20th century, strategic planning is relatively new for the nonprofit sector. Annala said even that planning has changed in order for organizations to remain competitive.

“I think there’s a role for some strategic planning or at least being clear about strategic direction. Before it was like ‘plan, do, plan, do.’ Now I think it’s a little more like plan, do, plan, do (faster). It’s like you’re going roughly west or roughly east and you may zig and zag along the way, as you try different things, but it’s not the long strategic planning that some of us used to go through.”

For Elliott, who retired after a decade as CEO at Raphael Health Center, a quality needs assessment is critical for any group thinking about starting a nonprofit.

“When Tabernacle Presbyterian Church decided to do something to help the health care in the neighborhood, they did the best needs assessment I have ever seen. When I came in a year later, I was just amazed at what a thorough job attendees of the church did. They traveled to other cities, looked at other health care sites. They did door-to-door neighborhood surveys. Right from the start, there was a need,” said Elliott.

But the economy made others take notice, too. Returns on foundations’ investments saw the same downturn.

“I think a number of the forces that you talk about were initiated by the funding community, private, public and others. I think it’s made boards of directors take their stewardship more seriously. They are not just there but try to give some direction, to do some planning and to figure with the staff how they are able to achieve outcomes and impact,” said Bright.

McClelland believes the nonprofit sector is incredibly fragmented and that over his career, there has been a proliferation of nonprofits, and an enormous increase in public spending to address major social problems. In his opinion, there are good things happening, but each one addresses one problem, issue, or one target population. They have difficulty aggregating capital or talent, replicating what works and getting it to scale.

“If you look at a lot of major social indicators, they’re worse today than they were 40 years ago,” McClelland said. “There’s a lot of data supporting the notion that these major social problems are related to poverty, low education levels, crime rate and teen pregnancy. As a society, we don’t tend to treat them as if they’re related. The public sector operates in silos. We have got to stop operating as little independent fiefdoms.

“I don’t think the answer is more money. I think the answer lies in making much more effective use of the existing resources.

“We have got to start working in a much more focused manner to leverage and combine the capabilities across the sectors. It could be within the sectors and focus. Not just collaboration for the sake of collaboration, but focused efforts to achieve something that right now is proving to be very difficult to achieve. I think this could happen. I really do. And I see some examples of it now. There needs to be a lot more of it,” said McClelland.

What is each proudest of?

  • For Annala, it is bringing a greater focus to community-level outcomes and watch as is the case with earlier childhood.
  • For Bikoff, it is helping the Fairbanks Foundation grow in the early years, and establishing strong, ongoing relationships with grantees and making a difference in the community.
  • For Bright, it is working to create a funders’ collaborative that supports high-quality summer programs for youth and influencing others around the country to do similar things.
  • For Elliott, it is building a staff from four to 15.
  • For McClelland, it is how Goodwill has adapted and improved over time.
Sep 22

How to develop as a nonprofit leader

By Feature, Leadership

By Bridgespan writers |

Many people who are working within the ranks of nonprofit organizations could become great senior nonprofit leaders. However, in part because of budget constraints, few organizations in the sector have formal professional development programs to prepare mid-level managers for senior roles. As a result, most mid-level nonprofit professionals must take responsibility for their own career development.

One way to begin the process is to tap the experience of senior leaders who already have worked their way up within the sector. To that end, we spoke with six senior nonprofit leaders — all of whom have spent much if not all of their careers working in the nonprofit sector — about their career paths and the lessons they learned along the way. We also asked what advice they would give to mid-level managers looking to move into senior nonprofit leadership roles.

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Jul 07

Volunteer management software

By Feature, Technology

By Janna Finch, market research associate, Software Advice |

Every year, Software Advice speaks with hundreds of professionals from small nonprofits (organizations with annual operating budgets of $1 million or less) looking for the right volunteer management software. This provides us with valuable insight on what challenges these buyers face and what functionality they look for when evaluating new technology.

This report highlights our findings from a recent analysis of interactions with prospective buyers. It can help guide the decisions of other buyers evaluating volunteer management software.

Key findings

  • Sixty-three percent of buyers currently use general-purpose software, such as Microsoft Excel and Outlook, to coordinate volunteers.
  • Twenty-five percent want the adoption of new volunteer management software to result in more accurate volunteer records.
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Jun 23

Advice from the pros

By Feature, Leadership

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors |

Been there, done that. In any endeavor, experience goes a long way. In the Indianapolis’ nonprofit world, wisdom is in no short supply, particularly from longtime executives. Many have seen changes in the field over the course of their careers.

Recently, at the request of Charitable Advisors, five retired nonprofit high-profile executives participated in a roundtable discussion about their careers and shared advice for new nonprofit executives. Participants were:

  • Ellen Annala, former Central Indiana United Way president, spent 23 years with the organization and retired in 2013 after 15 years as president. Her career was spent working for Indianapolis nonprofits.
  • Betsy Bikoff spent the first 25 years of her career working for-profits and then was the first employee of the Fairbanks Foundation. She was its chief grantmaking officer and vice president until the end of last year. Early this year, she launched Betsy Bikoff Consulting.
  • Willis Bright spent 25 years at Lilly Endowment as director of youth programming before retiring in 2012. Currently, he is president of Bright Visions.
  • Hoagland Elliott, CEO for Raphael Health Center for the past decade, also served as chair of Indiana Primary Health Care Association.
  • Jim McClelland retired in April after 41 years at the helm of Goodwill.

Habitat for Humanities of Greater Indianapolis hosted the hour-and-a-half roundtable conversation. The executives’ insights will be featured in a series of stories in the next month. This week, we feature these former leaders’ advice for new nonprofit executives. These are the highlights:

WILLIS BRIGHT: I think my advice to an executive director is first of all, know thyself and be passionate about wanting to be an executive director and be clear about the kind of staff you and your board need to achieve the impact that you want in the community.

HOAGLAND ELLIOTT: My advice would be to really believe in your mission and act on it. I think many times it gets left in the drawer. Treat your clients with respect. People who are disadvantaged need more respect than others.

JIM McCLELLAND: I would add understanding your context, understanding where you fit in the communities you’re operating in, where you fit in the fields you’re engaged in and how what you’re doing relates to what others around you are doing. Don’t develop tunnel vision.

ELLEN ANNALA: I’d probably just underscore again the importance of getting it right with your board. Figuring out how to make that work so that’s it’s working for your mission.

Another piece of advice is actually something I learned from watching Goodwill. I remember when I was at Big Sisters thinking when you’re smaller you’re more nimble, and you can turn on a dime. Well, you can’t, because when you’re smaller, it’s real easy to get consumed by survival. I watched you (McClelland) be the nimble one that was able to turn on a dime.

I remember when a contract got pulled, and Goodwill turned right, and part of it was it had the resources to do that.

McCLELLAND: I so agree with you on the nimbleness. If you want to succeed over time, you’ve got to have impact and you have got to know what that impact is. You’ve got to be sustainable; if you’re constantly struggling to keep your head above water, you cannot do a good job of accomplishing your mission. You need a certain level of financial strength if you are going to do the job. The third is the adaptability. You’ve got to be able to adapt quickly and effectively as new needs and opportunities arise, and as the external environment changes. All three of those are absolutely essential over time.

BRIGHT: Jim, you said something earlier that I think is so critical. You talked about your engagement with your colleagues around the country, and finding out what they’re doing, maybe bringing some things back. Part of the tunnel vision that folks get into is just thinking about what they are doing — never even asking folks across town, executives across the street. They especially need those ideas from folks who are doing what you are doing somewhere else. Call somebody else.

BETSY BIKOFF: That’s what my advice was going to be. Go to school on other people, whether it’s next door, across the city. There is always somebody else like your nonprofit somewhere. There are other foundations, other nonprofits, other leaders whom you can ask. Somebody else has probably already invented what you are doing.

McCLELLAND: But not necessarily only in your field. There’s a quote in one of Gary Hamel’s books that says most people in an industry are blind in the same way. They’re all paying attention to the same things, and not paying attention to the same things. You have got to broaden your perspective. Learn, learn, learn, where you can. You’ve got to get outside your own arena, if you’re really going to grow and learn.

BIKOFF: Talk with people outside your age group. If you only talk with people in your own age band, you’re not going to get the other kinds of thinking.

McCLELLAND: And that’s older and younger.

BRIGHT: Borrow freely.

Jun 16

Nonprofit startups are just like their counterparts

By Feature, Sustainability

By Sarah E. Needleman, reporter, The Wall Street Journal |

What’s different about building a successful for-profit and nonprofit startup?

Not much, according to Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, an elite accelerator program in Mountain View, Calif., that accepted a nonprofit for the first time this month, Watsi.org. “You could never tell there was a nonprofit mixed in,” he said in a phone interview on Friday.

Watsi, a medical crowdfunding platform that launched in August, is among 47 startup businesses in the latest Y Combinator class. Past graduates of the competitive three-month program include DropBox, Reddit and Airbnb.

Mr. Graham began thinking about inviting nonprofits to join Y Combinator about a year ago. “I was talking to a friend who wanted to do a nonprofit project and I realized I was giving exactly the same advice I’d be giving to a startup,” he said.

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