The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate two organizations who recently earned accreditation or recognition under the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. Service Coordination, located in Maryland, recently earned the Seal of Excellence. Service Coordination's mission is to provide quality case management services by helping people understand what their choices are and connecting them to resources in their communities in[…]

Standards for Excellence leaders weighed in on the controversial National Association of Nonprofit Organization Executives (NANOE) in a recent article from Nonprofit Quarterly.“What NANOE is proposing goes against every teaching out there, whether it be from the Standards for Excellence or Board Source,” said Daniel Billingsley, vice president of external affairs at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, a national Replication Partner of the Standards for Excellence Institute.Amy Coates Madsen,[…]

Are you looking to revamp your board meetings? Do you need help bringing life and purpose to your board? Begin by ensuring that each member ofyour board has the five documents listed below at every board meeting. The results will amaze you.Before I became a nonprofit consultant, I spent years navigating the process of running a small not-for-profit community arts organization.Many small nonprofits start with the heart, and my organization was no different. It’s a common story: someone sees a[…]

Do your board members feel responsible to one another?Responsible to the organization should be a given. But do the board members feel responsible to each other?On two recent occasions, I asked board members of very different organizations“What does it look like when you feel engaged?” “What actions do engaged board members take?”Both groups generated long lists of excellent responses. Perhaps you see yourself in these:  They are reflective / evaluative Work where help is needed […]

I was reading an article from the Harvard Business Review the other day, and could not help but make a connection between the way highly successful for-profit corporations and highly successful nonprofit organizations deal with change.Successful organizations usually embrace change. Less successful for-profits and nonprofits tend to fear change. They rarely - if ever - ask themselves,“Why are we doing it this way?” After all, if folks question the status quo, there just might be, oh[…]

The Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (DESEU) has successfully completed the requirements for Standards Basics recognition. DESEU participated in the Standards for Excellence program through the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement (DANA), a Standards for Excellence Replication Partner. “The DESEU prides itself on being a transparent, accountable and mission-focused organization,” says the DESEU’s Executive Director, Tony DePrima. “We decided to pursue the Standards for Excellence[…]

This article was originally published on the Grants Managers Network (GMN) Blog on March 1, 2017. Amy Coates Madsen, Director of the Standards for Excellence Institute®, is presenting at the GMN 12th Annual Conference on March 20, 2017 in Hollywood, CA. Click here to read more about her session, "Embracing the Best Practices: How Grantmakers Are Using the Standards for Excellence® in their Capacity Building and Due Diligence Efforts." As a foundation executive you have a multitude of nonprofits[…]

The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, a Maryland-based nonprofit, was recently reaccredited by the Standards for Excellence Institute®. The Delaplaine has been accredited under the Standards since 2003. Catherine Moreland, Delaplaine CEO, discusses the reaccreditation process in the Spring 2017 issue of Delaplaine Arts magazine. “The Standards have certainly informed and guided how we operate over the years,” states Moreland. “They provide a framework to help ensure that we never lose[…]

The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate several organizations who recently earned or renewed their accreditation under the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector: The Catholic Community of Saints Peter and Paul, Hoboken, NJ Coosa Riverkeeper, Birmingham, AL All Saints Catholic Academy, Naperville, IL Workshops, Inc. , Birmingham, ALThe Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate the following[…]

The National Catholic Reporter spoke with Msgr. Robert S. Meyer, pastor of the first Catholic parish to become Standards for Excellence accredited - the Catholic Community of Saints Peter and Paul - regarding their decision to earn accreditation."The goal is that prudent stewardship is a vehicle 'so you can pass it over to the next generation.'"Read the full article here.[…]