Leadership

An Investment Worth Its Weight in Gold

By Dave Monaco, Subject Matter Expert. Want to raise the anxiety level of nonprofit executives or board members? Engage them in yet another conversation about how to do a lot with a little! Indeed, discussions about how best to allocate an organization’s ever-finite resources of time and dollars dominate many a meeting agenda. Even with a laser-like focus on mission, nonprofit leaders regularly confront difficult budgetary choices and have to cut critical non-programmatic areas. Employee professional development is one such cost-saver that can prove to be a short-sighted decision. Research from corporate and nonprofit sectors shows that organizations who invest in their people promote healthier workplace cultures, improve employee retention, and steel themselves for the inevitable departure of key leaders. When wrestling with knotty budgetary decisions and evaluating their professional development programming, nonprofit board members and executives should [...]

Creating Great Chemistry

By Susan Ross, Founding Partner. Maybe it is because Lessons in Chemistry is on nearly every book list this year (and it is a great read), but I have been thinking lately about CHEMISTRY and how it plays a role in successful relationships of all kinds. It is not AP Chem I am thinking about, but what is defined as “the complex emotional or psychological interactions among people.” This goes beyond marriages and friendships and includes other kinds of associations, like those between nonprofits and their volunteers and donors or Executive Directors and their staffs. At moss+ross, we take very seriously the chemistry involved in our professional relationships with clients. We work with all kinds of nonprofits and all kinds of people. Well over half of our 257 clients have hired us for multiple engagements over the past [...]

Say the Thing and Then Do the Thing: “This is The Way”

By Vince Bayyan. Many of you reading this piece may recognize “this is the way” as the creed from the hit Disney Star Wars spin-off, The Mandalorian. For those unfamiliar, these words are the often-repeated affirmation and code of conduct at the heart of the Mandalor community. Okay, if you haven’t guessed by now, yeah, I’m a sci-fi geek and proud “blerd” (Black Nerd). It is often said that life imitates art. I was among a diverse group of some 200+ attendees at this spring’s CASE African American Development Officers’ Conference in Atlanta who were given a charge, that soon became a creed, that resonated for the duration of the conference: Say the thing and then do the thing. Note the parallel to the Mandalorian creed: This is the way! Speakers Janelle Williams and Tene’ Traylor with [...]

2023-06-20T12:10:32-04:00June 20th, 2023|All Posts, Team Expertise|

Executive Search: Toward a More Inclusive Process

By Emily Bruce, Senior Associate A successful search for your next nonprofit Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director, or development professional is a meticulous process with inevitable twists and turns. moss+ross guides search committees and nonprofit leaders based on our experience conducting more than 90 searches since 2010. As a firm, we have a core value to embrace diversity and inclusion through our hands-on work with community partners and clients. In our search work we strive to use an inclusive lens in every step of our process. For a typical search we: Commit to an inclusive process: Working with clients to ensure their search committees include members with diverse backgrounds and perspectives and are committed to an inclusive process Seek multiple viewpoints: Conducting constituent interviews to understand multiple viewpoints of what the organization needs and what essential skills are needed for [...]

Prioritizing Pay Equity

By Carolyn Rhodes, Senior Associate. Prioritizing pay equity may seem like an additional task for nonprofit leaders and board members to tackle, but it can have significant benefits for both the organization and society. By promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, nonprofit leaders can create a positive impact on their employees, stakeholders, and the community they serve. Pay equity ensures that all employees are compensated fairly and equally, regardless of their position within the organization, gender, race, age, or ethnicity. Prioritizing pay equity can foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace, which can attract and retain talent, improve employee morale, and advance the organization's mission. Additionally, pay equity is a critical component of social justice, promoting equality and fairness in society. To ensure pay equity, nonprofit leaders and board members can take the following steps: Establish clear and [...]

Keep Doing The Work.

By moss+ross Team. moss+ross approaches each client engagement as an opportunity to ask: are we doing the work that recognizes diversity and builds inclusivity and equity? What does this look like in our day-to-day work, in our strategic visioning, and in our reflections on current events as well as history? We only get better as we work together – and keep doing the work. Our clients are doing the work, day in and day out. The moss+ross team works alongside our clients, learning from one another, guiding strategy based on our experiences, and understanding what it means to be accountable. We support our clients as they do the work, including these examples: Many nonprofits are lifting up Black History in ways that are authentic to their missions, including the Durham Sports Commission and UNC Athletics which are [...]

Risk and Reward: Approaching the New Year

By Kim Glenn, President. As January brings us into 2023, many of us are thinking about our New Year’s resolutions. We make lists for ourselves, announce our intentions to others, and think purposefully about how we will live into them. It’s the time of year when we are actively encouraged to grow in different ways. What if we could approach every day with the same enthusiasm of turning the page and starting anew? In November 2022, our moss+ross team engaged an outside consultant to help our team think more creatively and see problems as incredible opportunities to try new things. These concepts are part of our core values, and as a team, we focus every day on being open to new ideas, taking risks with identifying solutions, and remaining nimble with the ways we support our clients. [...]

Transitions Create Opportunities

By Lizzy Mottern, VP of Talent. Transitions are part of every organization’s life cycle. The good news is they are incredible opportunities to rethink, adjust, and become even stronger. We join clients in times of transition in multiple ways: providing interim contractors through m+r interim solutions, helping boards find their next great leader through our Executive Search services, and providing counsel during succession planning, assessments, and strategic planning work. Specific to staffing needs, moss+ross has provided temporary placements since our founding in 2009, and we formalized this service as our m+r interim solutions division in 2018. Our contractor database has a strong pool of 200+ highly-qualified, local nonprofit professionals who understand the Triangle and take great pride in adding value to the important work of nonprofits. These hand-picked contractors work side-by-side with clients, offering their professional experience [...]

It’s Year-End: Pick up the Phone and Smile!

By Mary Moss, Founding Partner. Are you worried that you have not reached your year-end goals, that you have not talked to the people you thought you should, and that no one is returning your emails? It’s not too late. Pick up the Phone and Smile! In front of you, have the information you need: (1) their names and family names; (2) past giving amounts and patterns of what they usually support; (3) materials that will give you language about the impact of their gift and other details, and (4) how much you are going to ask for. If they have been a past supporter, thank them at least twice during your call. If they have not, make sure they know the impact their gift will have and how they will be recognized, if that’s important to them. Wish [...]

Living Lived Experiences

By Carolyn Rhodes, Senior Associate. As a Black woman gaining momentum in the non-profit sector, I used to begin every new interaction with my lived/living experiences. It was something I felt like I had to do in order to be connected to mission-driven work. I have grown to understand that my lived/living experiences do not have to be my identity and only need to be shared as I choose to disclose them. My lived/living experiences can help organizations see or do things differently in the communities they serve, but it is my skills and experiences that will help make long-lasting change in the organization. I believe you need both. And I recently sat down with some amazing leaders who felt the same way. At the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits Conference earlier this month, my colleague Jeanne [...]

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