Association Executive - January/February 2008 - (Page 7)

FROM THE CEO By Joel A. Dolci, CAE The Public Deserves Good Governance of ethical conduct, accountability and transparency that they aspire to and encourage all organizations to follow. The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector has been dedicated to finding ways to strengthen governance, transparency, and ethical standards within the not-for-profit community since it was convened by Independent Sector in October 2004 at the encouragement of the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT). The Panel’s Final and Supplemental Reports, issued in 2005 and 2006 respectively, offered close to 90 recommendations for improving governing oversight, including new rules to prevent unscrupulous individuals from abusing charitable organizations for personal gain. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 enacted many of these recommendations into law. The Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice is organized into four categories: • Legal Compliance and Public Disclosure— responsibilities and practices, such as implementing conf lict of interest and whistleblower policies, that will assist charitable organizations in complying with their legal obligations and providing information to the public. • Effective Governance—policies and procedures a board of directors should implement to fulfill its oversight and governance responsibilities effectively. • Strong Financial Oversight—policies and procedures an organization should follow to ensure wise stewardship of charitable resources. • Responsible Fundraising—policies and procedures organizations that solicit funds from the public should follow to build donor support and confidence. While many of our associations and not-for-profits have the foundations of good governance in place, clearly there is room for improvement. It is our responsibility to ensure that we work with our boards to make these improvements so that we can truly deliver on our organizations’ missions and serve our varied constituencies and the public. ssociation and not-for-profit governing bodies owe it to those served by our missions to adhere to good governance practices and deliver exceptional leadership. A recent study by the BoardSource indicates that our boards may be falling short of these expectations. Not-for-profit board performance is mediocre at best, according to the Nonprofit Governance Index 2007, a survey of chief executives and board members by BoardSource. While boards gave themselves a report card full of Bs, chief executives give board members only average marks when it comes to performance. Fundraising/financial sustainability, board diversity, and oversight of the chief executive were among the areas of lowest not-for-profit board performance, according to the survey. The study reports that fundraising is the most pressing organizational issue requiring improvement, based on chief executive and board member responses. Less than half (46 percent) of charities report full board participation in giving, while, on average, just under three-quarters of each board’s members give to the organization. In addition to board members not meeting expectations for personal giving, many are uncomfortable asking for donations. Only 40 percent of public charity board members reported they were comfortable asking for money directly for the organization. The study also found that nearly half (49 percent) of not-for-profit chief executives surveyed were somewhat or very dissatisfied with board diversity. Chief executives ranked board composition as a leading challenge for boards, second only to fundraising, but board members ranked diversity further down the list at number five. The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, a national panel to improve accountability and ethical practice in charitable organizations, released its Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice: A Guide for Charities and Foundations. The guide ref lects a broad cross-section of the not-for-profit community, which has come together to develop principles A JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 ASS OC I A TI ON E X E C U TI V E 7

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Executive - January/February 2008

Association Executive - January/February 2008 Contents From the CEO Good Governance Practices for 501(c)(3) Organizations A New Model: Helping Smaller Not-For-Profits with Their Endowment Management Inside NYSAE Book Beat Too Much of a Good Thing? Enhanced Form 990 Disclosures and Their Impact 7 Myths about Financial Planners An Executive's Guide to Responding to Third-Party Subpoenas Relationship Selling: Maximize Your Talk, Time & Tech to Keep Your Connection Strong Save the Dates Index of Advertisers

Association Executive - January/February 2008

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