Scandal is not an occurrence that is isolated to the government or businesses; the nonprofit sector is privy to it as well. When situations like these occurs, they not only affect the organization involved, but they also place every organization under scrutiny, and if not addressed, a rift between nonprofits and their donors, clients and stakeholders can form.

Trust is something that should never be broken. Tory Martin says that without trust, nonprofits cannot survive. It is imperative that stakeholders’ trust is not compromised when an incident occurs – organizations need to have a plan to respond.

Nonprofits may be more susceptible to scandal due to a lack of internal controls. These controls ensure that one person does not hold too much power in an organization. For example, instead of having one person responsible for writing, documenting and depositing a check, split the responsibility among multiple people. The lack of a vetting process which requires thorough background checks can cause scandals as well. While it is difficult to recruit potential employees, the process should not turn into desperation and overlook their background. Unfortunately, a lot of nonprofits fall into this category and sow the seeds of scandal.

In order to gain a…

We are all striving for financial resilience in the nonprofit world, whether it’s something your organization has been chasing after, or it’s become a recent focus. With substantial scrutiny in the sector on financial ratios, especially program expense allocation, it can be hard to take financial risks for fear of negative publicity, but risk is what can lead to financial freedom.

Conducting a risk assessment to identify where your organization is willing to take risks is the best place to start. From there, a risk profile can be developed and eventually contingency plans. The risk profile can help with short-term planning and transparency between organizational leadership, the board and donors. The risk profile may also include strategies for how your organization will approach areas like funding and investments, program efficiency ratio or human resource management. Eventually, the risk framework should also be used to plan for emergencies. It can be difficult to think about what you would do if the stock market crashed or a natural disaster were to occur in your area, but planning can help your organization endure the most difficult circumstances.

Saving for a rainy day is arguably the least risky thing you can do as an individual; for nonprofits, it can feel like jumping off a cliff. Many organizations think they should be spending that money on programs or additional staff members for the…

Retaining talented and experienced staff is a key component to the success of nonprofit organizations. By focusing on a strategic, paid staff retention plan, nonprofits will curb staffing disruptions, thereby making a greater impact within the social sector. The average turnover rate for the social sector is 7% higher than the for-profit sector. In some divisions of the social sector, the rate is as high as 64.8%. In spite of these staggering numbers, only 13% of nonprofit organizations have a talent retention plan, which can be accomplished in four steps: identification, input, application and evaluation.

Before nonprofits can develop a custom talent retention plan, they must first understand why employees stay with an organization. Employees stay with agencies where they are satisfied with their responsibilities, have a positive relationship with colleagues, and have exemplary leaders. Although each aforementioned point contributes to the foundation of employee satisfaction, leadership is the cornerstone of staff retention. The concept and application of servant leadership is not a new idea to any sector; the servant leader meets the needs of staff members, breeds new…

Trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are very prevalent in youth. Studies by V.J. Felitti et al. in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that half of the adult respondents to their survey had experienced at least one form of trauma or ACEs during their childhood.

ACEs include household dysfunctions like domestic abuse, substance and alcohol abuse in parents, parental separations, neglect, and other forms of physical, emotional, or mental abuse. Adults who experienced one of these forms of ACEs were at a higher risk of negative physical or mental health issues, lower rates of employment, and a shorter life expectancy, according to 2020 research from America's Promise Alliance. These were usually due to a greater propensity to engage in risk factors such as smoking, drinking, substance abuse, being severely obese, or attempting suicide. ACEs also caused a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and chronic bronchitis or emphysema in adults. Adults who had experienced three or more ACEs had even greater chances of these issues.

Youth who experience trauma or ACEs also deal with many issues in their childhood which could be precedents to the effects seen in their adult lives. Youth who experience trauma have difficulty thinking through…

Although burnout in human services providers is nothing new, the pandemic certainly changed the game. With the demand for services rising and showing no signs of stopping, nonprofits face potential burnout in direct service providers with increasing frequency. But what can a nonprofit do to mitigate these effects?

There are three overarching causes of burnout: chronic workplace stress, high emotional labor, and an increase in service demand coupled with the stagnation of resources. This means that the most effective means of combatting burnout focuses on reducing stress, supporting emotional labor practices, and reducing service demand or increasing resources. It is not only possible to resist burnout by these means, but vital to do so.

1. Reduce direct service provider workloads: Train direct service providers how to work with a maximum of 30 households at one time. Focus on time management strategies to help balance more involved cases with more self-directed ones. Once 30 households are mastered, or proven to be too much, adjust based on service provider abilities.
2. Train service providers to engage in emotional labor: Formally acknowledge emotional labor as an occupational requirement for direct service provision. This will allow funding to be earmarked for this specific training and increase the accuracy of job expectations in this role. Prepare direct service providers for…