The Dollar and a Dream Syndrome

IT'S THE "DOLLAR AND A DREAM SYNDROME" -- someone thinks getting up a community theater would be lots of fun or starting a museum about local history or gathering artists together to open an arts center. Great ideas, all. But how workable for the long run?

As with most small businesses, new cultural nonprofits can be pretty fragile, partly because they develop from personal desire that, ultimately must be shared by many people. As a result, they can live on the edge for long periods of time, surviving on the friendship and handouts of devotees. But one can hardly call that sustainable, right? Yet, new groups are forming -- getting legal -- all the time. In New York State alone, 20-30 new museums are green-lighted by state authorities every year (by the way, only a fraction of them legally go out of business each year).

If you were to create a checklist of what a group of people needed to have in hand before they got that piece of paper from the government making them a legal entity, what would be on that list?

Here's my short, but growing, checklist:

No duplicating the mission or work of an existing organization in the community - if there's another organization that isn't active, don't start a new one, figure out ways to make the existing one active.
Benchmark other similar organizations - know what's already operating in your future universe; know what's good, what's bad, what works, what doesn't. Use the best examples as models.
Gather written and signed pledges from supporters totaling an absolute minimum $10,000 (could be more depending on what you're trying to start and where) -- consider this is seed money or the "rainy day fund".
Obtain letters of support from local government, school superintendents, libraries and other nonprofit groups, peers in other nearby communities, other stakeholders and potential collaborators.
Write a business plan that includes: a statement of need for the organization; understanding of the audience to be served; a mission impact statement, scope of work for years 1-5, specific targets in terms of numbers of supporters, programs, performances, exhibitions, etc.; scope of collections and collecting, if part of your dream; collaborations/collaborators; operating budgets for years 1-5; plan for raising endowment funds; and evidence that all legal requirements are being, have been or will be met.
List of board members (or people who have agreed to serve on the organization's first board) with affiliations and what each brings in terms of skills, networks, and financial resources.
A job description for the board.
In addition to budgets, written plans for raising annual funds (membership, special appeals, fundraising events, etc.) that include lists of prospects, amounts to be raised, who has responsibility for raising it and by when.
Write a technology plan that not only talks about hardware and software, but speaks to how the organization will build its profile and audience -- as well as its infrastructure -- by using it.

Photo: Bursting with Bright Ideas from fpsurgeon

Three Most Important Nonprofit Executive Director Soft Skills

If you were asked to narrow down the list of executive director qualifications to the three most important, which ones would you identify? Would the list consist of soft skills, hard skills, or some combination? Would your list be based on the great ED you are or one you've worked for, or would it be your wish list for the ED you haven't been fortunate yet to work for? This was an assignment in my recent online class in leadership and administration for the American Association for State and Local History . I asked the class to review three-five advertisements for museum directors and analyze what these listings intimated about the organization’s past experience, current focus and goals, and future aspirations. Then, I asked the class to identify what they consider to be the three most important qualifications they would look for in a director. (Okay, so there's more than three if you dissect my three big groups.) Soft skills outnumbered hard skills, although

Back in the Saddle

MY LAST POST WAS NOVEMBER 2012, A LIGHT YEAR AWAY it seems, that marked the beginning of a long push toward completing a manuscript on history museum leadership with my co-author, Joan Baldwin. We finally submitted 350+ pages to our editor at Rowman & Littlefield this week. If all goes well, we expect the book to be available in early 2014. It's taken us two years to get to this point, so six more months or so of revision and production don't seem too long to wait until we can hold the final product in our hands (and you can, too!). The project put a lot of things on hold, including this blog. I'm glad to be back writing about intentional leadership -- leading by design -- for nonprofit boards and staffs. Certainly, my thoughts are now informed by the forthcoming book, in which Joan and I posit that nonprofits need to focus resources on leadership, not just management. Most cultural nonprofits are at a crossroad, as is the sector in general, where nothing is qu

What Would Make You Turn Down an Invitation to Join a Board?

THERE'S SO MUCH WRITTEN ABOUT RECRUITING BOARD TALENT, I thought I'd spend a little time thinking about it from the prospect's point of view. Clearly, there are boards where the line is long to get on them. But what would make you turn down an invitation? Here's a short list to get the conversation started: 1. You've had no prior exposure to the organization. Your immediate reaction is "did you pull my name out of a hat?" (Is that lady in the picture the head of the Nominating Committee?) Seems as though there must be a hidden agenda at work (like you're rich and once you become a board member you'll pour all your resources into the organization) or the organization is simply looking for any warm body to fill a seat. 2. The organization doesn't have a good reputation. There's something to be said for street cred. An organization that's floundering may be strengthened by your participation or you may find yourself sucked into

Linda said…

And one more--don't believe everything a marketing consultant tells you. Just because 8 million people live within a few hours drive doesn't mean that those 8 million, or any significant portion there of, will visit your place!

February 3, 2010 at 7:35 AM

Anne W. Ackerson said…

Ah, yes. That's important! It's so easy to fall for big numbers game. How many museums have fallen into that trap?

February 3, 2010 at 5:59 PM

Leading by Design

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