Yours is a good board, but you want it to be better.-You want clearly defined objectives ?-Meetings with more focus ? -Broader participation in fundraising ?-And more follow-through between meetings.You want these and a dozen other tangibles and intangibles that will propel your board from good to great.Say hello to your guide, Andy Robinson, who has a real knack for offering ?forehead-slapping? solutions ? ?Of course! Why haven?t we been doing this??Take what he says about written agreements among board members. ?Any meaningful job description must be reciprocal: it defines what is expected of you, but also what you can expect in return.? Example: ?I accept fiduciary responsibility for the organization and will oversee its financial health and integrity. By the same token, I expect timely, accurate, and complete financial statements to be distributed at least quarterly, one week in advance of the relevant board meeting.?In other words, the board knows what to expect; the staff knows what to do. Each is accountable.Simple, right? So why does the 10-item sample agreement Robinson provides seem so revolutionary? Perhaps because so few people have tried an agreement like this.Then there?s what the author calls the ?Fundraising Menu.? Here, board members are asked to generate a list of all the ways (direct and indirect) they could assist in fundraising. The list is prioritized and then used to help each trustee prepare a personalized fundraising agreement that meets his or her specific needs, interests, and limitations.Again, simple, but it?s the closest thing you?ll find to guaranteeing a board?s commitment to raising money.Toward the end of his book, in a number of ?How to Fix It? chapters, Robinson homes in on specific problems, such as poorly attended meetings, spotty follow-through on commitments, inactive board members, narrow consensus, conflicts of interest, weak agendas, and much more. And Robinson doesn?t offer up easy nostrums. Quite the opposite. Over the past 20 years, as a board member, a volunteer, and a consultant, he?s put into practice what he preaches and stands unshakably behind his fog-burning advice. Great Boards for Small Groups contains 31 brief chapters. In fact the whole book can be read in an hour. Funny thing, though, its impact on those who heed its advice will last for years.

First-Time Leaders of Small Groups offers novice and experienced leaders the information they need to keep their members interested and involved, resolve conflicts and deal with difficult people, and ultimately have their group achieve results . . . quickly. The book includes four steps for preparing to lead (selecting members, setting the groundwork for high performance, planning, and establishing your leadership style) and four steps for taking the lead (starting right, working smart, coaching, and assessing). These steps will help you take the lead with confidence. First-Time Leaders of Small Groups is filled with illustrative examples of a wide range of small groups and provides clear suggestions for action. The book includes: Questions and answers based on research on what works well, and what does not Diagnostics for determining your group’s strengths and weaknesses Leadership challenges—ideas for overcoming common difficulties Self-assessments to help build confidence as a group leader Examples of approaches for different group situations Models for understanding how groups work Activities for improving group functions Key research findings Easy-to-follow suggestions for practice

Despite the many changes in governance regulation over the past decade, few boards function as a true corporate asset to the companies they oversee. In this book, Behan offers practical advice that a CEO, Chairman or board member can introduce at the very next meeting. Boardrooms are filled with intelligent, accomplished people—yet seldom achieve their full potential and add the kind of value for the CEO, executive team and company shareholders that many boards are actually capable of. Beverly Behan draws on her experience working with more than 100 boards over the past 14 years—from major Fortune 500s to recent IPOs—offering no-nonsense insights that can take any board from mediocrity to the top of its game including establishing a constructive working relationship with your board; addressing some of the dysfunction that may lie within the board you’ve inherited, and making your board a significant asset to you, your company, and your executive team. Working with the Board of Directors is one of the most important components of any CEO’s job—and most will admit it is something they wish they knew more about. Nearly all CEOs want to change at least something about their board, yet many are unsure how to go about this in the right way. This book not only alerts the reader to common pitfalls that CEO's can make with their boards, it provides workable approaches to a tackle a variety of boardroom issues from getting new talent into the boardroom to engaging effectively with the board on strategy and succession planning.

If yours is among the tens of thousands of organizations for whom six- and seven-figure gifts are unattainable, then Andy Robinson's' new book, Big Gifts for Small Groups, is just the ticket for you and your board.The subtitle, A Board Member's 1-Hour Guide to Securing Gifts of $500 to $5,000 says it all. Robinson is the straightest of shooters ? a sort of John McCain of fundraising. There literally isn't one piece of advice in this book that's glib or inauthentic. It has all been earned. But, then again, what would you expect from a fellow who first won his stripes as door to door canvasser, making 10,000 pitches on 10,000 doorsteps.As a result of Robinson's 'no bull' style, board members will take immediately to Big Gifts for Small Groups, confident the author isn't slinging unrealistic bromides.They'll learn everything they need to know from this one-hour read: how to get ready for the campaign, who to approach, where to find them; where to conduct the meeting, what to bring with you, how to ask, how to make it easy for the donor to give, what to do once you have the commitment ? even how to convey your thanks in a memorable way.Believing that other books already focus on higher sum gifts, the author smartly targets a range that has been neglected: $500 to $5,000. Why? Here's what Robinson says:o They're large enough to justify the time it takes to develop a prospect list, prepare a letter, follow up with a phone call and visit the prospective donor.o They're small enough to include a wide range of prospects. o They're both modest enough to seem feasible to the novice, but also ambitious enough to make it worth their while.o Taken in the context of a major gifts campaign, with a team of solicitors working together, gifts of $500 to $5,000 can add up to a lot of money.Robinson has a penchant for good writing and for using exactly the right example or anecdote to illustrate his point. But more importantly he lets his no-nonsense personality shine through. The result being that by the end of the book, your board members just may turn to one another and say, "Hey, we can do this" ? and mean it.

Are you new to a board and have no idea what’s expected of you? Do you know what a board’s six key responsibilities are? Do you know what your relationship with the Executive Director should be? If not, this book is for you. So many board members—especially of small nonprofits—want to support a nonprofit and readily accept the invitation to join the board. It’s only then that they discover they are in over their heads, with no idea of their expectations and responsibilities. The Little Book of Boards is here to throw that drowning board member a rope. Told with a conversational style, this book will lead you through the basics of being on a board, how meetings work, and what’s expected between meetings. In addition, at the back of the book are several in-depth resources for understanding Roberts Rules of Order, bylaws, committee structures, board leadership, and much more. Perfect for any new board member—or for an entire board that is feeling lost—this book and its common sense approach will serve you every year you are on the board.

Never in history has there been more money on the table for your organization than right now.Members of the Greatest Generation are in their 80s and 90s, and as they pass away theyre collectively leaving billions of dollars to charitable organizations throughout the United States.And their preferred vehicle for giving this money is the simple bequest I give and bequeath to.If at this very moment youre not marketing your bequest program with G force, youre missing perhaps the greatest opportunity in the history of fundraising.To borrow a phrase from a Greatest Generation song, Now is the hour. Raising Money through Bequests lays out step by step how to establish a bequest program, how to work within your organization to strengthen and sustain it, how to market the program to the correct audiences, and exactly what to do when responses start to come in.Further, authors David Valinsky and Melanie Boyd supply plenty of sample materials you can quickly adapt. Theres a brochure you can use to introduce your program, a case for support that explains to prospective donors the merits of leaving a bequest, and a tasteful letter and folder that welcomes bequest donors to the Bequest Society and describes its various features and benefits.Additionally, youll find sample bequest language to offer your donors, a sample agenda for a special gathering to introduce your bequest program, and even a list of possible names for your bequest society.Raising Money through Bequests is a timely and refreshingly uncomplicated book that can have a prodigious impact on your organizations financial security.