Open Questions: The Ross Collective Blog
Sharing insights and stories on nonprofit strategy, racial equity and leadership
Four Steps to a Productive Board Retreat that Drives Positive Organizational Change
Many nonprofit boards are currently seeking to shift their focus and practices. You may be working alongside one of them!
Why the Board Builders Symposium is Crucial Now
Why you should join us for the Board Builders' Symposium on September 26.
Four Insights and Five Key Steps for More Equitable Nonprofit Governance
Those of us who work closely with nonprofit boards or serve on boards know that a high percentage of boards are not working. And the challenges in terms of the stresses that boards are experiencing (racial injustice, inequities, workplace burnout, uncertainty in the larger economic environment) have increased over the past few years.
Why We Need to Listen When People Say They Don’t Feel That They Belong
We create belonging when we understand the obstacles or barriers to belonging.
Four Steps to Find a Sustainable Financial Path
How to go forward when needs outpace funding
Why Remarkable Boards Focus on Equity and Justice
How do we build a world in which all people can thrive?
Why Informal Practices Matter So Much More Than You Think
Most of us want to understand how we work together and how we can improve our shared work.
What Formal Practices Can - and Can’t do for Board Meetings
To create inclusive, impactful board meetings, you should include those formal structures such as Meeting Agreements. They set the board’s work in the right direction.
Three steps for inclusive, impactful board meetings
How long DOES it take to design one board meeting?
Six Steps to Recruit Diverse Nonprofit Board Members and Embrace Equity and Inclusion
Have you embarked on these six steps?
11 Reasons Why You Need an Effective Retreat Facilitator
When people ask me the value of hiring a retreat facilitator, I think back to Mark…
Lessons From a Cross-Racial Team About Building Belonging
What should boards do once they recognize that their practices and cultures are out-of-sync with new realities?
Nonprofit Board Strategic Planning Retreats: 7 Tips to Make Them Remarkable and Impactful
Seven principles that The Ross Collective uses to design and lead impactful strategic planning retreats
How one organization worked through valuing access AND participation
We’re at a moment of hard choices with no clear answers.
For Productive Meetings, Name What’s in the Room
When I design any meeting or presentation, a first question is, “What is in the room right now?”
How one organization made the shift to a more equitable board
“As soon as we had new perspectives on the board, we started coming up with new ideas about how to approach our work and our impact in completely different ways. The shift was really palpable across our whole organization. I can’t recommend putting in the time and investment enough. It was really so powerful.”
An Unexpected Shift From First Steps to Breakthrough
Joanna*, the Executive Director of a multimillion-dollar organization focusing on food insecurity, reached out because she needed help with her board. In most areas, the organization was doing well: Since Joanna had taken over as Executive Director a year-and-a-half earlier, the work of the organization had expanded to serve many more clients. While the previous Executive Director had been content to serve a limited number of clients, Joanna saw the need in the community and found government funding and other funding sources to almost double the number of clients served.
A proven path for nonprofit boards from conflict to progress
The worry in Howard’s* voice came through the phone line. Howard, the board president of a medium-sized arts and culture organization, reached out to us to work with the organization’s board of directors.
From the outside, County Theatre Co. was having a banner year, bringing record crowds to its signature events. But the organization had hit some bumps. While doing some planning work, the board got stuck. Now the board was divided into two factions, with nasty, contentious emails flying among board members. The board’s work had completely halted. No matter what “side” board members were on, all board members were so frustrated that they had turned their attention elsewhere.