Transcript Document

Introduction
•
•
•
•
•
History of NCF and the Board
NCF’s Offerings: 1) Access; 2) Community
How members make use of NCF today
Donations and the renewal process
Roles with a Governance Board
NCF Mantra
NCF is a large group of people joining together to share costs,
doing something good for themselves and their community
NCF facilitates Vibrant Community Interactions
NCF: People helping people
NCF: Ottawa’s online Public Commons
NCF helps make the National Capital region
a better place to live
History of NCF
NCF surfs the wave
of internet success
(but falls off in 1995
and then treads water)
Started in 1991, Underway in Late 1992
• The National Capital Freenet project was started in
November 1991 when George Frajkor and Jay
Weston of the Carleton University School of
Journalism approached Dave Sutherland, Director of
Carleton's Computing and Communications Services
with information about the Cleveland FreeNet.
• The founding National Capital Freenet Organizing
Committee was comprised of: Dave Sutherland, June
Hacker, Tambrae Knapp, George Frajkor, Jay
Weston, Warren Thorngate, Ross Mutton, Robin
Allardyce of Carleton University and Richard Mount
of Mount, Yemensky, Daigle, Barristers and
Solicitors.
Based on FreeNet software by “FreePort”
Details are fuzzy, but apparently:
• FreeNet menu system software was developed by University of
Toronto co-op students for Case-Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, Ohio
• “FreePort” was incorporated in the US as a company to hold the
property rights to the FreeNet software and to control the product and
name
• NCF purchased the FreeNet menu system software for US$600 and
installed it on UNIX machines
• NCF organized itself to use (not develop) FreeNet community network
software
– Warren Thorngate (Carleton psych prof) ran weekly classes to teach
people how to be “information providers” (menu builders)
– Staffing plans included project administrator, a systems administrator and
five part-time personnel: two subscription and operation assistants, a
writer/trainer, a researcher and an accountant
Remember back in 1993?
•
•
•
•
DOS, Windows 3.1, and 486 processors
Windows 95 was two years away
Email limited to academics and hi-tech workers
2400 baud modems were common, and 9600
modems were ‘high speed’
• No “ISPs” back then; “internet, what’s that?”
Catching the Wave (1993)
15000
*
14000
*
13000
*
12000
*
11000
Accounts
*
10000
*
9000
*
8000
*
7000
*
6000
*
5000
*
4000
*
3000
*
2000
*
1000 *
_________________________________________________________
jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec jan feb
(1993)
(1994)
Catching the Wave (cont’d)
• 2400/9600 (“high speed”) modems
• FreeNet was a miniature, self-contained version of the
modern-day internet
– Content organized into categories by the ‘Main Menu’ (now Yahoo
does that for the modern internet)
– Organizational content in FreePort “menus” (now organizations
have content in web sites)
•
•
•
•
•
Publicized by Ottawa Citizen (for free)
Funded by start-up grants
Hands-on board (founders), with no staff
High-skill volunteers (eg., s/w development)
15,000 accounts by end of 1993
Surfing the Wave: Heady Times (1994)
•
•
•
•
•
9600/14.4K modems
Publicized by Ottawa Citizen (for free)
Staff: Executive director, Office manager, Fund-raiser
Grants and donation drives
Interest groups stake claims in this New World
–
–
–
–
–
Will every city, town, and village run its own FreeNet?
Language rights, gay rights, commercial rights, privacy rights
Jostling for menu position (today, jostling over domain name)
Policies developed with eye toward national/global significance
FreePort threatens NCF with a lawsuit over use of FreeNet name
• 60,000 (?) accounts by end of 1994
• ED brings in Boardwalk board development seminar;
Board sees logic of governance model (but still operating
as ‘management by committee’ with 15 bosses). No
matter, it’s hard to fail in this phase!
Wipe-out! WWW & ISPs Arrive (1995-96)
• 14.4K/28.8K modems
• Arrival of Windows 95, WWW browsers, and PPP
– “World wide web” and “internet” become household words
– But NCF is text-based FreePort menus
• City-based comnets not seen as the future; global, Yahoo
• Ottawa Citizen leaves NCF; starts its own site and ISP
• NCF’s easy ride on the “wave of success” is over
–
–
–
–
NCF fails to catch the next wave (PPP, WWW)
FreeNets failing across the country
Web-based comnets are soaring (“TheGlobe.com” hits $600M)
NCF faces shortfalls
• Membership levels decline
• Grants dry up; fund-raiser (a.k.a. grant getter) let go
Survival (1997-2000)
•
•
•
•
14.4K/33.6K modems
NCF belatedly adds PPP access service and Lynx (text web browser)
Account renewal program averts funding disaster
Insufficient resources to keep up with the times
– NCF no longer trendy; NCF never organized to do development
– Volunteers dry up
• Tough times test management’s skill to even keep NCF afloat
• Membership levels decline steadily
• Shortfalls loom; to avoid lay-offs leading to a death spiral, NCF seeks
contract revenue (but further reducing NCF’s ability to keep up with
internet services)
• Cleveland FreeNet packs it in; FreePort corporation is long gone
• Communication problems lead to crisis (Oct-Dec 2000)
– Surprise termination of Executive Director contract
– Split board, each calling for resignation of other
Reorganization (2001)
• Board strengthened substantially at March 2000 AGM;
governance model begins functioning after ED on-board
• Core staff in place (ED, system admin, office admin)
• Membership levels begin to steady at 7,000 (but at half of
sustainability level)
• Contracts with potential synergies pursued:
– HRDC thin client
– SmartCapital webmail, extended access, thin client
• NCF still has a good reputation (from the 1994 days) in
certain camps
– Tens of thousands of departed members may disagree
– Points awarded for survival, longevity, and good intentions
Thousands of $
History of Revenue, Weekly Usage, Staff
450
14000
400
12000
350
10000
300
Other
Contracts
250
8000
200
6000
Grants
Fundraising
Donations
150
4000
100
Users
2000
50
0
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Exec Director
Lisa
Fundraiser
Ian
Gordon
Sys Admin
Admin Coord/Mgr
Chris
Ian
Kyla
Roy
Yannick
Sheila
Andre
Not shown: Value of
many non-cash donations
1995: WWW, ISPs
1996: FreePlan, PPP
1997: Renewal program
(amortization in ‘other’)
(unique users excl Mitel?)
NCF’s Offerings
Dial-up Access
Online Community
Internet Services
NCF’s Access Offerings
NCF offers dial-up access (text or PPP)
Dial-Up Access method
Text
1993
2002
Direct connection to NCF
(user’s computer is ‘dumb’
and NCF’s computer runs
applications)
Direct connection to NCF
(user’s computer is ‘dumb’
and NCF’s computer runs
applications)
PPP
(didn’t exist in 1993)
Direct connection to the Internet
(user’s computer runs internet
client tools, eg., browser, email)
Access is valuable, and is the foundation of NCF’s ability to earn
donations.
Dec 1996
2001-Dec
2001-Sep
2001-Jun
2001-Mar
2000-Dec
2000-Sep
2000-Jun
2000-Mar
1999-Dec
1999-Sep
1999-Jun
1999-Mar
1998-Dec
1998-Sep
1998-Jun
1998-Mar
1997-Dec
1997-Sep
1997-Jun
1997-Mar
1996-Dec
1996-Sep
1996-Jun
1996-Mar
1995-Dec
1995-Sep
1995-Jun
1995-Mar
Percentage of m em bers
Use of Text Access is Fading
FreePort Usage Vs PPP
120%
100%
80%
60%
FreePort-menu-system
PPP-login
40%
20%
0%
Dec 2001
Characteristics of NCF’s Dial-up Service (theory)
(Marketing story)
“NCF's dial-up features:
 access to all the usual PPP-based internet services, plus special text
services ('FreePort') not offered elsewhere
 generally 33.6K baud rate
 generally available (busy signals may be encountered occasionally,
requiring a few redials to get service)
 no connection limit, unless there is congestion, in which case,
guaranteed at least 2 peak hours per day and unlimited non-peak hours
 people to answer questions online, and (limited) help by phone
“Thousands of people find NCF's 33.6K modems quite adequate for their
everyday email and web browsing.”
Characteristics of NCF’s Dial-up Service (reality)
(Problems need to be corrected)
• You can dial the same number and get different (confusing) responses
(depending on which terminal server answers)
• … if you can get a response at all (busy or endless ring)
• 14.4K (OK for email) to 28.8K (adequate for browsing?)
• Modem-sharing system isn’t functioning for all ports
• NCF has a modem-testing system to obtain service quality data
• Flakey (see modem test results)
• “Your experience may vary”
• People using NCF and accustomed to its quirks obviously find it
tolerable, but it’s a barrier for new members and contributes to attrition
Recent Modem Test Results (520-9013)
Recent Modem Test Results (520-1135)
NCF’s Online Community Offerings
Presentation method
Text
1993 FreePort community services
2002 FreePort community services
Web
(web didn’t exist in 1993)
No community services (can’t
even look up an NCF user ID)
At NCF, ‘community interaction’ is still limited to the text world (five years
after the world went WWW, NCF still has no web-based online community
services software).
NCF needs to buy and install web-based Online Community software.
Refer to
http://builder.cnet.com/webbuilding/pages/Authoring/CommunityTools/
for a short, readable overview of what’s available and widely used.
Online Community Software: Make or Buy?
• In 1992, FreePort online community software package was
purchased and then enhanced by a few industrial-strength
software development volunteers (NCF had attraction
power in 1994). Enhancements may be why NCF survived
while other FreePort-based FreeNets failed.
• Recommend doing the same now (but don’t count on help)
• Find a package that is:
– Full-featured as can be afforded (community is a big part of NCF’s
purpose)
– If it’s based on low/no-cost open technologies easily installed at
home (eg., Apache, MySQL/Postgress, PHP), more likely to attract
enhancement by volunteer developers
• Don’t contract development of homebrews (life-cycle cost
is too expensive)
How people use NCF today
7,000 members
Useful, low-cost ISP
Pockets of ‘community interaction’
Usage: FreePort community services
Items in the period 2002 Feb27-Mar6, ranked by number of users
All
----Uses---30320 (32%)
20195 (21%)
10125 (11%)
7691 (8%)
20446 (21%)
2881 (3%)
844 (1%)
548 (1%)
629 (1%)
248 (0%)
468 (0%)
173 (0%)
87 (0%)
98 (0%)
81 (0%)
178 (0%)
27 (0%)
179 (0%)
122 (0%)
Guest
Uses
1%
0%
2%
0%
1%
6%
0%
1%
4%
3%
0%
2%
8%
5%
0%
0%
30%
3%
0%
--Registered Users-Uses Users Ratio Admin
99% 2754 10.9
1%
100% 1849 10.9
0%
98% 1126 8.8
1%
100%
848 9.1
0%
99%
601 33.7
1%
94%
433 6.3
1%
100%
218 3.9
1%
99%
155 3.5
4%
96%
94 6.4
1%
97%
60 4.0
0%
100%
54 8.6
9%
98%
32 5.3
3%
92%
30 2.7
13%
95%
29 3.2
7%
100%
25 3.2
0%
100%
21 8.5
5%
70%
14 1.4
0%
97%
12 14.5
0%
100%
11 11.1
0%
Item/Service----Service: FreePort+PPP
Service: PPP-login
Service: FreePort-menu-system
Service: mail-mr
Service: nr/mgnr-newsreader
menu.main
Service: mail-send
Service: lynx-web-browser
Service: who
Service: time-remaining
Service: mail-BBelm
Service: telnet-other
Service: userInfo--get-from-name
Service: userInfo--get-from-ID
Service: irc
Service: mail-from
Service: help-menu
Service: telnet-anywhere
Service: telnet-comnet
Usage: FreePort, what’s first
First selection on Tuesday, March 05:
823 55%
127 8%
78 5%
42
3%
42
36
3%
2%
34
30
22
20
2%
2%
1%
1%
14
1%
14
1%
14
8
1%
1%
Service: mail-mr
FreePort-menu-system-exit
Communications Centre
SEEN_MOTD Read your favourite newsgroups (FavList)
NCF and Usenet Newsgroups
SEEN_MOTD Read your favourite newsgroups (FavList)
Service: mail-BBelm
E-Mail
See who your new e-mail is from
Service: lynx-web-browser
Service: mail-send
Service: mail-from
Buy and Sell area
Computing buy & sell (ott.forsale.computing) >>>
World Wide Web (WWW)
NCF launch pad to the web using LYNX 2.5FM-ncf browser
NCF and Usenet Newsgroups
Read the newsgroup of your choice <?>
Service: telnet-anywhere
FreeMail: Internet e-mail on NCF
MOVE your FreeMail into your mailbox (deletes it from FreeMail)
Usage: Newsgroups served by NCF
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Count
Newsgroup
3162
2010
1306
1168
1077
942
812
663
611
605
603
600
576
569
535
523
474
434
412
400
ott.forsale.computing
soc.culture.scottish
ott.jobs
ott.general
rec.video.desktop
ott.forsale.other
soc.genealogy.britain
ncf.sigs.religion.christian
ncf.agm2002.general
alt.obituaries
comp.unix.solaris
ncf.general
soc.culture.indian
rec.video.production
comp.sys.mac.system
comp.lang.perl.misc
soc.men
rec.travel.europe
ncf.admin
alt.gossip.celebrities
March 5, 2002 (to all users of NNTP)
Web Pages Hosted By NCF
• Three types: NCF itself, Personal, and Organizational
• NCF’s popular pages are personal pages
• NCF itself
– Portal page, office pages, AGM and Board pages, etc
– NCF-specific Help pages (non-specific help elsewhere)
• Personal
–
–
–
–
Approximately 10% of members have web pages (“home pages”)
Most are less than 250K bytes
Largest is 43M bytes
Some ‘personal’ pages are businesses run by the member
• Organizational
– One or two hundred?
NCF Portal Page
NCF’s Most-served Homepages: 1st
Contact address is in Florida
NCF’s Most-served Homepages: 2nd
“This site contains stories in which you will find depictions of violence and explicit sexual
content”
- Andrew Nellis (a former NCF board member)
NCF’s Most-served Homepages: 3rd
Richard Webb’s directory of local businesses
NCF’s Most-served Homepages: 4th
All about sharks!
NCF’s Most-served Homepages: 5th
Film reviews, film facts
NCF’s Most-served Homepages: 6th
“weblog” of Mark Woods of Perth
Sample Organizational Page
Sample Organizational Page: 2nd
Sample Organizational Page: 3rd
Internet Congestion at Carleton
Max’ed out, meaning
unacceptably poor
response time for
users waiting for web
pages
Acceptable during
summer and when
Carleton students
are on holiday.
Donations and renewals
Keeping NCF afloat, and independent
How Donations & Renewal Work
• NCF issues annual guidance to members about what would be
a reasonable donation, explaining:
– Enough to cover expected expenses
– Plus some extra to cover people who find NCF difficult to afford
• If there is an impending shortfall, NCF issues an appeal for
special donations (members have always risen to the occasion)
• Each year, members are asked to renew their account, because
– NCF needs to know if people are no longer interested (for
housekeeping)
– It is a way to trigger awareness of NCF’s need for donations
– Front-end loaded (Jan-Jun). Expect a big drop in Jul-Dec.
• NCF must always do things to earn donor support
– Good deeds
– Good services
• … and then must ask for support (donations don’t just happen)
Why Donations are the Way to Go
Less wasted administrative expenses
Attracts sponsors
Differentiates NCF (eg., from ISPs)
Resonates with NCF’s mission and raison d’etre
Dignified accommodation of low-income people
Simple and it works
Low-risk? Members have always come to NCF’s aid
Downsides
– Some donors are offended by freeloaders (“I pull my weight”)
– Some people are offended by ambiguous/disingenuous messaging
(“Free to use, not free to run”; “Free”Net)
NCF Donation Guidance in Context
$700
$600
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
TV
Citizen
Phone
Per year
$275 Sympatico dial-up (100 hrs/month max)
$522 Sympatico DSL modem
$621 Rogers Cable modem
Cable
DSL
ISP
NCF
$0
$600 Typical Bell phone ($305 base rate)
$237 The Ottawa Citizen
$453 Typical cable TV ($232 base rate)
Compared with NCF’s donation guidance of $60/year
Donations in 2001 + Jan/Feb 2002
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1
5
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 125 150 200 400 500
Recommended donation is $60. Average (of those ~50% who donate) is $53
65% of the 2778 users last week were donors in the last year
48% of the 3691 donors last year used the system last week (20% FreePort, 28% PPP)
PPP users: Average donation = $57 (max $550), sum = $59K
FreePort: Average donation = $59 (max $380), sum = $44K
Non-users: Average donation = $49 (max $280), sum = $94K
Average Donation by Age Group
Average Donation
(Excluding non-donors)
$70.00
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$30.00
$20.00
$10.00
$0x
1x
2x
3x
4x
5x
6x
7x
Age (decade)
0x and 9x groups have insignificant number of members
8x
9x
Average Donation by Age Group
Donations by Age Group
(including non-donors)
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$30.00
$20.00
$10.00
$0.00
0x
1x
2x
3x
4x
5x
6x
7x
8x
0x and 9x groups have insignificant number of members
9x
95 to 99
90 to 94
85 to 89
80 to 84
75 to 79
70 to 74
65 to 69
60 to 64
55 to 59
50 to 54
45 to 49
40 to 44
35 to 39
30 to 34
25 to 29
20 to 24
15 to 19
10 to 14
5 to 9
0 to 4
Age of NCF Members
Distribution by Age
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Renewal Received & Processed (vs target date)
350
300
200
150
100
50
Days after due date
The arrows indicate when renewal request letters are sent (target date is day zero)
Nov 1997
98
92
86
80
74
68
62
56
50
44
38
32
26
20
14
8
2
-4
-1
0
-1
6
-2
2
-2
8
0
-3
4
Frequency
250
Expenses
400000
350000
300000
250000
Other
200000
Telecom
150000
100000
50000
0
1993
Much that is
donated does
not appear in
the financial
statements:
1994
•
•
•
•
•
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
24-hour physical security and monitoring; disk back-ups
Climate-controlled fire-protected computer room
Office space (though not ideal)
Some donations are included as ‘amortized expenses’
Software development, board members, office help, etc (volunteers)
Thousands of $
Revenue History after Renewal Program
450
14000
400
12000
350
10000
300
Other
Contracts
250
8000
200
6000
Grants
Fundraising
Donations
150
4000
100
2000
50
0
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Shift from fund-raising & donor drives to renewal program
Note shortfall in 1998 and donation appeal, then on target
in later years. Organization becomes more independent and
efficient.
Users
“Sweet Spot” (sustainable operation)
• Minimum operational functions:
– System Administration (technical skills)
– Office Administration (organizational & mgmt skills)
– Executive Director (mgmt & partnership skills)
• It is presumed that:
– These functions are best filled by three different people
– Contracting (for ‘fractional people’) is non-optimal
• Thus minimum staff is three people
• At existing donation levels per person, it takes at least
~12,000 people to support three staff (currently ~7,000
people)
• Therefore NCF must arrange to support 12,000+ members
Getting to Sustainable Operation
•
•
•
•
Sustainable operation with three staff requires ~12,000+ members
Donations per member are reasonable – but need more members
Total modem capacity is the bottleneck; only supports 7,000 now
Modem capacity is Number of Modems x Number of People Willing to
Happily Share a Modem
• External (market) factors and services offered by NCF determine
Willingness to Happily Share (and donate)
– Upgrading modems (eg., from 14.4K) would increase usage per modem
• Best plan to attract 12,000 donors is probably to increase the number of
modems
• New capacity would probably be noticed without marketing
• Would people donate for something other than modem access? Ask
Yahoo, etc
Governance
The Board Governs,
the Management Manages.
Play your position.
Board Members Collectively Oversee NCF
Recruitment text:
• Prospective board members come from all walks of life and
bring varied experience to the Board.
• The ability to understand financial reporting and to make
business decisions is essential
• Often board members have subject-area expertise, such as
experience in management or law.
• Collectively, NCF's eleven board members have the experience
to recognize and approve plans and strategies that will move
NCF toward its goals.
• NCF has a 'governance' board, where day-to-day operations are
handled by staff and volunteers, under the management of the
Executive Director. The Board sets the mission, vision,
principles, and broad policies that guide the Executive Director.
The Board is responsible for employing and evaluating the
Executive Director, and for monitoring macro parameters that
measure the operation of NCF.
Ten Basic Responsibilities of the Board
• Determine the organization's mission and purposes
• Select the executive staff through an appropriate process
• Provide ongoing support and guidance for the executive; review
his/her performance
• Ensure effective organizational planning
• Ensure adequate resources
• Manage resources effectively (the buck stops with them, ultimately)
• Determine and monitor the organization's programs and services
• Enhance the organization's public image
• Serve as a court of appeal
• Assess its own performance
From "Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards," published by the
National Center for Nonprofit Boards, Washington, DC 20036.
http://www.ncnb.org
Roles in a Governance-Model Organization
BOARD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
PEOPLE WORKING WITH
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
(staff and volunteers)
Is accountable and legally
responsible for the organization
Manages day-to-day operations
of the organization
Carries out the work of the
organization
Promotes the organization in the
community (eg., by using personal
connections, and by explaining the
vision, traditions, and mission)
Seeks community support and
understanding
Represents ('interfaces') the
organization to the community
Perceives changes in the
community and adjusts NCF vision
and mission to keep NCF relevant
Identifies needs the
organization can meet
Understands the clients and the
organization
Is steward of the long-term vision,
mission, and traditions
Drafts long and short term
plans consistent with the longterm vision
Contributes concise and accurate
information to the planning process
Establishes a structure to carry out
the Board's work (committees,
consultants, etc)
Is an ex-officio member of all
Board committees
Assists the Board committees with
their work
Sets personnel policy; hires,
counsels and evaluates Executive
Director
Implements personnel policy;
hires, supervises and evaluates
staff
Accepts conditions of work as
outlines in personnel policy; works
as a profession in the team
(adapted from material provided by BOARDWALK: Board Development for Community Organizations, a
volunteer Board Development program of the United Way Ottawa-Carleton, in co-operation with the
YMCA-YWCA of Ottawa)
Organizational Roles (cont’d)
BOARD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
PEOPLE WORKING WITH
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
(staff and volunteers)
Approves the budget and monitors
the financial integrity of the
organization
Prepares budget with Treasurer
and manages the money
Identifies resource needs and
accounts for expenditures
Monitors policies
Formulates/recommends
policies
Identifies policy gaps and
implementation pitfalls
Ensures procedures are established
to implement policy
Directs policy implementation
and administers the
organization
Makes decisions within the policy
guidelines and established
procedures
Serves as a review panel, providing
expertise, wisdom and an objective
viewpoint
Provides professional expertise
and objective reactions to the
Board
Provides professional expertise and
objective reactions to the Board and
Executive Director
Maintains and builds Board
Supports the Board in fulfilling
its role
Stimulates and educates the Board
Monitors the organization's
operations
Reports to the Board and acts
as liaison between Board and
staff
Maintains required records and
reports on program implementation
Evaluates the organization's
operations
Evaluates program
achievements
Provides feedback on program
impact
(adapted from material provided by BOARDWALK: Board Development for Community Organizations, a
volunteer Board Development program of the United Way Ottawa-Carleton, in co-operation with the
YMCA-YWCA of Ottawa)
Relationship between Board and Staff
• Board primarily governs, and staff primarily manages
– Board provides counsel to management and should not get involved in the
day-to-day affairs of the organization
• Directors do not have power or authority individually
– At times, individual board members may become involved extensively
with staff but must keep the full board informed
(From http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/03/16.html)
Relationship with Members
• Management, not the Board, should be the center of member attention
– Members should complain about operations to the ED, not the board
• Board generally cannot directly address immediate member concerns
– Board should ensure the ED resolves complaints (thus earns attention)
• ED must actively address member issues (that’s the ED’s job)
– If ED cannot solve member concerns, members should complain to the
Board (not about the operational issue, but about the lack of response)
• Board members should be careful not to undermine Management
– Don’t undermine the ED by attracting (or accepting) attention. If Board is
willing to speak with members, why should they speak with Management?
– Take your cue from corporate and not-for-profit boards – low public
profile. Help ED with partners, but not with members.
– If complaints are not being resolved by ED, find out why, don’t address
operational problems yourself (or at least not visibly to members).
Helpful Adjuncts to a Governance Board
• To avoid distracting from and compromising
governance functions, sometimes it is useful to
create honorary and/or advisory boards as adjuncts
– ‘Board’ designation is simply an honorific
– People are selected by governance board for their
appropriateness
• Honorary board
– People willing to help by lending their name (not their effort)
– The more honorary board members, the merrier
– No governance or management involvement
• Advisory board
– Experts/experienced people willing to assist and coach
management
– Small number of advisory board members, and as required
– No governance involvement (governance board arbitrates)
Governing by Use of Key Indicators
• Management should be governed by a mission and measured by key
indicators.
• Strategy document produced by Management helps ensure good
understanding between Mgmt and Board/members/supporters
• Performance is measured by key indicators
– Usually revenue
– Donations from members, Number of members
• Key indicators keep the relationship clean, impersonal, and effective
– Everyone knows how it’s going without having to be told or surprised
– No hard feelings – it’s business
• Helps resist the temptation to micro-manage
• Stick to key indicators
– Many indicators becomes no indicators
– Becomes management by committee
– Reduces accountability (if the Board manages, what’s left for ED to do?)
Why Member Donations is a Key Indicator
A good key indicator is one that:
• Reflects the health and success of the organization wrt its mission
• Induces all the right behaviours from management (without having to
specify those behaviours)
• Is easily measured and obvious to everyone
• Is difficult to accomplish in undesired ways
“Donations from members” is a great key indicator because:
• Donations must be earned by good service/performance
– People only donate if they are happy with NCF
• Making people happy with NCF requires doing many things well
• Donations are NCF’s lifeblood
Thus donations from members is a perfect direct and indirect measure of
NCF’s operational performance
• Other revenue is excluded because NCF wants to be dependent only on
its members (and be accountable to only its members)
Doing the board job diligently
• Always do what a “reasonably prudent person” would do.
– Ask for data that you need; it’s your right and obligation.
• When approving a financial statement, the Board says “we say to
members that these statements are correct”
– How do you know the statements are correct?
– What would a reasonably prudent person do?
– Advice: Set up a finance committee with qualified members. Know in
detail how the money is spent.
• Checks and balances are the basis of good accountability; be sure they
exist.
– It has evolved in reaction to centuries of scams and fraud
– Good check-and-balances are like good fences (good neighbours)
– Be proactive; waiting for cause creates suspicion and ill-will, but being
proactive creates respect. It’s about doing the job expected of the board
and creating an organization with obvious high integrity
• Accepting responsibility earns respect in the community
– Respect is earned by operating with diligence and by organizational
success
Board Calendar
Jan
AGM motions
Jul
Mission/direction conclusion
Feb
Annual reports and AGM prep
Aug Policy review
Mar
Orient new board members
Sep
Strategy
Apr
Orientation: Briefing on
operations
Oct
Strategy
May Select officers and file info with
govt
Mission/direction brainstorming
Nov ED performance review
Strategy conclusion
Budget discussion
Jun
Dec
Mission/direction discussion
Mission review (board)
Strategy & budget review (mgmt)
Policy proposals (mgmt)
Budget conclusion
Nomination committee
Succession planning (board)
AGM (board)
Advice & Observations
• Governance Board governs:
– Align with members and community, not with management
– Set your own agenda (plan instead of react/respond to mgmt and
events)
– Know where the money is going (liability)
– Ask for information you need (to act “reasonably prudent”)
– Having more than one/two key indicators is like having no key
indicators
• Management ED manages:
– Keep the Board informed (don’t hide problems or delay discussion)
– Be open and honest (discuss, not ignore, unwanted Board
decisions)
– Effective and productive: Build team spirit and get things done
– Serve the members (not institutions, corporations, advertisers, etc)
• Volunteering is an opportunity (not a ‘right’)
• Members-owners are also customers and can walk away (and
have)
– “No one has ever won an argument with a customer” (German)
– “The customer is always right” (American)
Advice & Observations (cont’d)
• As NCF becomes successful, interest groups will
want to co-opt NCF
– Everyone can *use* NCF but no one interest group should
run NCF
– Keep NCF-admin pages clear of non-NCF matters, and give
equal treatment to everyone in indices, etc
• Some members may act like customers, not owners
– Vote for “free goodies”
– “Democracy” is best with fully-informed voters
• Becoming informed takes work; what’s the motivation? What
stake?
• Who should vote? (NCF is worth $millions?)
– Voting age
– Locals
– Authenticated (one vote)
Useful Resources
Internet Nonprofit Center (http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/)
(excellent info on governance and organization)
Ottawa Volunteer Center
(excellent info on creating vibrant volunteer programs)
NCF Board manual
(but needs to be updated)
People at Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) (http://www.piac.ca)
(informal legal advice)
“Duties of Directors” at http://www.osler.com/ (look under Publications)
(good review of the duties of directors of Canadian corporations)
Board members, Members of NCF, and the Citizens of Ottawa
(just need to be asked)
NCF is poised for Success! (2002)
• Contracts are coming to fruition
– HRDC thin client
– SmartCapital webmail, extended access, thin client
• Online Community software packages are available
– NCF has been running FreePort since the days of Windows 3.1
– Hardware has been upgraded – now time to upgrade community network
software?
– WebCrossing, CommunityZero, etc
• Opportunity to establish a well-structured organization
– Modern infrastructure (ISP-like, including office systems)
– Proven organizational models/methods and volunteer programs
• With all its advantages, NCF ought to be able to operate as well or better
than benchmark for-profit organizations
– But intentionally two or three years behind, in terms of ISP technology
• Go for it! More than one million National Capital residents await! NCF
helps make the National Capital region a better place to live.