Welcome to Bill Hoffman’s Insights Blog. Below find reflections on nonprofit leadership, maximizing your board’s effectiveness, seamless leadership transitions, and other topics designed to help you think through how to fulfill your mission. Please share any thoughts or reactions to these Insights via the email link at the bottom of the page.
Success through Engaged High-Level Board Members
While many factors contribute to a nonprofit’s success, a well-connected, energetic, and engaged board of directors may be the most important. Every executive director wants a top performing board with the most influential community members [...]
Sustainability through Innovation: Taking a Fresh Look at Old Problems
Don’t you hate it when you have donors (or potential donors) who are not supporting your efforts to the extent you believe their passion would indicate? They’ve expressed support, maybe even enthusiasm, for your mission, [...]
Five questions every new nonprofit board member should ask
Congratulations, you’ve just been appointed to one of the more prestigious non-profit boards in the community! You’re really excited since you have a passion for their mission and have heard nothing but great things about [...]
5 Life Lessons from Marathoning
Most people are sharp enough to pick up on these life lessons without having to run absurdly long races, but I must be a little more thick-headed since that's what it took for me. Humility – [...]
How’s the Board Doing on Fundraising?
Every executive director I’ve known has at one time or another felt that his or her board could be doing more to raise money for the organization. It’s a frustrating situation – how do you tell [...]
What an Interim CEO Should Expect from the Board
A previous post discussed a Board’s expectations of their Interim CEO. But, as with most things in the independent sector, this is a two way street and the CEO should set certain expectations with the Board [...]
What a Board Should Expect from an Interim CEO
Interim CEOs (or Presidents or Executive Directors according to the organization’s naming convention), by their definition, serve during a period of transition for an organization. And if the outgoing leadership change is unplanned, it may [...]
Partnerships … Really?
Funders hear all different versions of “partnership” from nonprofits wanting to work with them (aka receive funding). All too often the proposed “partnership” involves the funder supporting the initiatives or priorities the applicant brings forth [...]
Four Questions to Ask When You’re Asked onto a Non-profit Board
So you’ve been asked to join a non-profit board – congratulations! Maybe. Volunteering in the non-profit sector can be tremendously rewarding if the organization has their act together and a strong reason to ask you [...]
3 Simple Questions to Ask Before Doing That Next Event
We’re going to do another event? Really?!? Your gut reaction tells you one thing – the fact that events can bring in some money is another. But is another event the best way to spend [...]