Annual Report - Lutheran Services in America

Caregiver Suite
The Search is On
Every Little Bit Helps
A Bridgespan Group report on
leadership in the nonprofit sector notes
that nonprofit leaders “Like their peers in
for-profit businesses … understand that
what ultimately determines whether an
organization succeeds or fails is the quality of
its leadership team and the effectiveness of
its decisions.”
In any given year, as many as ten
percent of LSA member organizations
experience a change in chief executive
leadership. Whether from resignation or
retirement, the organization’s board faces a
series of challenges that must be managed
well in order to make a positive difference for
the organization.
LSA offers many resources for
organizations in transition. LSA’s expert
consultants can assist short or longer term
in planning and preparation so that the
organization comes out of a leadership
transition with a greater clarity of purpose
and mission, renewed sense of strategic
direction, new understanding of the depth
and individual talent and capability within
the organization and increased diversity.
LSA also has resource booklets that can
help. Preparing for Leadership Transitions
contains sections on CEO transition planning,
planning for transitions in other key positions
and cultivating future leaders.
The booklet, The Executive Search
Process, is based on research into the theory
and practice of executive search processes
and provides examples, checklists and
decision-making aids to successfully bring
on a new leader who is an appropriate match
for the organization’s mission, challenges and
opportunities
It may seem counter-intuitive, but
experts say that in strained economic times,
people actually donate more money. But,
they are more selective in their giving.
There is no doubt that the last two
years have been extreme economic strains,
especially for nonprofit human care
organizations that have also been squeezed
by decreased reimbursements in state
contracts. They make up the difference and
seek to expand programs and supports
when the need is greatest primarily through
fundraising.
LUMEN Resources, the LSA consulting
partnership with Mennonite Health Services
Alliance, is launching a new initiative that
may help. Through a preferred vendor
program, participating fundraising
consultants will offer preferred pricing
to LSA organizations and will also
provide educational resources through
LSA events and webinars. Participating
companies have expertise in fundraising,
organizational advancement, and
related consulting services. The first two
participating companies are Mountain
Sage and Advancement Associates.
Both will participate in the LSA Annual
Conference in April.
More information is available at
lumenresources.org or by calling Bob York
at 410-905-2632 or by e-mail at byork@
lutheranservices.org.
April 2012 | Together
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