Non-Profit 101

Before you became a nonprofit leader, somewhere in your life you were touched by something that made you passionate about the community you are now serving.

Either you were affected by a condition, had a friend or family member affected by a condition, or maybe you just saw a need in another human being and decided that you wanted to make a difference.

Whatever the reason, we are all passionate about our cause.

In that passion, it is important to remember to separate your personal life from your professional life. As a leader, those who you are serving are watching your every move and will more than likely either follow your lead, or sit back and wait for you to stumble.

So, when an issue arises that affects those you are serving, it is important to get all the facts about the issue and be prepared to professionally handle the issue.

As a leader, you must put your personal feelings aside and act as a representative for your organization.

A recent issue such as this came up in our community. A new “miracle cure” was developed to help those with Down syndrome. As parents, some think the idea is a great one. However, in further investigation it was revealed that this drug had not been endorsed by anyone other than the makers and long-term studies have not been conducted at all.

So, although some parents find this information fascinating, as leaders it is important to keep their personal feelings to themselves, since the community would misinterpret their voices as an endorsement from their organization.

This is a fine line, without a doubt! But as leaders we must be careful that we are abiding by our Code of Ethics and we consider ourselves a “trustee” of the organization and do our best to ensure that the organization is well maintained, and always operating on the best interests of constituents.

Everything you say, everything you write and everything you do is carefully watched by your community. So, it is important that if you do something that is not part of your organization you make it well known to the community that you are not acting as a board member, but just as yourself.

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