Ep. 5 - Boards Behaving Badly

The bully on the board, the shrinking violet chair, the member in absentia. Boards are the worst! If you have ever experienced boards behaving badly, this episode may trigger you. True life story on how one board wasted almost $100,000 of donors money invested in strategic improvements, held an Executive Director hostage, and dismantled board trust - in less than 10 months!

The episode where we find that Founders have an expiration date...and flying blind in a storm rarely has a good outcome.   Enmeshed identity with the organization. Clinging to an original vision...from 40 years ago. Refusing to adapt to change. Resisting new ideas. Holding all the cards...and the purse strings. These are among the symptoms that can be found when Founders Syndrome is strangling an organization.    On this episode, we chat with Lisa Young, President of an organization that does powerful work in the Dominican Republic providing education, healthcare, and community support. Our conversation revolves around managing a founder resistant to letting go, the impact of the founder on the success or failure of the organization, and how to manage the careful and delicate removal of their death grip.

The episode where we find out that boards are not really useful but can be enthusiastic.  Bob Nolan, Executive Director of Development for the School of Public Health at Indiana University, takes us through an experience he had in a previous position, where his board approved an ambitious national fund development plan, refused to resource it, and had little interest in its success. We explore why boards behave this way, what could be done differently, and ask our audience to solve the biggest question: What is growing fundraising organically mean anyway?

The episode where the hero is given an impossible goal of finding money that doesn't exist, riches rain down unexpectedly only to have stupid people make promises with the newly acquired wealth that they cannot keep and then pin the resulting disaster on the hero. Lord of the Flies reigns in this story from Alice Anne Harwood, where no one is thinking straight, the leaders aren't listening, and the result is just pure chaos - one we all have exprienced.

In the inaugural episode, Sondra chats with industry friends who either give money to nonprofits, govern nonprofits, lead nonprofits or promote nonprofits. They share experiences they have had while talking about Imposter Syndrome in nonprofits and Boards behaving badly.

A sneak peek at what's ahead on Charity Case!