Recently in ASAE Collaborate, I’ve seen the conversation again about “The Bus Book” scenario. I say again because this is an evergreen topic and we should all be thinking about it on a regular basis. The Bus Book, if you are not familiar with this term, is the book that SHOULD exist that contains all the information others will need if something happens to you like you get hit by a bus. Or you win the lottery. Or you take a new job. Or you retire.

In a previous post titled “Making Peace,” (September 23, 2023), I noted the following:
"After a time, the stubbornness becomes the goal, and we often forget WHY we are being so stubborn. Both parties will not give way in any shape or form. Old grievances are listed again and again as we are determined to prove that we are right and they are so very wrong."

If you subscribe to USAE News, you may have seen my September 3, 2024, guest column “The Unexpected and Accessibility: A Trip to a Cleveland Conference.” This article outlines my experience attending a conference in a wheelchair and using a walker as I recover from a broken leg. Anytime anyone loses mobility or needs accommodations for participation, it is a disability whether short-term or long-term.

Listen to the audio version of the article.

...GIRL. That’s right. Think like a leader, not a girl. Did she just type that? Oh yes, she did. And this time I encourage angry postcards because I want to hear what you are thinking. 

As I continue my recovery from a broken leg, the bone is healed. It’s all the other moving parts that still need to recover and strengthen – the tendons and ligaments that hold the knee joint together as well as the underused muscles that weakened due to 2 months of bedrest.

I joined the nonprofit management profession in 1988 with my first Washington, DC job at the US Chamber of Commerce. As my career evolved and my next job took me to a professional society for corporate attorneys, my eyes were opened to the fact that this is a defined and unique profession.

This week’s message is based on my response to a discussion in the ASAE Collaborate Consultants community posted the week of July 15, 2024. The initial post by one of my colleagues addressed the issue of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) removing the “E” (equity) from their DEI program, leaving them with just “D&I” (diversity & inclusion).

When I was growing up in St. Louis, MO, I played a lot of sports: basketball, volleyball, and softball in the Catholic Youth Council (CYC) league. Of all the sports, in the Catholic community at the time, basketball was the most important. It’s like Texas and football.

Anyone who works in the profession of nonprofit management, especially in the area of membership associations, accepts the requirement that we are mandated by law to have a Board of Directors. According to the Google Search AI bot this is why it is mandated:

One of my favorite spiritual guides is the “Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tzu. Loosely translated, this means the Way of Virtue. It includes the concepts of integrity, self-control, and inner knowledge. The Tao Te Ching is the main text of Taoism which believes in the basic tenet that all things should live in balance with the universe.

As a proponent of ethical behavior, I understand that we are imperfect beings. No one does it right all the time, and yes, ethical people likely did some unethical things in their past that they are not proud of and cringe whenever they think of it. That “icky cringe feeling” is great motivation not to do it again, but also a reminder that we usually know when we are doing something wrong.

Author’s Note: I’m out of the office this week so I thought I’d reshare this take on Boards of Directors from March 2023. All 501c organizations are required to have a board of directors – what outcomes we achieve is directly related to board culture.

Let's face it -- Volunteer onboarding is not always what it should be. When it comes to connecting people with information and the systems that support their work, we often find good intentions but a lack of clarity. There are two words that are key to volunteer onboarding: Clarity and Connection.

If you are taking the May CAE Exam, you probably have a lot of nervous energy this week. You worry about a lot of things right before the exam, like “Did I study enough?” “Did I study TOO much?” “I didn’t finish the reading . . . “ “Will I remember everything?” What about the MATH QUESTIONS??”

Recently I saw a post in an ASAE Collaborate community seeking information about consulting fee estimates for a wide-ranging technology project. The person posting the query, an association staff member, noted that she was just seeking an estimate for a board meeting report and was not yet seeking proposals. In her post, she noted that consultants she asked were hesitant to give an estimate for the work.

I was surprised to receive a message from ASAE giving me another opportunity to pay to be in their CAE Registered Provider program. I have made my position very clear and public on the changes they made and I am not seeing any significant changes at this time (despite the message saying changes have been made).

Bias exists in many forms, and unfortunately, we here in the nonprofit management community perpetuate it like everyone else. While we try to follow each other’s good examples, we tend to copy the bad ones more often because “that is what everyone else does.” One of the biases we continue to perpetuate is anti-consultant policies for membership and event registration. These policies were established decades ago and many associations adopted them like these are a best practice.

The other day I was talking with my friend Michael Butera (who is one of our Rogue Tulips Expert Partners) about the overall state of the world, and we talked about the state of the nonprofit management profession. It seems to be stuck in a rut and holding onto the past rather than living in the world we are in now.

We all hang on to things longer than we should. Whether it’s an emotional attachment, force of habit, or “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” humans love to keep things around that aren’t really useful any longer.