Two recent articles by Stephen Donshik have crystallized why board members need to stay objective.

1. Bylaws sometimes allow for board members to receive remuneration for attending meetings.  Payments of any amount, however, erase the status of “volunteer,” essentially, destroying what the organization was hoping to achieve when it recruited this individual.  
2. Additionally, a board member can potentially win contracts from the organization in which he serves. However, this person is then tasked with critiquing his own work, a near-impossibility.

Even with the best of intentions, losing objectivity weakens the board’s ability to accomplish its primary task of governance.

Tizku Lemitzvot,

Shuey

EXPRESSDEPOSIT’s are a new feature to the site, offering 100 WORDS OR LESS on funding, finance, trends, and best practices relating to Israel’s global nonprofit sector.

Photo courtesy of Huskyte77 (Flickr)

Recently, Eli Malinsky shared five predictions for the future of Social Entrepreneurship (SE). His first, the title of this post, doesn’t seem to hold true for the Jewish nonprofit sector.

Young SE organizations like PresenTense, Joshua Ventures, Bikurim, ROI etc. have only grown in their acceptance and size.  Recent examples include a Schusterman $250k grant to Ashoka Israel and the Israeli Government’s RFI to create an SE Fund (Hebrew Link). 

The future of Jewish SE lies not on its disappearance as a distinct discipline, but rather in veteran institutions’ willingness to work directly with these newcomers to (hopefully) keep up with the changing times.

Photo courtesy of WiredCanvas (Flickr)

EXPRESSDEPOSIT’s are a new feature to the site, offering 100 WORDS OR LESS on funding, finance, trends, and best practices relating to Israel’s global nonprofit sector.