Publications
Organizational Effectiveness and Transitions
Act Your Age: Organizational Lifecycles: How they Impact your Board
A Case Study: Do Board Consultants and Funders Have It Wrong?
Be sure to catch up on Mike Burns column in NonProfit Pro magazine bi-monthly. Here are some of his most recent contributions.
How to Incentivize Nonprofit Board Members’ Performance – March 2024
A Better Approach to Nonprofit Board Agendas – February 2024
5 Board Oversight Failures and How to Overcome Them – November 2023
If the Board Chair Supports the Board, Who Supports the Board Chair? – September 2023
3 Steps to Avoid Resentment After Rejecting a Board Member – July 2023
7 Recommendations for Including and Engaging Your Board Members – May 2023
Reverse Board Inaction With Informative Reports – January / February 2022
The Nonprofit Board Treasurer: 4 Myths Busted – November / December 2021
How To Bring Out the Best Among Board Members and With the Executive Director – July/August 2021
Nonprofit Boards: Where Are You? – May/June 2020
OMG: We Could Have Prevented That? – March/April 2020
What Does Your Board’s Dominant Coalition Look Like? – January/February 2020
What is your Nonprofit Hiding? – November/December 2019
Governance is Not Intuitive – September/October 2019
Nonprofit Sustainability Planning – July/August 2019
Don’t Forget to Give Your Nonprofit Board Members Recognition – May/June 2019
Board Sustainability, Partnerships and Governance – March/April 2019
Don’t Be Caught With a Bored Board – January/February 2019
Nonprofit board and executive partnership – November/December 2018
Take Boardmanship at Your Nonprofit to a Whole New Level – September/October 2018
Involve the Board – July/August 2018
Paying for Technology – May/June 2018
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Building and Managing New Initiatives
A Place to Grow: Affordable Farming in Connecticut
New Report Explores Shared Equity Homeownership Funding Model
Can a combination of public, private and philanthropic financing, rather than grants, be used to make shared equity homeownership possible? That’s the fundamental question explored in a new report by Grounded Solutions Network and BWB Solutions, “Assessing the Feasibility of a Shared Appreciation Loan Fund Designed for Long-Term Sustainable Affordable Homeownership.” Freddie Mac partnered with Grounded Solutions Network to produce this report under Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve plan.
The latest edition of the Community Development Investment Review, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, contains six case studies of the Partner in Progress grantees. John Weiser and Carl Sussman authored five of the six case studies.
Scale Pathways – Bringing Asset-Building Products and Services to Scale
by Carmen Rojas, Marian Urquilla and John Weiser
Practitioners in the field of asset-building across the country are developing innovative approaches to expanding savings opportunities in low-income communities. Unfortunately, these programs and services rarely reach enough scale to transform entire cities, regions, states, or even neighborhoods. This paper is based on insights developed from interviews with practitioners working in the field of asset-building and a meeting conducted by the Living Cities Income & Assets Working Group held on July 26, 2011. With this paper as a guide, funders can better assess the elements of scale best suited for their investments, while practitioners can more effectively design projects for scaling.
Small Business Development Strategies
A nonprofit organization can increase jobs and income among community residents in many ways. In communities where the challenges of connecting residents to mainstream employment opportunities are sizeable, small business development can be an important alternative. Commissioned by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Small Business Development Strategies: Practices to Promote Success among Low-Income Entrepreneurs explores the proven tools used by non-profit organizations to help entrepreneurs succeed. In this newly published report, BWB Partners Kevin McQueen and John Weiser examine various small business development strategies that address different challenges faced in promoting success among entrepreneurs and their businesses. For organizations involved in the economic development field, this report can be a valuable tool for setting up programs to assist new ventures and their owners.
“Part of the Solution: Leveraging Business and Markets for Low-Income People”
Business can be a powerful tool for helping to improve the income and assets of low-income individuals – if a win-win relationship can be crafted. The Ford Foundation’s report “Part of the Solution: Leveraging Business and Markets for Low-Income People” provides success models and analytic frameworks that help nonprofits and funders understand how to work with business as a force for positive social change. Click here for the executive summary and here for the full report.
Conversations with Disbelievers: Persuading Companies to Increase Corporate Involvement
Ford Foundation – Part Of The Solution
Arm in Arm: Engaged Grantmaking in Local Communities
Strategic and Business Planning
The Theory of Change: A Planning and Team Building Tool
Vision Qualla: Report to Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
BWB worked with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to create jobs and income in ways that draw on, and are supportive of, traditional culture and values. This final report from the project provides a complete description of the process and action plans developed.
The Consultant and Strategic Planning: When Inclusion Matters
Off the Shelf: How to Ensure That Your Strategic Plan Becomes a Valued Tool
“Having It All” BWB’s recent report for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This report provides public radio stations across the US with a clear analysis of how leading stations were combining good financial health with superior audience service. The report makes recommendations that can help to radio stations to meet their missions and increase their financial sustainability at the same time.
Social Enterprise Bibliography
Social Enterprise Planning: Sustainable Revenue for Nonprofits
A Pocket Guide to Business Planning
