When Change Comes to Nonprofits (Ready or Not)
What you'll learn
- Real world examples of nonprofits working through crises and transitions
- Tools for program evaluation
- Tools for organizational evaluation
- Options for rebuilding out of a crisis
- Elements of successful mergers
- Elements of mergers that shouldn’t happen
- Degrees of partnership and mergers
- Planning tools
Requirements
- No prerequisites
- Course designed for 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organizations in the United States
Description
Change is inevitable, and the challenges thrown at nonprofit organizations can lead to a seeming never ending battle to manage through crises that end up distracting from our missions. In recent years we’ve dealt with recessions, a pandemic, the “great resignation,” and more.
In this course, nonprofit expert, Ken Goldstein, shares several case studies from his experiences of managing through crises as a consultant and interim executive director. You will learn about successful mergers, and merger negotiations that were ended without an agreement. You will learn about organizations that seemed all but doomed, and how they rebuilt to be stronger than ever. And you will hear about an organization that went into bankruptcy, and what factors led to that fateful decision.
Ken will also share several of the tools that he’s used in these situations, and with other consulting clients, for program evaluation and organizational assessment. These tools will help you determine if there are programs you need to cut or transform, and what strengths you can build on. You will also learn about mergers, and other types of cooperation and partnerships, the factors to look for in a good partner, and cautions to be wary of during negotiations.
Whether you are the leader of an organization facing a crisis, or considering a merger, or whether your organization is thriving and you just want to build your toolbox with additional knowledge, this fast-paced course will give you insight and ideas that you can use in assuring your nonprofit’s success.
Who this course is for:
- Board members or trustees of 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organizations
- Nonprofit executive directors and senior staff
- Nonprofit leaders considering a merger
- Nonprofits managing through a crisis
Instructor
Ken Goldstein has been working in nonprofits and local government agencies since 1989. Since founding Goldstein Consulting in December of 2003, Ken has served half-a-dozen organizations as an Interim Executive Director, managing nonprofits through transitions, mergers, and turn-arounds. Ken has also facilitated strategic planning processes, taught fundraising and nonprofit management workshops, raised several million dollars in grants, and performed other contract consulting work.
His many years of senior management experience include being the first Executive Director of Recovery Cafe San Jose and Sustainable San Mateo County, Silicon Valley Director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and Bay Area Director for Benevolent. He has also served on the Boards of Directors of Future Families, Habitat for Humanity Santa Cruz County, and Recovery Cafe Santa Cruz. Ken holds a Master of Public Policy and Administration from CSU Sacramento and a BA in Politics from UC Santa Cruz.