ECFA

Knowledge Center

This text is provided with the understanding that ECFA is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or service. Professional advice on specific issues should be sought from an accountant, lawyer, or other professional.

53 results

Fundraising/Stewardship 8/16/2024

Boards 101: Fundraising

Every church and Christian nonprofit ministry is fueled by the generosity of charitable givers, but too often members of their boards pay little attention to fundraising principles and practices. The reality is that few board responsibilities are more important!

Leadership 6/17/2024

Guarding Your CEO’s Soul

Wise boards invest time—up front—to ensure their CEO’s soul is not neglected.

Governance 4/21/2022

QUESTION 1: Is Our Board Composition Right?

This week while we’re still enduring the COVID-19 marathon, I’m launching a series of 14 pesky boardroom questions—over the next 14 blogs. I’m leaning on the savvy wisdom of Ram Charan’s helpful governance book, Owning Up.

Governance 4/13/2022

Best Board Books #17: Lessons From the Church Boardroom

Lessons From the Church Boardroom is very, very practical—and the very short chapters will inspire your church board members to actually read the book—and focus on God-honoring governance.

Governance 4/13/2022

Best Board Books: Index to 18 Good Governance Stimulators

“Great Boards Delegate Their Reading” is the title of Lesson 38 in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. It’s true! So…select one book, appoint an avid reader as your “Leaders Are Readers Champion” and watch boardroom engagement soar.

Governance 8/31/2023

Board Meeting Minutes & The Four Social Styles

I’ve recently had numerous inquiries about board meeting minutes. (You can snooze now or later.) So I’ve been thinking about the four social styles (analytical, driving, amiable, and expressive)—and how each style might perform the duties of the board secretary.

Governance 4/13/2022

Are Your Board Members “Listeners” or “Readers”?

While governance gurus share numerous opinions on best practices for writing board meeting minutes, unless your bylaws or Board Policies Manual spell out the details, the board secretary has ample freedom

Governance 4/11/2022

Best Board Books #3: Best Practices for Effective Boards

What is the next book our board should read? What is the next book our staff should read—a book that would help them clear up many of the myths and misunderstandings about the board’s role versus the staff’s role?

Governance 4/11/2022

Best Board Books #5 - Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask

Governance Guru Ram Charan wrote in 2010, “The financial crisis of 2008 laid bare a long-buried truth: that many boards do not really own the strategy of their company.” So rate your board on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 is high). “How strongly does our board own our strategy?"

Governance 4/1/2022

Bacon, Eggs, and Board Chairs

His big take-away: “I returned to our board with a recommendation that we budget for an eight percent margin each year.” The board approved and he said that one new idea has been transformational for the ministry.

Governance 3/31/2022

Board Chair Best Practices #1: CEO Annual Reviews

Some organizations conduct a 360 review (the board, the CEO’s direct reports, and the CEO’s own self-assessment). Others develop metrics to discern if the core values of the ministry are being lived out, and if so, to what degree.

Governance 3/31/2022

Board Chair Best Practices #2: Become a Student of Your CEO

Last week I began a blog series on board chair best practices. Click here to read Best Practice #1: Ensure that there is 100 percent board participation in the CEO’s annual performance review

Governance 3/31/2022

Board Chair Best Practices #3: Pick Up the Check!

This week, a colleague shared a comment he heard from a board chair of an outstanding national ministry. When asked what the board chair’s job description entailed, this person joked:

“I can’t remember all my duties—but certainly one of them is to pick up the check every time I have lunch with our CEO!”

Governance 3/31/2022

Board Chair Best Practices #4: The Meeting Before the Meeting

The board chair’s role in thoughtfully and prayerfully leading the board—especially during board meetings—is critical to a healthy board. And a common best practice is for the board chair and the CEO to have a meeting before the meeting

Governance 12/16/2021

Sorry! There Is No ONE Thing!

Warning! Beware of board members, CEOs, consultants, self-proclaimed governance experts (or any warm body clutching Robert’s Rules of Order) who would pontificate, “There is just ONE key to effective governance.”

Governance 12/16/2021

There’s an Elephant in the Room—But Let’s Just Keep the Peace!” is the title of the “In-the-Trenches Board Interviews” segment in the new resource: ECFA Governance Toolbox S

Addressing Board and Organizational Conflicts of Interest—Avoiding Trouble, Trouble, Trouble With Related–Party Transactions

Leadership 9/28/2022

Do You Need a Consultant or a Pastor?

Independent Sector declared there are 33 principles for good governance and ethical practice. The 52-page reference edition, Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice: A Guide for Charities and Foundations, is linked on their website.

Fundraising/Stewardship 1/30/2023

Should You Accept Cryptocurrency Donations?

With the rapid growth of cryptocurrency, should your church or ministry start accepting cryptocurrency donations?

Governance 4/13/2022

TOOL 21 Review - Board Member Annual Affirmation Statement

"If volunteers see the fulfillment of their role as ‘obeying and serving God’ rather than serving you or your [organization], it will cause motivation to swell.” -- Al Newell

Governance 4/13/2022

TOOL 14 Review – The Rolling 3-Year Strategic Plan Placemat

How does your board define strategy?

Governance 3/16/2021

Best Board Books #17: Lessons From the Church Boardroom

Best Board Books #17: Lessons From the Church Boardroom

Governance 3/16/2021

Best Board Books: Index to 18 Good Governance Stimulators

Best Board Books: Index to 18 Good Governance Stimulators

Governance 3/12/2021

Best Board Books #3 – Best Practices for Effective Boards

Best Board Books #3 – Best Practices for Effective Boards

Governance 3/12/2021

Best Board Books #5 – Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask

Best Board Books #5 – Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask

Governance 2/16/2021

Why Do Board Members Micromanage?

What would be the upside if the board and senior team agreed on a two-page strategy document?

Governance 2/9/2021

Would anyone issue a “Hooey Alert!” for your new board member orientation?

Governance 2/9/2021

Board Retreat Engagement Reading

If you gave a Pop Quiz at your next board meeting, how many board members would be able to intelligently articulate your organization’s strategy?

Governance 4/8/2021

The Cousin Eddie Syndrome

How does your board avoid the Cousin Eddie Syndrome—and when is the last time you’ve reviewed board recruitment best practices?

Governance 2/9/2021

Board Chairs: Our Single Greatest Need

At your next board meeting, ask each person (including the CEO) to write out and then share their answer to the question, “What is our board’s single greatest need?”

Governance 2/8/2021

Seven Best Practices for Cultivating New Board Members

Recruiting the right people onto the board bus must be a high priority for boards. As the board goes, so goes the organization.

Governance 2/8/2021

Eight Best Practices for Recruiting New Board Members

Have you ever served on a board when a prospect was nominated for board service because he was a friend of a friend of someone’s Cousin Eddie?

Financial Management 6/24/2020

Four Questions to Ask About Executive Compensation at Your Organization

Nonprofit organizations need to attract and retain qualified leadership.

Leadership 3/31/2021

How Healthy Is Your Board?

Assessing your board’s performance is the first step to improving it.

Governance 11/22/2021

Thrive With Four Kingdom Values

Set a high standard for the board and the board members.

Governance 4/22/2020

Engage Board Members in Generative Thinking

They rely on generative thinking in their day jobs but are rarely asked to think collaboratively in the boardroom.

Governance 1/9/2020

Great Boards Delegate Their Reading

Identify a “Leaders Are Readers Champion.”

Governance 1/9/2020

Invest “10 Minutes for Governance” in Every Board Meeting

We are all guilty of bringing our delightful dysfunctions into every new board experience.

Governance 1/9/2020

Serve With Humility and Experience God's Presence

One board chair creates a holy moment for his CEO search committee.

Governance 1/9/2020

Date Board Prospects Before You Propose Marriage

He served the shortest board term in the history of the world!

Governance 1/9/2020

Break Bread, Not Relationships

Building a 24/7 healthy board culture takes time. Don’t skimp on meals or relationships.

Governance 3/17/2021

Thrive with Four Kingdom Values

Pastor Carlos said he didn’t have the spiritual gift of church board meetings!

Governance 1/14/2021

Optimizing the Board-President Relationship: Best Practices that Make a Difference

The executive search process is launched with the best of intentions. The board search committee is put together to set parameters and to ensure due diligence. The multiple documents and resumes provided by presidential candidates are reviewed, finalists determined, followed by multiple interviews, test-taking, and analyses. The choice is subsequently announced to great fanfare, followed by the usual pomp and circumstance of a presidential inauguration, everyone hoping for the best.

Financial Management 3/27/2020

What Are the Compensation Committee Best Practices for Setting CEO Compensation?

An ECFA member ministry has a compensation committee charged with the responsibility to recommend the CEO’s compensation and fringe benefits to the board each year. The committee is comprised of two non-staff board members and the ministry’s CFO. When the board receives the recommendation of the compensation committee, the CEO stays in the boardroom but does not participate in the vote. While the compensation committee records the details of the recommended compensation in their minutes, the board minutes do not reflect any details. How could the ministry improve their practices?

Governance 11/2/2020

Executive Compensation Policy

A board’s determination of the nonprofit’s senior staff members’ compensation is one of its key tasks.

Governance 5/12/2020

Governance Overkill Syndrome

Nonprofit organizations are on a quest to seek out and attain good governance. The failure of a relatively small number of boards to do their jobs should not cause every nonprofit board in America to engage in remedial action that is unduly burdensome and unproductive, and that distracts board members from their true obligation--that of overseeing the effective carrying out of the mission of the organization itself.

Governance 5/21/2020

The Great Board Debate: How should ministry boards govern?

This article describes the pros and cons of policy based governance and the requirements that must be in place before making a transition. It examines the tendency of boards to swing from micro-managing to rubber-stamping and what to do about it.

Fundraising/Stewardship 11/16/2016

Contributions for Disasters

Accountability for funds received and expended for disaster relief should be based on certain best practices.

Governance 1/13/2021

Five Board Governance Trends

Peter Drucker said, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." In this article, John Pearson shares five trends and best practices to help create your preferred board governance future.

Financial Management 7/18/2018

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Outlines the applicability and relevance of this law to nonprofits

Financial Management 6/4/2020

Guidelines for International Grant-Making

Outlines the proper procedures and due diligence when making grants to international organizations

Fundraising/Stewardship 4/7/2020

Guidelines for Handling Funds Raised for Disasters

Contains guidelines that ministries should consider when raising disaster-related funds

Governance 11/29/2018

Board Service: An honor or a duty?

Outlines the importance of effective board service as both an honor and a duty

Financial Management 7/20/2018

What to Expect from your Auditors

Details what a nonprofit should expect and look for in an audit firm