We now come to the end of our three-part series about the three-year research project we did for the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO). If you need a refresher on the previous two posts: Part 1: The Burnout Crisis: Why "Mission First" is Failing the Nonprofit Workforce explains how nonprofits are serving their missions at the expense of their workforce. Part 2: The "Why" Behind the Walls: Navigating the Insurance Maze exposed how the demographics of the nonprofit workforc

When I began the three-year research project for the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO), the goal seemed straightforward: find a way to give nonprofits the same "buying power" for health insurance as a Fortune 500 company (See Part 1). The research was promising. But as we moved from research into a feasibility study with 18 NAO nonprofit member organizations, we hit a wall. We discovered the very things that make the nonprofit sector special, like our people and our missi

I often hear a similar refrain from nonprofit executive directors: "I am getting bogged down by increasing administrative tasks, and am able to spend zero hours on our mission." It's a heartbreaking reality. Charitable nonprofits are the bedrock of our community's health and democracy. Yet, for decades, many of these organizations have served their missions at the expense of their most valuable asset: their people. The Cost of the "Charitable" Discount For too long, the secto

Many do not understand that nonprofit organizations do not have owners. I came to see how many did not understand this after last year I left the nonprofit, Financial Beginnings, I founded after 17 years of running it. I cannot believe how many are perplexed that I had no ownership stake in the organization I started and ran for such a long time. I kept getting asked how much I sold the organization for. Nonprofits cannot be sold because there are no owners. This common confu