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If you are thinking of starting a non-profit or  working for a non-profit, what are some of the   skills or core aspects of non-profit management  that you really need to become good at? That's   what we're going to talk about in this video. Hey!  I'm Amber Melanie Smith. I'm a non-profit founder   and executive director and I've been making these  videos here on YouTube to share everything I've   learned about starting a non-profit, my experience  with all of the things that are involved in that.   If you are interested in starting a non-profit or  fundraising or creating a social impact through   some other type of way, definitely check out  the other videos on my channel. Don't forget to   give this video a like if it is useful to you  subscribe to the rest of my channel, and yeah   and also if you're interested in some non-profit  trainings to help you get started check out my   website FounderToFullTime.com. Okay so to set  the stage for what I want to talk about today I   want to say - as if you don't already know - that  non-profit leaders and founders have to wear a lot   of different hats they have to be skilled in a lot  of different areas. And this is usually because   an organization with few resources or possibly  no staff when you're first starting up   you've got to be able to fill all the roles your  organization needs until you get those resources   and or staff and a second disclaimer i want to  share is that it is pretty much impossible for   any one person to become an expert at everything  and let alone all of the nine things that I'm   gonna share with you on this this list of core  competencies you need for non-profit management   so the goal here is to just learn enough  to be dangerous learn the basics of each of   these things if you are a non-profit leader or  founder or savvy board member learn the basics   and then surround yourself with really smart  people who might be skilled in each of these   areas so that you can rely on their expertise  and work together as a super awesome team getting   everything done let's get into these nine things  i'm going to talk about these nine skills or   core aspects of non-profit management you need  to know as a non-profit leader or founder for   each of these i'm going to describe what it is  why it's important and then offer just a quick   tip to help you think about it practically  and figure out how you might get started   with this aspect of non-profit management the  first skill that you've gotta have is in strategic   planning now strategic planning is when you create  a usually a written plan that lays out the goals   and activities your organization will undertake  throughout the next year or couple of years   in order to work towards its longer term vision  and mission why is it important to know how to   do strategic planning well social change and  community change can take a very long time   and so when you have a what feels like a large  insurmountable goal like for example ending   child food insecurity in your city you've got to  be able to break it down into smaller manageable   steps each year or every couple of years so that  you know that your team is making incremental   progress on the issue and most issues are also  very complicated there might be seven things that   you have to do in order to create a city in which  no child goes hungry so in one year you might   focus on one of those seven things another year  you might focus on two other um items on that list   it really depends on you know the progress you're  making the barriers that you're facing and some of   the opportunities around you in your environment  so being able to spot those opportunities spot   those challenges and then work out a plan for what  you're going to do that year as an organization in   order to work towards that grand vision that  you have is a really important skill if you   haven't done strategic planning before it can feel  pretty daunting you might not know where to begin   so my quick tip for you is to begin by collecting  data and feedback from your community get a sense   of what challenges they are seeing out in their  community you can't be everywhere at once you   also can't speak for every person that you support  and benefit so you want to hear directly from them   what are their needs what are the challenges  they're seeing and how can those things shape   your plans your plan and your desired activities  for that year the second skill you've gotta have   is board governance now board governance is  the act of developing processes and systems   and policies that help your board effectively  govern the organization for example what is your   organization's process for recruiting  board members training board members   developing new policies for the organization  approving your annual budget etc. This is really   important because for non-profits especially  in the united states the board of directors   is the governing body this is the group of  people who are voting on critical decisions for   your organization like what policies to adopt what  your annual budget should include and so you want   to make sure that these folks have a structure  in place that allows them to govern effectively   become and stay well informed on what's going on  in your organization and the organization's needs   and be able to make really informed decisions  because if they can't make those informed   decisions they're going to make bad decisions  and then that will influence the trajectory of   your organization and not for the better so  here's my quick tip on this one if you can   find and elect a very strong board chair to  kind of lead the board someone who ideally has   non-profit board experience already and kind  of knows how things are supposed to go and can   speak to what it is what it should look like to  serve on the board of directors for a non-profit   organization the other benefit of having a strong  board share is if that person is not you that   frees you up to focus on other things knowing  that that person will have your back and that   you'll be able to get the information you need  to the board in a timely manner i want to mention   i also have another video that delves a little  bit deeper into board of directors management so   be sure to check that out it's nine strategies  for managing your board of directors go figure   the third skill you've got to have some competency  in as a non-profit leader is human resources and   people management human resources covers all these  aspects of recruiting and hiring and training and   onboarding and managing the nonprofit staff  who are running your organization day to day   this is really important because once your  organization grows to the point that it can   hire and sustain paid staff assuming that is  your goal it's really important to know how to   effectively retain them treat them well manage  their time effectively make sure that they have   proper training so that they know how to do their  jobs and run your nonprofits programs effectively   for the benefit of the community making sure that  you are managing people well so that they stick   around is good because employee turnover can cost  the organization a bit of money and that leads   me to my quick tip for this one if you can really  do your research on competitive salaries and make   sure that your staff is fairly and competitively  compensated for their role and that you are   investing in good training and do these things as  early as you can or up front for your organization   when you're first ready to hire people i  mentioned that employee turnover is expensive   so doing these things and keeping your staff  happy and around and performing their jobs well   can save your organization thousands and thousands  of dollars every year the fourth skill you want   to have is recruiting managing and retaining  volunteers volunteers generously give their time   and talents to non-profits throughout the year so  dealing with volunteers the act of recruiting them   managing them properly these are all things  that you're most likely going to need to do and   know how to do as a non-profit manager i talked  about you know retaining paid staff retaining   volunteers is even harder because of course  they're not receiving compensation they're   just doing it because of the the interest in your  in your cause or their passion for what you do so   there's a sort of different way you would approach  volunteers and it's important because not managing   volunteers properly can lead them to quitting  or having a bad experience which you don't want   ing to the stanford social innovation review  um poor non i'm sorry poor volunteer management   has led to about a third of people who volunteered  in one year to not return again to volunteer the   next year because their experience was just not  good so imagine all of that lost talent and lost   time and skill that could have been lent to the  nonprofit world have they just been managed more   effectively and another thing is many volunteers  often become financial donors to your non-profit   too because they've become invested in your cause  they see how it works behind the scenes and they   want to support it even more so here's my quick  tip to get started with volunteer management   and that is start by assessing the needs and  the goals of your organization for that year   identifying what volunteer roles could possibly  help support accomplishing those goals for your   organization that year and then create a clear  detailed volunteer job description that you can   use to promote your need for volunteers i also  have another video that talks a little bit more   about how to encourage volunteers to sign up so be  sure to check that out too the fifth skill you've   gotta have as a non-profit leader is all about  collaborations and partnerships because we live in   an interconnected society and you can't completely  solve any community or social problem completely   on your own most non-profits are going to have  to have some kind of collaboration or partnership   with another entity whether it's a another  non-profit a business or a government entity at   some point in their nonprofit life cycle and for  some missions and some organizations partnerships   might be so important that they're ongoing and  permanent good partnerships and collaborations can   raise awareness about your mission they can  introduce your organization to new potential   volunteers or donors and they can increase  your credibility and your trust with the public   so knowing how to initiate and navigate these  collaborations and partnerships is a critical   skill so here is my quick tip for getting  started with collaborations and partnerships   you want to think about what each partner needs  to bring to the table to be effective in achieving   the goal of the partnership and also identifying  what that goal of the partnership is and you want   to work with your partner or collaborator to  clearly write out and i mean literally write   it put it in writing write out the expectations  of each partner and the anticipated deliverables   what each partner is responsible for completing  or doing as part of the partnership this will   save you so much confusion and provide so  much clarity and ensure that any challenges   or conflict that might arise from such confusion  is mitigated the sixth skill you definitely have   to have is fundraising and donor stewardship  fundraising of course is the act of solicitating   oh my gosh soliciting contributions from  people voluntarily asking people for money etc   and donor stewardship is the act of maintaining  a relationship with a donor after they've   made a donation to your organization so retaining  the donor now it's pretty common sense why this is   important but the thing is a lot of people are  afraid to ask for money unfortunately running a   non-profit requires usually a lot of resources  so this is a skill that you've got to be able   to learn and build your confidence in to make it  happen and while asking for money itself involves   some level of skill fundraising actually includes  a lot more than just that it involves building a   base of possible donors it involves cultivating  relationships with those potential donors then   it involves making the ask then it involves this  other concept donor stewardship that i mentioned   once you have someone who is generously donating  to your cause how do you keep them around how do   you inspire them to give you more donations  in the future all of these things are part of   the complicated world of fundraising that is  really important for every non-profit leader   to be able to do with skill and that actually  leads me to my quick tip for this one recognize   that fundraising is not just asking for money  so if that is the part that's making you nervous   don't get discouraged remember it's a bigger um  web a bigger puzzle involving many pieces that   you can work on getting good at piece by piece so  first just get good at talking about your mission   getting people excited about it inviting them to  do other things like come to an event or volunteer   it's all about building up that confidence and  skill until you have a relationship where you   know that there's mutual trust and that someone  would be willing to make a donation to your cause   and fundraising involves lots of different  ways of generating revenue that isn't   just requesting donations from individuals there  are lots of other ways to bring in revenue as   a fundraiser so for that i encourage you to  check out my other video that covers all of   the different ways that successful nonprofits  can fundraise the seventh skill you've gotta be   good at is legal and financial management so in  this context the legal and financial management   stuff includes things like knowing what laws  nonprofits need to follow to stay compliant   what things nonprofits need to file year to  year again to stay compliant and things like   doing proper bookkeeping and managing the money  in your bank account obviously this one's pretty   important because if you fail to do these things  your non-profit could suffer penalties or fines   or even get shut down because it was not doing  things within the law or not being good stewards   of the money that you have in your bank account  and poor financial management could lead to   losing money bankruptcy getting audited losing  supporters you really just would find it easier to   stay on top of all of those things and so  knowing how to do them what the rules are   identifying people who can help you with that is  a really important skill and that actually brings   me to my quick tip and something i've mentioned  in the other skills too because it is important   keeping in mind you can't be a  complete expert at everything   take the steps you need to educate yourself on  the basics of this one but unless you're really   really good at it already don't be afraid to ask  for help find someone who can support you or even   find the financial resources you need to  outsource this aspect of your organization   to make sure it gets done properly the eighth  skill is utilizing technology and maintaining   a strong online presence for your nonprofit  this is important because in this day and age   nonprofits have to have a website they've got  to be engaged in social media and to have an   online presence they've got to be discoverable by  people looking for them looking for information   about the the cause that you are working on so  making sure that you have that online presence and   on the other side using effective tools of  technology to make sure your organization   can run as effectively and efficiently as possible  will save your organization money and allow you to   serve more people the consequences of not having  a strong online presence is not being able to be   found by people who might want to support  you or if it's a poorly designed website or   ineffectively used social media you might be  turning supporters away by accident and in terms   of what software and technology to use making poor  choices of those things what technology to use can   frustrate your team slow down your programs and  operations so you really want to have a sense of   what tools are going to be the best for what you  need to accomplish uniquely my quick tip is that   if technology is not your strong suit or building  a website or maintaining social media is not   your special area then these are tasks that are  particularly great for getting volunteer support   on skilled volunteers love to help with these  types of tasks especially in today's world where   a lot of volunteering is happening virtually  or using your computer from your home these   are great tasks you can try to get someone to help  you with and the ninth and final skill i want to   talk about is marketing and public relations  now marketing and public relations includes   a lot of things but it especially refers to  understanding your organization's target audience   raising awareness about your organization's  existence and helping articulate your   organization's mission and needs it's important  because you might have the greatest non-profit   in the whole world but it doesn't really matter  if nobody knows about it marketing and the um   the messaging and the storytelling and the media  through which you talk about your cause all of   these things draw in potential supporters who  might choose to donate or volunteer or support   your cause in some other way so knowing how to do  it at least on a basic level is another critical   skill so my quick tip for this one is if you're  starting from scratch start by thinking about what   are the key messages you really need the public to  know about your organization what are those two or   three things that you wish people just knew about  your cause identify what those things are and make   sure your team knows how to explain those things  and use that same messaging too so that everyone   across the board can be consistent in how they  talk about your cause to the public and of course   i do have another helpful video on this that i did  all about defining your non-profits unique brand   so be sure to check that one out too if you're  interested in diving a little deeper on this topic   okay so as you can see there's a lot that goes  in to non-profit management what do you think   what areas are you the strongest in what areas  do you think you need some help in or want some   additional learning in let me know share in the  comments and also let me know if you think i   missed something big i'd love to hear that what  you have on your mind so definitely comment and   if you are looking for some additional resources  like i said before check out my website   FounderToFullTime.com. I also have a newsletter  for non-profit leaders and change makers with   additional resources and sometimes funding  opportunities so the link to subscribe to that is   in the description, and sometimes in my YouTube  comments as well. I'll leave it there as well.   Finally i have a group on Facebook, Change the  World or Bust - we've got folks in there from   everywhere talking about their journeys with their  social impact projects or starting a non-profit,   so i encourage you to come find  us there and join the party.   That's all i have for you today thank you so so  much for watching as always i really appreciate it   um don't forget to like subscribe to my  channel and i hope to see you next time! you