category: Michael Davidson
The Top Two Reasons Your Board Doesn’t Fundraise: Reason 1
by Michael Davidson
Your board members joined your board because they believed in the change your organization is committed to (your vision) and how you make that change (your mission). Unfortunately, while that belief in your vision and mission continued on a cognitive level, not enough has happened to create the emotional connection necessary to motivate them to use their networks to cultivate potential donors.
Read More What Boards Can Learn From Youth Programs
by Michael Davidson
Effective engagement is achieved by creating an environment where participants experience being valued as individuals and are genuinely engaged in decision making about matters that are important.
Read More Executive Committees: To Abolish or Not to Abolish
by Michael Davidson
In a recent article about her “mission to destroy all executive committees,” Simone Joyaux presented five reasons for her campaign. While her observations may apply to some organizations in some situations, my concern is with the importance of executive committees for organizations that have minimal staff resources to devote to board management and where the boards may not yet be highly functioning.
Read More What to do about board meetings?
by Michael Davidson
Board meeting provide an opportunity to create the shared goals necessary to enable all board members to experience being part of an “In” group.
Read More Maintaining a Mission Driven Board Culture
by Michael Davidson
Boards can retain the mission commitment of their founding culture while structurally transforming from a hands-on “Founding Board“to a differentiated “Sustaining Board.”
Read More Traits of Highly Engaged Boards
by Michael Davidson
For me, the interesting question is not ‘why board members not engaged,’ but rather, ‘what are the traits of the boards where the members are engaged?’
Read More The team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.
by Michael Davidson
I would like to share some ideas that have helped clarify a view I have been developing about effective boards. The first was in a discussion at my synagogue that asked us to look at the difference between Descartes’ conclusion –“I think therefore I am” and the self-definition attributed to God -“I am who I am.”
Read More Organizational Culture
by Michael Davidson
The culture of an organization is central to its effectiveness. In stewarding organizations, boards can readily pay attention to the documentable aspects of the work, i.e. finances, resources, outcomes, communication systems, benefits, etc. The culture, however, is less apparent but of equal importance to achievement of the mission.
Read More Would Moses Have Made a Good Nonprofit Board Chair?
by Michael Davidson
The culture of an organization is central to its effectiveness. In stewarding organizations, boards can readily pay attention to the documentable aspects of the work, i.e. finances, resources, outcomes, communication systems, benefits, etc. The culture, however, is less apparent but of equal importance to achievement of the mission.
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