Janisa Discussion:
Hello Peers and Dr. Holland,
The name of the not-for-profit organization that I have chosen for the course project is So Others Might Eat, Inc., (SOME, Inc.). SOME, Inc. Board of Directors are responsible for upholding SOME’s mission, supporting its President, ensuring effective organizational planning, and overseeing its organization’s operations, growth, and financial condition. Board members are selected based on their field of expertise and their commitment to helping those who are experiencing homelessness and poverty (SOME, 2022). SOME, Inc. Executive Leadership Team is committed to robust governance, accountability, leadership, and the personal and professional development of their team.
Based on my research, the chosen not-for-profit organization board structure selected that best describe SOME, Inc. is self-perpetuating governing boards (Worth, 2020). I could not tell throughout the description of SOME, Inc. Board of Directors, and Executive Leadership whether or not the directors were elected directors or not. I discovered they were selected, however, based on their field of expertise (SOME, 2022). As a self-perpetuating governing board, maintaining continuity of culture, priorities, goals, crafting the board membership to gain needed skills, and selecting members who are helpful in fundraising were all applicable to SOME, Inc. (Worth, 2020).
Further research indicated that SOME, Inc. Board of Directors may have the propensity to become unrepresentative of the community or constituency, too stable to respond to changes in the environment, and may become too passive and yield too much authority to the CEO (Worth, 2020). SOME, Inc. has been aiding the improvement of impoverished and homeless District of Columbia citizens since 1970 and in 2021 only recently selected a new CEO to its leadership.
I believe the self-perpetuating governing board is effective because together, the Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors’ oversight ensure there is consistent analysis of strategy and operations, as well as management’s overall advancement of SOME, Inc. mission (SOME, 2022).
Janisa
References:
Our story. SOME (So Others Might Eat). (2022, August 23). https://some.org/about/our-story/
Worth, M. J. (2020). Nonprofit Management (6th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US).
https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781544380001
Dara Discussion:
The nonprofit organization I have chosen for my strategic analysis is the Rhode Island Healthcare Association or RIHCA. RIHCA is a state affiliate of the American Healthcare Association. I chose this organization because it represents and supports more than 80 percent of the long-term care facilities in RI. (RIHCA, 2020) The long-term care facility I am currently employed by as a social worker is a member of RIHCA. Worth describes a distinction between the paid and not-paid leaders within a nonprofit organization. He describes that often the term CEO is used to describe the top paid staff person and the top board officer is referred to as the chair. (Worth, 2021) RIHCA describes their staff as incorporating the president/CEO, the vice president, and a bookkeeper. It appears that RIHCA has a governing board as opposed to an advisory group as they refer to the board as the board of directors. RIHCA’s board officers include the chair, first and second vice chairs, secretary, treasurer, and immediate past chair. As of this year they have 10 board directors. I look forward to learning about how the board members are selected in the upcoming interview. I can hypothesize that RIHCA functions with an elected governing board or a self-perpetuating governing board. I would find it unlikely that their board is selected through appointment by some authority outside the organization. RIHCA is not a public organization and is not affiliated with a religious congregation or college, all of which commonly have appointed boards. I feel that an elected governing board or a self-perpetuating governing board would both be effective choices for board selection for RIHCA. A self-perpetuating board may be the most effective because it can maintain continuity of culture, priorities and goals, can craft the board membership to gain needed skills, and can select members who are helpful with fundraising. (Worth, 2021)
References
Worth, M. 2021. Nonprofit Management. 6th Ed. Sage Publications.
Rhode Island Health Care Association (RIHCA). 2020. RIHCA Board of Directors
