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ASU Lodestar Center Blog

Research and recommendations for effective, day-to-day nonprofit practice from ASU faculty, staff, students, and the nonprofit and philanthropic community.


Monday, June 18, 2018

My name is Taylor Polen, I was born and raised in Arizona and am passionate about finding creative solutions to inspire systemic equality and opportunity for all. I graduated from high school in 2016 and had little notion of what I wanted to do with my life until I joined Public Allies.

I found the program while searching for other sources of financial aid for college and applied late despite discouragement. My first term with Public Allies and the Alzheimer's Association began as an outreach specialist in December 2016. I became a program specialist my second year with Public Allies, in October 2017. Because of this program, I have been given the opportunity and guidance to achieve my life mission to create meaningful, positive and lasting change.

“To eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research: to provide and enhance care and support for all affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.”

Above is the mission of the Alzheimer's Association, but in what capacity do I serve that supports this mission? As a program specialist, you may think that I am limited to one program or role, that however, is not the reality. Since beginning at the Alzheimer's Association, I have been utilized in several different capacities by my coworkers and supervisor. I have provided support in data entry…

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Monday, June 11, 2018

The nonprofit sector is known for the good humanitarian work it aims to provide society.  Within the sector itself exist organizations that are run with the precision of any Fortune 500 company.  But, charitable organizations in general are thought to be lagging behind their for-profit cousins in some of the more basic areas of organizational operations necessary to grow and maintain healthy enterprises.  “Nonprofit organizations are as susceptible, perhaps more susceptible, to financial problems and insolvency than their for-profit counterparts,” according to Mark Melickian in " A guide for nonprofit organizations: Bankruptcy issues. " 

With the complex arena that nonprofit organizations have chosen to be accountable for, it is imperative that healthy business practices become sector standards in order to ensure that necessary services do not disappear due to avoidable mismanagement.

Additional motivators beyond service commitment exist for nonprofit organizations to tighten up operational procedures. Weerawardena, McDonald, and Mort  credit increased opportunity of for-profit businesses to offer what was once largely nonprofit services, and the sheer number of charitable organizations chasing the same dollars, as two of the primary reasons for this emerging issue in "Journal of World Business."  “These changes have forced NPOs [nonprofit organizations] to adopt strategies aimed at building viable,…

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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

I recently returned from New York City, where I was able to spend two incredible days with 72 fellow global nonprofit leaders selected to attend the fourth annual American Express Leadership Academy Global Alumni Summit. The theme of the summit was Leadership in Times of Transition. This year's summit featured a special livestream conversation with Angela Fernandez, Esq., executive director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and Dan Parks, managing editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. They discussed leadership in times of transition, and how our sector can be effective under current conditions. You can watch the archived version of the conversation here, and I highly encourage anybody, whether you work in the nonprofit sector or not, do so.

Rather than spend time telling you what they said and why it’s important – thanks to modern-day technology, you can learn directly from them on your train ride home (you are using mass transit, right!?) – I thought I’d talk a bit about what I have learned through transitions in my career.

Like Angela Fernandez, I have split my careers (in my case, pretty evenly) between the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Through those experiences, I have been through a lot of transitions. These transitions go beyond changing careers, sectors, geographies or titles. I’ve transitioned…

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Tuesday, May 29, 2018

If you research the topic of volunteer retention, you will find many lists of “best practices” or “high priority” tasks for nonprofit managers.  While these lists are valuable, and applicable to specific types of nonprofits, it is difficult to find a list that can be applied to the majority of nonprofits, regardless of mission and size.

The following list contains best practices that are easy to implement across a wide range of nonprofits.  They are also common-sense solutions, which can be easily understood and transferred into practice.  These practices are mutually beneficial to volunteers and nonprofit organizations.

1. Create Clear Job Descriptions – State the title of the position, what job duties are included, what type of environment volunteers will be working in, and the name of the person they report to.  Most importantly, state the mission of the organization, and show how the position directly contributes to the accomplishment of that mission. 

Why Is This Important? Volunteers want to know what they are getting in to before they sign on for a job.  Creating a clear, concise job description gives them a good idea of what will be required of them, and allows a chance to ask questions.  Nonprofit managers can save time and money by screening out volunteers who are not ready to commit to the task at hand.

2. Ensure Good Matches Through Onboarding –…

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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

My story with Public Allies Arizona starts years before I even walked into a job fair and met my former program manager. For you to truly understand my impact with Public Allies, you must first allow me introduce my journey, my obstacles, and myself. You must first understand how having a village of leaders, nurturers, friends and loved ones all played a part in my journey to get this far. I was born the second oldest of six to a single mother on the north side of St. Louis, City. Where I lived, 16 family members in a three-bedroom home, mostly boys, you would think the house would be a rowdy environment. It was quite the opposite. The house was always full of love for each other, but outside the door was another story. I can still smell the lingering scent of a gun recently fired. I still feel the pangs of not eating and not being sure  when a meal would come. I remember how hard my mom had to work to provide for the household, and all of this was before my sixth birthday. 

When I joined Public Allies back in 2017, I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into. After meeting the strong men and women in my cohort, I knew I was a part of something special. I started working with Creighton Community Foundation, for two reasons. First, I wanted to impact the lives of the next generation through education. Second, the founder Jeff Boles, knows and lives the mission that my Godmother instilled in me, “it takes a village, to raise a child.” While…

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ASU Lodestar Center Blog