Blog Posts

Board Advice: What to Do When your Nonprofit Marketing Material is Wrong

2/27/2023

Nonprofit marketing is intended to drive awareness around a particular organization, its mission, and the ways in which it achieves its mission through programs and other offerings. This awareness can foster community support, recruit volunteers, generate donations, and attract passionate staff. In short, nonprofit marketing materials are responsible for weaving together the strands necessary to have a strong and thriving organization.

Board Advice - What to Do When your Nonprofit Marketing Material is Wrong

A nonprofit board member looking at his phone and laptop with concern.

While every organization is different, nonprofit marketing materials typically include things like print/digital brochures, blog articles, email marketing, newsletters, videos, social media posts, and publicly published reports. Ideally, these would be well-aligned with the organization’s mission, core beliefs, culture, and programs. But what happens when the marketing material is wrong? What should a nonprofit board member do when the marketing material is a mismatch?

Reducing Nonprofit Turnover

2/15/2023

According to employment data from the National Council of Nonprofits, 34% of nonprofit organizations have a job vacancy rate of 10-19%, 26% have a vacancy rate of 20-29%, and 16% have a vacancy rate of 30% or higher. That means that less than a quarter of nonprofits have a job vacancy rate of under 10%, which is shocking considering how quickly nonprofits were creating and filling new jobs pre-pandemic. But these are not the only troubling nonprofit figures right now.

An employee packing up a box of office supplies after quitting.

Consider the following nonprofit employment statistics:

The voluntary turnover rate is 19% for nonprofits (compared to 12% across the entire US labor market).
Nonprofit leaders are disproportionately experiencing burnout, with 60% of them reporting that they feel “used up” at the end of the day.
Nonprofit employees across the entire organization are not faring much better, with 30% of them already reporting being burnt out and 20% more in danger of burning out soon.

In light of these sobering statistics, it is especially troubling that according to Forbes, a whopping 80% of nonprofit leaders report that they do not have a talent retention strategy in place.

Let’s take a look at how much this kind of turnover is costing your organization, why employees are deciding to leave, and what you can do to stop it!

Putting an End to Mission Creep

2/10/2023

Recently, we put together a resource on how to avoid mission creep to equip nonprofit leaders to make better strategic decisions for the health of their organizations. It outlined the dangers of mission creep and provided four key approaches for avoiding it as opportunities arise to partner with other organizations and expand their focus areas.

A stop sign in front of a stormy sky.

And while nonprofit staff and leadership greatly appreciated the advice on how to avoid mission creep, board members asked a key question that we did not get to cover in that initial article: “What if we’re already dealing with mission creep – how do we respond?”

So, in this article we are going to address mission creep from that perspective. What do you do when mission creep is already happening? How can you recognize it? And what do you do to stop it?

How to Avoid Mission Creep

2/6/2023

We’ve all been there – an idea seems like a good one… until it isn’t. What starts out as a brilliant idea for collaboration or branching out turns into a huge time and resource suck, stretching staff too thin and requiring money and support that your organization doesn’t have. The next thing you know, your core mission is suffering as a result. This is known as “mission creep.”

Diverging train tracks

Mission creep can have a wide range of negative effects on a nonprofit, including:

Staff burnout
Cash flow shortages
Damage to the organization’s reputation
Board and key stakeholder confusion
Leadership turnover
Difficulty raising funds
Reduced effectiveness

Unfortunately, mission creep causes nonprofit casualties every year, which is why one of the most important parts of nonprofit planning is deciding when to say yes and when to say no as opportunities are presented. So, let’s take a look at how to avoid the trap of mission creep.

Goosefoot Announces Whidbey Island Resident, Elise Miller, as their New Executive Director

2/2/2023

After 10 years of leading Goosefoot the former Executive Director, Sandra Whiting, decided to retire, causing them to look for a new leader to take the helm. Whidbey Island resident, Elise Miller, has been selected to lead the thriving organization into the future. Elise is an experienced nonprofit leader and board member with a genuine love for her community.

A view from above of people standing in the shape of a peace sign.

When asked why she is excited about the role Elise remarked,

Having lived on Whidbey since 1998, I’ve been an ardent admirer of Goosefoot's innovative efforts to address many of South Whidbey's most pressing challenges. I couldn’t be more delighted and honored to serve in this capacity—and to get to work with Goosefoot's exceptional staff and board to strategically tackle the next set of priorities.

Valtas Group Announces Expansion

1/30/2023

We would like to announce that we are expanding to SW Washington and Oregon, to provide interim executive director leadership and executive search services. In conjunction with this endeavor, we have recently opened a new office in Portland, Oregon to serve the communities of SW Washington and Oregon.

A map of Washington and Oregon showing the Valtas Group territory expansion.

Tacoma Community House Announces New Executive Director – Aimee Khuu

1/27/2023

Tacoma Community House has announced that Aimee Khuu will be their next Executive Director. She begins in the role on January 31, 2023, bringing a passion for the important work that they do as well as extensive professional experience in nonprofit leadership. In speaking of the role ahead of her, Aimee says:

Tacoma Community House team

Equity and social justice have been at the very foundation of my vocation and life journey for the past 20 years. My personal and professional experience has been driven by the belief that the resources exist for all people to thrive, and public private partnership are critical to ensuring equitable access to housing, education and employment. On a deeply personal level, I know the impact of refugee resettlement. My father arrived to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam, and as the daughter of a refugee, I continue to learn the stories of my family and community. The mission and work of Tacoma Community House aligns perfectly with my life journey, professional experience and life work. I am honored to serve as the Executive Director of Tacoma Community House.

What does a Nonprofit COO Do?

1/23/2023

If you have been browsing nonprofit job boards lately you have likely come across a swath of COO job openings. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) role is not new to the nonprofit space, but it is becoming more common these days.

“Chief Operating Officer” spelled out on color blocks

In the past it tended to be an informal position held by another leadership executive that was the Executive Director’s go-to person for help, but because more is being asked of Executive Directors these days there is a greater need for a more formal nonprofit COO role now to help handle these added expectations.

<<Previous

Forward>>

THE LATEST FROM VALTAS

Board Advice: What to Do When your Nonprofit Marketing Material is Wrong

Reducing Nonprofit Turnover

Putting an End to Mission Creep

How to Avoid Mission Creep

Goosefoot Announces Whidbey Island Resident, Elise Miller, as their New Executive Director

Valtas Group Announces Expansion

Tacoma Community House Announces New Executive Director – Aimee Khuu

What does a Nonprofit COO Do?

Subscribe:

Ask Valtas!

Categories

Archives

Consulting
Services

Executive
Search Services

About

Contact