Management

CLASSIC ARTICLES - Your agency submits a grant proposal to a longtime funder and the program officer responds with high praise. There's just one hitch-she also wants you to redefine your mission. What's a board to do? Three experts offer their own advice.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - As a program officer with the Kellogg Foundation, Dr. Joel Orosz dispensed frank advice along with grants.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - As an alternative to grants, some foundations use a lending instrument known as the program-related investment (PRI).Here is some basic information about the kinds of activities that they support.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - Every group has a mission, but how do you distill that mission down to a single, concise paragraph? Communications expert Janel M. Radtke has some answers. She also gives several illustrations of mission statements that work.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - Recruiting good board members is a persistent challenge for community-based organizations. Grantsmanship Center trainer Judy Gooch suggests a dozen places to start looking for prospective members.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - Reducing your agency's budget is never simple. If you have little in the way of unjustified spending to eliminate, there are no easy targets. And imposing a wage or hiring freeze can diminish morale and adversely impact services.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - Many nonprofit groups assume that because their cause is noble, their employees should be willing to work for little money. But without the ability to attract and retain good workers, any enterprise is doomed to failure.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - Board conflicts can present some of the most formidable challenges that a nonprofit manager must face. They generally come in two forms--conflict between members of the board and conflict between board and staff.

CLASSIC ARTICLE - Most organizations assume that getting bigger means getting better. But if it isn't closely managed, organizational growth can actually end up diluting a nonprofit's effectiveness.