Management
The deeper my dealings with the nonprofit sector become, the more completely I have come to understand, and appreciate the need for leaders in this field to possess outstanding business management skills. In addition to management skills, not-for-profit leadership must also become adept at understanding financial reports, developing and administering a budget, and it is greatly desirable to have a strong understanding of computers and the ways in which they can be used to increase productivity while reducing costs. Many nonprofit directors and board members have a background that is firmly rooted in the humanities and therefore it is to be expected that their education would have focused primarily on human service issues rather than business classes. This however leaves a gap in the knowledge base of the primary leaders in many nonprofits. This is particularly true in the case of the nonprofit that I am affiliated with. In The Non-Profit Management Handbook: Operating Policies and Procedures, Connors (1992) points out that leaders in the nonprofit sector are just as much in need of “the 4Ms” as those managers and directors who work in the world of for profit business. The M’s o
Having mentioned the use of computers and the benefit which they can hold in regard to cost reduction, increased productivity, and in assisting an agency in staying organized, it seems appropriate to touch on the question of what types of systems are the most useful. Of course, this question will depend to a great extent on the type, size, and scope of the nonprofit and its core mission. For example, an organization that deals with large amounts of clerical data concerning clientele, mass mailings, and financial records would most likely benefit from a network of PCs which would allow the staff and management to access and update records as needed. For the organization that is larger in nature and deals with more than just their local area, it would be advisable to have a computer system that perhaps is connected to a larger network so as to ease the retrieval of statistical data and provide simplicity in the sharing of information between distant offices. In any case, it is becoming increasingly necessary for today’s management to have a strong grasp of what a good computer system can do for the organization they manage. f which Ms. Connors speaks are “Mission”, “Marketing”, “Money”, and “Management” principles based on the premise that a well-educated nonprofit leader will have had a fusion of both human service and business education in their background. It is a decided advantage for the not-for-profit leaders of today to be thoroughly versed in computer usage as well as having a good exposure to business principles. One further aspect of management principles that boards must come to understand is that along with creating and demanding adherence to challenging goals and objectives, they must subsequently reward those in management who perform to or beyond expectations. It is a sad but true fact of life in the nonprofit world that the typical director of a nonprofit will receive far less compensation than their counterparts in the for profit realm of business. It is the responsibility of the board for these agencies to see that policies are put in place to promote the recognition of those who perform to desirable levels (National Center for Non Profit Boards, 2001).
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Approximate Word count = 2648
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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