Improving Governance in Smaller Not-for-Profit Entities

Overview:

 Are you in a leadership position of a smaller not-for-profit organization? This course will provide you the practical guidance to enhance your contribution to the board, address governance issues and improve the governance practices in the organization. Describe the unique challenges that this sector, and in particular, smaller organizations face. Understand various governance models that organizations use to determine whether there is an ideal model that smaller not-for-profits should be using. The course will also illustrate signs of governance problems and success factors using real-life case studies and provides detailed governance best practice ideas at the board, management, and staff/operational levels.

Course Content:

In this course you will gain knowledge about the following topics:

·         Definition and components of governance

·         Director’s responsibilities

·         Challenges in the not-for-profit sector

·         Key differences between public and private not-for-profit organizations

·         Types of governance models, including hands-on model, traditional model, policy model, and policy-leadership model

·         Governance failure case studies

·         Signs of governance problems

·         Governance success case studies

·         Governance success factors

·         Board responsibilities, evaluation, size, composition, recruitment, renewal, continuing education

·         Management responsibilities, evaluation, strategic planning, risk management

·         Board and committee mandates, plain language communication, effective meetings, employee engagement, capacity building

Learning Objectives:

 Upon completing this course, you should be able to:

·         Define governance and its components

·         Explain why good governance is critical for the success of every organization, no matter how big or small

·         Describe the unique challenges of the not-for-profit sector and smaller organizations

·         Describe the differences between types of governance models found in the not-for-profit sector and determine which is the best

·         Explain the governance as a leadership model

·         Identify signs of governance problems using case studies

·         Identify success factors using case studies

·         Identify best practices at the board, management, and staff/operational levels

Who Will Benefit: 

 Those who are in leadership positions, or aspiring to be, in smaller not-for-profit organizations looking for actionable guidance to address governance issues or improve upon their governance practices.