Category Archives: Nonprofit/NGO/Agency Management

Volunteering: not a black & white subject

In the same day, I’ve been accused by a person of being unfairly opposed to all forms of voluntourism (paying to volunteer abroad) and accused by another of promoting voluntourism.

In the same week, I’ve been accused of pushing an agenda that makes volunteering too difficult for most people to access and also pushing an agenda that makes volunteer involvement too easy and puts clients at risk.

Some people have said I think people paid to do work are better than volunteers, and others have said I want to eliminate paid roles and replace such with unpaid volunteers.

Most people who bother to actually read what I write know exactly where I stand on voluntourism (I do think there is such a thing as ethical voluntourism, but I think such ethical experiences are rare), know exactly where I stand on volunteer engagement (I don’t trust any nonprofit that doesn’t involve volunteers while also believing that organizations have every right NOT to accept every offer to volunteer) and know that I don’t think volunteer engagement should be used as a way for job elimination (but that I DO think some roles are best done by volunteers).

Talks about volunteerism are, and should be, full of nuance. Volunteerism is a complex subject. If you want to see a fight break out, ask a room full of managers of volunteers to define the word volunteer. Which is right? In many ways, they ALL are. There’s nothing simple about this subject – that’s why it’s held my interest for a few decades.

And I do change my mind. Over many years, I went from being okay with voluntourism to being totally opposed to it to being back to being okay with it, with certain qualifications. I change my mind because I’m always reading opinions from other people, testimonials from volunteers and those that involve such, and most importantly, those served by volunteers. I hope you do the same.

But quit trying to put me in a box.

Could your nonprofit be the target of an ICE raid? Are you prepared?

A cartoonish hand is palm facing the viewer, as if to say stop.

Recently, someone posted to the Reddit community (subreddit) focused on volunteerism to say:

I am a weekly volunteer for a food pantry that serves 800 guests weekly. Many of these guests are immigrants. As a result, the volunters (sic) have had to undergo training in the case that we are raided by ICE and what to do in that scenario. We were told what ICE is allowed to do legally and what we can do legally…

I hadn’t considered that volunteers and staff at so many nonprofits may have to deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent raids, including homeless shelters, food pantries, job training sites, Goodwill program and store sites, Habitat for Humanity ReStores, and youth sports games. Nonprofits that serve farm workers will also likely encounter ICE during raids.

It’s another example of how many nonprofits will have to address the challenges brought on by the current presidential administration, and will have to think about how much they are willing to compromise and what the values at the heart of their organization are. And in cooperating with ICE, if it comes to that, nonprofits will also have to address substantial lack-of-trust issues if we ever reach the other side of this political crisis.

I’ll note that, at one nonprofit where I work, we didn’t receive training, but we did receive an email from the executive director telling us that, if ANYONE showed up claiming to be law enforcement – police, sheriff’s deputy, ICE, the FBI, whatever – no matter what they said or showed, the first thing the staff person was to do was to call the executive director, and to say over and over, “I have to call our boss. I can’t help you.”

How many of you out there are volunteering or working somewhere and have been briefed on what to do if ICE shows up? If you feel comfortable, I would love to hear from you: you can comment below, if you feel safe in doing so, or email me directly and ask for your account to be posted anonymously.

Some things are certain and can be communicated to your staff and volunteers: law enforcement, including ICE, can enter areas open to the general public of a business without permission, BUT that does not give ICE the authority to detain, question, or arrest anyone. Ask to see the identification of any officers or agents and write down the name, contact information, and badge number. If the agent refuses to provide documentation, you should note that as well. Ask if they have a warrant and, if they say yes, look at it and see if it is a SEARCH warrant signed by a judge, that it has the correct address for your workplace, and what areas and items ICE is authorized to search (ICE is not authorized to search areas or inspect items that are not described in the warrant). If they say no, document that.

Executive directors: talk to your volunteers and paid staff, tell them exactly what it is you want them to do if police officers, including ICE, enter your facility, and tell your volunteers and staff that, if anyone has a US passport, they should consider carrying a copy of the ID page in their wallets, since there are so many reports of ICE detaining US citizens they think are immigrants in the USA illegally.

And executive directors, listen to your volunteers and paid staff, and your clients, about their fears. Don’t dismiss those fears as unfounded.

Here are some resources you should review:

ICE Raid Guidance for Homeless Service Providers:
 What to do Before, During, and After a Raid. From the National Homelessness Law Center. Great advice for all nonprofits.

Know Your Rights: If ICE Confronts You. From the ACLU.

Told ya. & I’m still telling you.

a primitive figure, like a petroglyph, shots through a megaphone

Back in the late 1980s, when I got my first full-time nonprofit job, it was at a nonprofit professional theater. Within a year, Republicans began to attack the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, extending that fight to criticize a variety of live performances and art exhibits across the USA. The theater where I worked immediately joined coalitions to fight back and prepared blurbs for our donor newsletter. Management and other members of the coalition were vocal and didn’t shy away from what was happening. If it meant losing some patrons, so be it: this was too important to be silent about. It was then I learned that working at a nonprofit doesn’t mean immunity from politics. It was also then that I learned that, while it is inappropriate for a nonprofit, including any church, to tell people what person or party to vote for, they have EVERY right to say, “Please vote. And here are the statements by the candidates/parties regarding issues related to the cause we promote…”

In 2011, I wrote on my blog about Republicans plans to do what they are doing now. Yes, in 2011. And I was the lone voice among consultants and nonprofit bloggers going on record, in a big way, to talk about it. Maybe it cost me some consulting jobs. So be it.

At the start of the first Donald Trump presidency, I wrote a plea to USA nonprofits for the next four years (& beyond). I wrote about How that first term might affect humanitarian aid & development. Then I wrote, in 2017, about volunteers scramble to preserve online data before government deleted it. I wrote about Donald Trump trying to eliminate AmeriCorps and all national service programs in 2018 and again in 2019.

I wrote in 2019 about The Trust Crisis, and how there was a growing number of nefarious actors trying to get the public to stop trusting national institutions and nonprofits. The silence was deafening.

Again, I was mostly alone. YOU were silent. The Points of Light was silent. The Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE) was silent. Other consultants regarding volunteer engagement and nonprofit management and Tech4Good were silent. You were not allies. And I haven’t forgotten that. Perhaps you all thought everything would be resolved and undone in four years with a new election, and in some ways, you were right – there was a pause in the madness. But it was a pause. I warned you it would be just temporary unless you spoke out. You stayed silent.

On election day last year, I told you that folks needed post-election reassurances from your nonprofit and gave you advice on what to say. I then gave you a strategy for looking at local election results and preparing to reach out to newly elected officials.

On inauguration day this year, I told you that your nonprofit WILL be targeted with misinformation and you needed to prepare. Then I told you why your social media should focus on volunteering as much as possible. And I told you that your Nonprofit CAN Resist. Here’s how.

Some nonprofits not only ignored the advice, they wrote that it was never more important to avoid controversy. I remain stunned and outraged by such advice.

Silence will not preserve your nonprofit nor protect those it serves. It will just delay actions that will harm both.

Stop being silent. Start your redemption by following the National Council of Nonprofits on LinkedIn. Follow their President and CEO on BlueSky. They are one of the strongest voices in our sector against what is happening now.

If your nonprofit is part of a national coalition, find out what advocacy they are doing, what legislation they may be talking about in that section of “updates from headquarters” that you have always skipped over in favor of the section on upcoming grant guidelines. You have every right to tell your donors and volunteers and clients about legislation that might affect them, and how that legislation might affect them, and the phone numbers of their elected officials.

Every US conference for nonprofits, whether for wildlife centers or theaters, domestic violence shelters or hospices, museums or food banks, needs to have sessions on how to address the current political landscape. And I don’t mean just about disappearing government funding.

I don’t know what else I can say, except that I am angry about doing so much of this by myself for YEARS. I paid a price for it, and maybe I will pay an even bigger one later, with being so public in my opposition. But let me be clear: your cowardice is going to cost us all. And your silence probably goes against core beliefs your nonprofit proudly states on its web site. No more silence. Otherwise, your silence will be interpreted as approval.

Breaking down online barriers for online volunteers with disabilities

images meant to look like cave drawings, one of a woman using a smartphone and one at a desktop computer.

Online volunteering – virtual volunteering – creates new avenues for people to be able to volunteer for causes they want to support, but online environments present challenges for people with disabilities.

Many adults with disabilities are excluded not just in onsite situations, but in the digital world as well, further limiting their ability to engage in paid work and voluntary service. But just as by removing onsite barriers and enhancing accessibility, we can foster environments where everyone feels welcome and empowered to contribute, we can do the same online.

The UK’s Bridging the Digital Divide: Challenges and Opportunities for Disabled Adults in Volunteering report from September 2023 uses data from NCVO’s Time Well Spent survey to explore these issues. It shares recommendations for both government and agencies that involve volunteers. You can read a summary of the recommendations here.

Also see my own resource, Make All Volunteering as Accessible as Possible: advantages for your program & how to do it.

And, of course, this topic was covered in detail in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook: Fully Integrating Online Service Into Volunteer Involvement, available both as a traditional print book and as an e-book. 

How to vet a trainer for soft skills at your nonprofit

a primitive drawing, like a petroglyph, of a person at a chalk board, talking to students at their desks.

Recently, I had an intensely negative experience with a trainer. In fact, it was traumatizing. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you saw my posts about the two days of training:

Trainers doing workshops for improving staff relations: do NOT require that staff share personal stories. For some folks, “Tell me how the past shaped where you are now” is NOT something they care to share in front of all of their colleagues & their supervisor, & certainly not you, a complete stranger (this happened in the first 20 minutes of the training, BTW).

Trainers regarding sensitive topics, like being anti-racist, being more inclusive, etc.: if you are training employees all from the same company, be aware of the power dynamics in the room. People are NOT going to be open with their supervisor or executive director sitting there. And passing around a survey the week before isn’t going to get you the information you need – people don’t know you yet. They don’t trust you yet. They aren’t going to be open with you at that point.

and

Management consultants: at your next company training, no matter how much you think it’s a great idea, do NOT ask people to write down their triggers on sticky notes and to then put those notes on their bodies and to walk around and read and discuss each others’ triggers. And if you decide to do it anyway, do not be surprised nor offended when one of the employees says “No. I absolutely will not do that.”
Yes, I really was asked to do this at a training.
The definition of trauma: “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.”
Maybe I should put it on a sticky note and wear it.

The comments from other trainers were universally condemning:

I would have asked that facilitator to leave; better that someone internal take over than keep such a person around.

😳😳😳

This is so horrific as a concept I dread to think know what sort of groups are doing this in practice.

As a facilitator myself. This is terrible. And I want to say this as respectfully as I know how. The trainers that did this needs some coaching for real.

This sounds like a bad episode of The Office.

You are spot on, plus it is not very trauma informed (from a woman that manages a center on aging, trauma and holocaust survivor care).

Jayne, you may be the first person with enough awareness and bravery to raise against the concept.

The problem is the cleanup that comes after things like this are shared out and popularized.

I don’t have the time or patience to let things like this go – my face comes with subtitles on Zoom and in person. And I usually won’t hold my tongue when things are so egregious.

And then came the private messages from colleagues:

How in hell did someone actually think this would be a great idea?

Maybe she should have had each person use popsicle sticks to craft their traumas after the team building.

That is so messed up!

I really appreciate everyone who commented. It was nice to get affirmation that, indeed, this was NOT how any training should go. These comments, and the conversations with colleagues afterwards, were the only way I was able to recover from it. And I am not using the word recover lightly.

There were red flags from the start: this consultant did a survey of employees beforehand, where employees could anonymously offer insights, but then in her sessions entirely ignored the very frank and specific feedback given. Our training was to involve three half days, and I asked to know the focus and what issues it was meant to address, but my questions about such were ignored, and all staff walked in having no idea what we would be discussing nor why. In addition to the aforementioned inappropriate questions and comments, she also promoted of long-debunked pseudo science, like regarding “learning styles” and the quality of Myers–Briggs for identifying “personality types.”

The question I’ve gotten over and over: HOW and why was this person chosen for this training?

It seems that the executive director of the nonprofit that hired her had gone to one of her workshops earlier and had really enjoyed it. I have no idea the length of that training and who the participants were, nor if it was exactly what our team experienced.

So let’s get to the lessons learned:

How DO you get a quality trainer to address “soft skills” at your agency, such as conflict resolution, staff team building, creating an inclusive environment, valuing diversity and promoting equity? How do you avoid a situation, where an outside consultant sews division and mistrust at the nonprofit she was supposed to help?

Here are my thoughts:

  1. Look at the person’s credentials. In the case of this consultant, she has only an associates degree from decades ago and three certificates, one in “intercultural communications” and one in “interrupting racism”, both of which seemed to be acquired in just a few days (or less?). That she has no formal studies nor professional work regarding psychology or human resources management, let alone at least a full undergrad (if not a Master’s Degree) should have been a MASSIVE red flag.
  2. Look at the person’s work experience AND volunteering experience. Is it diverse? Is there at least a few years of experience working in an environment similar to what your nonprofit is working in? In the case of this recent consulting experience, her work experience is entirely in corporate marketing with high-tech companies. She has no visible professional nor volunteering experience working with a diversity of people in terms of education and economics, and her entire work experience seems to be with people at middle or upper economic levels (in stark contrast to the makeup of our group).
  3. Ask the person how they will build trust with the group, some of whom do not work together and may not even know each other.
  4. Listen to the exercises proposed by the consultant. What does the consultant intend for them to accomplish? Do YOU feel they are appropriate?
  5. Ask how the person will address power dynamics, where people may be reluctant to be honest because their supervisor or someone they do not trust is in the room.
  6. Ask the person if they will survey staff before the training and ask to look at what those questions are (but not see the answers, since those should be anonymous), so you know that they will tease out issues you are hoping to get addressed with this training.
  7. Define what success would look like at the end of the training and ask the trainer how that will be measured.
  8. Ask for references from past training experiences, but make sure they are not all from fellow consultants or just executive directors.

I have had some amazing soft-skill training experiences, including regarding creating an inclusive environment, valuing diversity and promoting equity, as well as addressing staff conflicts. Some have been quite challenging and moved people in the room to tears. But it’s been only two – this one and one in the 1990s – that have left some participants feeling tramautized.

I wish Susan Ellis’ trainings on staff and volunteer conflicts was recorded – it was always an amazing thing to behold. I could write a whole blog about it. I watched her do it twice, with two very different groups, and I couldn’t believe how deftly she navigated the moments when very real hostilities started to emerge. In both, everyone left with greater understanding and respect and a willingness to be more observant and listen.

There is a training in particular that I can say changed my life forever, by a consultant that was an adherent to Peter Drucker’s management principles. The executive director of the nonprofit where I was working approached me the following week to say that she had had so many misconceptions about me and she was embarrassed by assumptions she had made because of how I dressed (she is VERY corporate and part of a very known power couple of the time in Silicon Valley; I am none of those things), and how blown away she was by my ideas, etc. I cried. She cried. She was one of the best people I’ve ever worked for. I’ve never seen a company transformed so quickly and for the better the way that one was after that two-day training.

Another was a very quick, very fun training of may two or three hours at the University of Texas at Austin. When I started working there, all new staff were required to take this training, and I was lucky enough to take it with one of my best friends (who gave me away at my wedding years later). No one left feeling belittled or lesser than anyone. In fact, we laughed. A LOT. She created the welcoming, honest atmosphere she wanted us to cultivate in our own workplaces. We all left so much more curious about each other and our co-workers, so much more aware of how we can jump to assumptions about each other that aren’t correct, and how someone can smile at you and not seem to be hurt by something you’ve said and they are, in fact, absolutely torn up inside. And her emphasis on power dynamics was outstanding and framed all of the conversations in a way I’ll never forget and frequently references when working in some of our world’s poorest countries, particularly in post-conflict zones.

I’m on a journey. I am always open to learning. I am always open to reconsidering viewpoints and opinions. But I also value my time and my dignity and expect others to do so. No staff training is a mere line item on a list to be checked off. Don’t treat it as such. And remember that these trainings should not make staff feel belittled or marginalized.

Something IS working when your staff is willing to tell you that something isn’t working.

From someone else:

image of a panel discussion

Accountability must work in all directions. Holding subordinates accountable is easy; holding your leaders and your peers accountable is harder, but critical. They should know that you expect them to have the highest standards, and they should hear about it (politely) when they don’t. When you are in charge of a good team, they set the expectations for you at least as much as you set the expectations for them. I recently fulfilled a long-time wish when I entirely skipped the first PT formation to go out for breakfast, something I’d never done before in my whole career. I was more than a little sad that no one called to check on me. Later, I learned my absence was noticed, but no one felt they had the authority to call me out on it, so I had some discussions with the relevant people. It was a good breakfast, but a better teaching point, I hope. Holding your leaders accountable, perhaps by asking the hard questions in the meetings, tells them what your expectations and needs are and helps keep them on the straight and narrow. When as a leader you don’t get any feedback, it’s very easy to wander far afield. Everyone… needs someone to hold them accountable.

From Reflections on the Conclusion of a Military Career, by Ben Steele. Full remarks at the Angry Staff Officer blog.

I prepared and scheduled this blog more than a month ago. Since then, I have experienced first hand the consequences of holding a supervisor accountable. There’s nothing easy about it. But for all the reasons stated above, I did it. And will continue to do so.

Nonprofits & NGOs: your social media should focus on volunteering as much as possible.

What the headline says.

Why?

Images, in the style of petroglyphs, of people doing various activities, like writing or construction.

If people aren’t coming into your organization regularly and seeing what your nonprofit does, first hand, and the difference it makes, the things it accomplishes, and why it is essential, they are not going to donate and they are not going to support any local, regional or national government funding your operations.

There are an extraordinary amount of outlandish beliefs about the work of nonprofits, how they operate and how they are funded. No amount of social media messaging and press releases is going to change that without a great deal of trust building, and volunteer engagement is an outstanding way to build trust in your nonprofit.

And who knows… maybe you might even build some bridges around a common cause between people who otherwise don’t care about each other very much.

Also see:

Volunteering & social cohesion in a post Brexit world

My Blogs re: social cohesion, building understanding

Note: because of a backlog of blog posts to publish, I’m going to be posting three times a month instead of just twice for a while.

Your nonprofit WILL be targeted with misinformation; prepare now.

a primitive figure, like a petroglyph, shots through a megaphone

Watching misinformation and disinformation related to the fires in Los Angeles spread exactly like wildfire has been a reminder of just how bad things are regarding public relations and truth. Instead of an army of newspapers, local radio stations and TV stations and other credible media ready to debunk it, the media landscape is as decimated as the actual landscape of the area, and lies about government funding and action, spread by the owner of the site formerly known as Twitter and other people with a political agenda. And no amount of fact-based debunking seems to matter.

As someone that’s studyied misinformation and disinformation campaigns against governments and cause-based organizations since the 1990s, it’s been as horrifying to watch as people losing their homes. And as I’ve watched, I am reminded that nonprofits, no matter how small, no matter how beloved, need to be thinking about their strategy NOW for if and when they are targeted by misinformation. It doesn’t matter what your nonprofit’s mission or size: it can be a target for misinformation, on a local or even national level. And given the incoming Presidential administration, the power of misinformation should never be under-estimated.

I’ve used the example of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) before: it was a collection of community-based nonprofits and programs all over the USA that advocated for low- and moderate-income families and worked to address neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing and other social issues for low-income people. At its peak, ACORN had more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the USA. But ACORN was targeted by conservative political activists who secretly recorded and released highly-edited videos of interactions with low-level ACORN personnel in several offices, portraying the staff as encouraging criminal behavior. Despite multiple investigations on the federal, state, and county level that found that the released tapes were selectively edited to portray ACORN as negatively as possible and that nothing in the videos warranted criminal charges, the organization was doomed: politicians pounced and the public relations fallout resulted in almost immediate loss of funding from government agencies and from private donors.

Public libraries are another good example of how misinformation campaigns can work: more books were challenged in public libraries and school libraries in 2024 than ever before, according to the American Library Association. The vast majority of that increase came from groups or individuals working on behalf of national efforts trying to censor dozens or hundreds of titles at a time, part of a push across the country by those supporting the incoming Presidential administration to ban certain books based on the unfounded claims that they are inappropriate for children, as well as to defund and close public libraries altogether.

Goodwill is a frequent target of misinformation regarding senior staff salaries – and from what I see on a local level, makes no effort to counter that misinformation, resulting in people choosing not to donate items to their thrift shops nor shop at such. Which is so sad, as Goodwill does amazing work regarding training people to enter or re-enter the workforce (which most people don’t know is their mission).

There are nonprofit theaters, including community theaters, that have mounted a production that has resulted in community protests and a loss of donors, and seemed utterly unprepared for the groundswell of controversy, a groundswell that’s often started by just one person spreading misinformation about the play, and the people protesting often haven’t actually read nor seen the play. But they are loud, organized and committed, and the theater is often left utterly unprepared for the negative attention.

I have an entire blog about how to train staff so that your organization doesn’t become a victim of GOTCHA media?, so I won’t repeat those tips here. But you need to have a plan for what to do when there is even a hint of misinformation starting about your organization.

Misinformation about nonprofits usually targets their budget, what they pay staff, how they have or haven’t helped someone, how they make their programming decisions, how they carry out their work and their plans for the future. Therefore:

  • Make sure your web site is up-to-date regarding all of the above.
  • Your social media needs to regularly updated the public about all of the above.
  • ALL staff, including volunteers, need to be regularly briefed (at least twice a year; once a quarter is better) on all of the above.
  • All staff, including volunteers, need to know what to do if they see or hear misinformation related to your organization.

Your entire staff, including volunteers, need to be on the lookout for misinformation: a post on an online community, a comment at a church meeting, a reference at a civic group, a comment from a new volunteer, even a comment at a family gathering. If they see it or hear it in a public setting, or from an elected official or community leader or influencer, they need to NOT respond themselves – they need to know who at your organization they need to tell (it’s probably the executive director, the communications manager or their immediate supervisor). If it wasn’t a public comment, there’s no need to say exactly who said it, but do say what was said.

When was the last time you told your entire staff what to do in case they see or hear misinformation? If you don’t have an answer, create a strategy NOW and meeting dates and times. If it was in the last six months or more, it’s overdue to do it again.

When you hear misinformation, the next step may not be to have a meeting next week to discuss what’s happening; it may be to start drafting responses IMMEDIATELY, to be shared online within hours, even minutes. Who is going to be involved in that? Just the Executive Director and communications person? The board president too? Do you have all the contact information you need for these people so this can happen quickly?

If you had a message that needed to spread quickly online, do you have that system ready to go: do you have a board member who will be in charge of calling all board members to tell them to share an urgent social media message? do you have a manager of volunteers or volunteer leaders who will be in charge of contacting certain volunteers to encourage them to share that urgent social media message? Do you have more than one person who knows how to update your web site, in case your communications manager is on vacation?

And here’s the reality: if you are just thinking about this for the first time, right now, as you read this blog, or if you haven’t done anything to prepare yet, then you are already behind schedule. Most of the recommendations above cannot be done quickly without many weeks, even months, of preparation and refreshers. This is an URGENT need your nonprofit needs to address now, no matter its focus.

One more thing: you need a photo of your executive director, and any other staff, with as many elected officials as possible: the mayor, at least one city council member, at least one county representative, your area’s state representative, your area’s state senator, your areas US Representative and, if possible, your US Senators. It makes it more difficult for an elected official to criticize an organization when there is a photo of that person smiling with your staff, particularly at one of your events. See more at Nonprofits: look at local election results & prepare to reach out.

Also see

How to handle online criticism.

Could your organization be deceived by GOTCHA media?

Growing misconceptions about the role of nonprofits in the USA.

Mission-Based Groups Need Use the Web to Show Accountability

Governments cracking down on nonprofits & NGOs.

Folks need post-election reassurances from your nonprofit – here’s what to say

four people standing in a circle, holding hands.

Nonprofits in the USA: there are people among your clients, your donors, your volunteers and employees who are deeply worried right now, per the November 2024 election. You don’t have to get political, but you do need to demonstrate to those you work with and for that your organization has a commitment to respect and inclusion in its work. And your employees in particular need to know you have their back in case they need to start job hunting.

Start by reaffirming your organization’s mission, vision and code of conduct, all of which should be in writing, to employees and volunteers. All of your volunteers should be signing new liability waivers and photo releases at the start of each new year – so why not have an official re-orientation when volunteers arrive to renew their paperwork that reminds them of your organization’s mission, vision and code of conduct? If your organization has a written commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), that should be noted as well. Most of your staff will greatly appreciate the reminder and the demonstrated affirmation.

Post reminders to your organization’s social media about your organization’s mission, vision, code of conduct and commitment to DEI. Don’t just do one post for all of this: create a series of posts. A post once a week, or every other week, would make the point clear to your various audiences.

Make sure you have signage in break rooms and work sites that clients, paid staff and volunteers will see that reminds them of your organization’s mission, vision, code of conduct and commitment to DEI. If you are a part of a national network, your national HQ may have posters already made for this.

One caveat: you may lose a volunteer or some supporters because they disagree with your organization’s values – and never realized it fully until you reminded them of such. They may leave quietly or they may express their displeasure in “finding out” that your organization is so “woke.” The reality is that, if they have this reaction, you haven’t done a good job of making sure that everyone has buy-in to your organization and how it works. Do you really want people interacting with clients and potential clients who are not fully bought into your organization’s mission and culture?

Many of us work for nonprofits where our positions are funded in part, if not entirely, by federal funding that is being targeted for elimination starting July 2025. So, nonprofit executive directors: pay attention to staff morale, respect staff that have started job hunting. Be an enthusiastic and supportive reference for employees applying for other jobs.

Also see:

Nonprofits: be honest with yourself, your staff & the public about how the November 2024 elections may affect you

Governor Bevin & Donald Trump Are Wrong on Community Service Requirements (January 2018)

Trump wants to eliminate national service (February 2018)

Trump’s War on Volunteerism (July 2018)

Trump is trying to eliminate national service – again (March 2019)

time for USA nonprofits to be demanding (January 2018)

A plea to USA nonprofits for the next four years (& beyond) (January 2017)

No excuses: give employees & volunteers all the time they need to vote tomorrow

A woman holds her ballot up proudly and is standing in front of the ballot drop box where she will drop it. She has a dog on a leash next to her.

Tomorrow, November 5, is election day in the USA. Millions of people have been able to vote early and have already submitted their ballot – as you see me doing in the photo at the right – but millions more could not do that, and the only way they are going to be able to vote is to go to a polling place on election day and probably stand in line for a very long time.

Please don’t limit your employees and volunteers to trying to vote before or after work, or over their lunch hour, if you are in a state requires voting at a polling place. Executive directors: tell your staff to let their managers know what three hour slot they will need for voting during the work day, and have managers tell YOU what three hour slot they will need.

Tell staff this is done on the honor system because OF COURSE you trust your staff to take only the amount of time they actually need to vote and to come back to work when they are finished – they won’t take three hours unless that’s what they actually need. Do NOT require things like a photo of them standing in line waiting to vote.

If your nonprofit won’t do this, if you refuse to do this, then let me be blunt: unfollow this blog, and unfollow me on social media. You don’t deserve my advice on anything.