Carole Wagner Vallianos is a third-term member of the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters of the United States from the state of California. A lawyer, businesswoman and experienced public administrator, in this article she outlines some of the fundamental principles of managing a nonprofit organization.




The most critical component of an NGO or nonprofit organization is its mission. What does the organization want to accomplish? Successful management of a nonprofit organization is impossible without using the guiding light of the mission to steer and stay on course.

Nothing is more important than being faithful to the organization's mission. It is so easy to get off track: to find money to do something else to keep the organization afloat; to try to do everything, yet accomplish nothing; or to do related projects that dilute the organization's efforts. The supreme role of management in a nonprofit is to keep the organization on course.

To give concrete information about the structure, funding and marketing of a nonprofit organization is difficult unless one looks at a specific example. There is no finer illustration of a membership-based, grassroots organization than the League of Women Voters.

THE LEAGUE AS A MODEL

The League of Women Voters was formed in 1920 as a result of the successful women's suffrage movement. From the spirit of that movement came the notion that a nonpartisan organization could provide political education to newly enfranchised women. The League was founded on the belief that education would contribute to the political growth of the female citizen to insure the success of democratic ideals. Although the League was first conceptualized as a women's organization, it was really about all citizens. Even today, although most members are feminists, generally, the League is not thought to be a feminist organization.

The mission of the League of Women Voters is to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. This is the star by which the board of directors steers its course. A copy of the mission statement is given to each board member, and it remains one of the first things that is read before any action is taken. The question asked before undertaking any task on the League's behalf is: Does this project or task help accomplish this mission?

From the start, individual members of the League were encouraged to participate in partisan, party politics. The early leaders correctly believed that women could not understand the political arena if they were not involved in a political party of their own choosing. Yet the League itself was and is a nonpartisan organization. As an organization, it never supports or opposes a candidate or party. It does, however, support or oppose issues that members have studied and reached agreement upon. Thus, although it is political, it is nonpartisan.

GRASSROOTS STRUCTURE

The League has a grassroots structure that is organized around units of government. That is, there are 1,000 local Leagues organized around town or city governments, 50 state Leagues organized around 50 state governments, and one national League organized around the federal government. These are distinct, legally separate organizations, which are affiliated through the legal structure of the national association. At the local or grassroots level, members decide which issues should be studied. That decision filters up to the national organization, rather than a directive from the top down. The national organization then carries out the will of its members, who make a final decision on issues at a biennial convention.

The underlying positions upon which the League acts are studied first by local members through the consensus process. The League has a good reputation for studying the issues. It does not draw conclusions on any issue until both sides are heard and members reach agreement as a group. It is only then that League members may lobby the federal government on that issue. It is often a slow process that may take up to two years, yet one of the reasons for the League's reputation is its thoughtful positions. Members want to be part of shaping policy and legislation, giving the organization's positions on issues early in the process so their voice can be included in the final analysis. Members reach out to both political parties to work out their own differences in legislation early, before each side has had a chance to harden its positions. This usually includes urging legislators to consider the League's position.

COALITION BUILDING

Getting this position heard and then acted upon by a member of Congress or the president is often difficult, even for an organization with a long, strong history. With limited resources, the League, as well as other groups, has found it most effective to work in coalitions. The opportunity to bring additional voices to an issue may strengthen an organization's position, both in sheer numbers of people and the combined strength of conviction, as well as in the diversity that the groups in a coalition bring together as a unified whole.

But how is the decision to collaborate with another group made? What criteria are used? How will the organization's reputation be safeguarded?

Coalitions present many challenges because one organization is no longer in complete control of the action. Certainly, it is important to be cautious so as not to damage your group's reputation. However, if you design guidelines and carefully follow them, the benefits of working in coalitions far outweigh the negative aspects.

The League has written guidelines on coalition building, which are distributed to all board members and others in the organization, as are all the League's policies. The following criteria are incorporated into the decision-making process about whether to collaborate with another organization:

The coalition's major issues should mesh with League positions on issues;

Major goals of the coalition should be in accord with adopted priorities or the goals should be ones the League expects to work to achieve in the future;

Coalition activities should bring added effectiveness to the overall efforts to achieve the League's goals;

Members of the coalition should be organizations with which the League can work effectively. The League should have confidence in the leadership of the coalition and may itself serve in a leadership capacity;

Expenditures for work with the coalition, including staff and volunteer time, as well as cash and in-kind expenses which are donated by the volunteer, should be worth the investment.

Many issues are addressed in these guidelines, but they will never be comprehensive and cover all situations. These are merely guidelines and not absolute strictures. Yet they do provide both committees and board members with some method of reaching a decision.

BOARD STRUCTURE

How is an organization's board of directors structured? For some organizations, the executive board is the organization. It makes policy, hires staff or actually does the work as volunteers. For others, the executive board makes policy and sets direction for a membership organization. In a true grassroots organization such as the League of Women Voters, members provide more direction and guidance to the board.

At the national level, the League's 14-member board of directors meets five times a year in Washington, D.C., where its national headquarters is located, although its board members live throughout the United States. Unlike most business corporations, nonprofit organizations such as the League generally have unpaid board members. Its board is composed of volunteer members who are elected during its biennial convention. Although each member is an unpaid volunteer, expenses to carry out the duties of a board member are reimbursed, including travel and lodging for board meetings.

In the past, board members' duties were defined by general topics, such as membership or environmental policy. Today, in keeping with the latest thoughts on nonprofit management, those roles are defined around specific goals and objectives. Thus, members might choose an environmental issue and a governmental issue as priorities for the biennium. Board members' duties are defined to meet those goals.

The League's board at the national level uses a committee system to get through its workload in a reasonable, timely way. Board meetings are three days long, usually over a weekend. Day one is spent entirely in committees, of which each board member usually serves on at least three.

Committees are important so that issues can be discussed in smaller groups. The arguments for and against a situation can be discussed fully and a course of action can be planned. Notes can be kept during a committee meeting by a staff member or volunteer and distributed to the full board.

Days two and three are spent in full board meetings discussing issues that came up in the committees. By the time it reaches the full board, an issue has been framed, the ramifications discussed and a recommendation of action made by the committee to the full board.

Although this is a large organization, the different memberships of the League run the gamut from very large at the state level (11,000) to large cities (800) to very small cities (20). Membership dues are kept to a modest amount and the local League pays a per member assessment to its own state organization as well as to the national one.

MARKETING THE MESSAGE

The importance of the organization getting its own message to the public cannot be emphasized too strongly. If you don't get your message out, it may be told in a way that ultimately hurts your organization.

Marketing an organization can often be a frustrating, difficult experience if the group relies on word of mouth to carry its message. As with every other aspect of a nonprofit organization, there should be a plan of action. Marketing can involve membership growth, funding opportunities and public relations efforts meant to publicize the organization, but no matter why or how it is defined, that plan of action must be met. A plan must carry a goal, some measurable objectives and strategies to reach them.

One example of successful marketing concerns the League's sponsorship of the first televised debate for presidential elections in 1960 -- the Kennedy-Nixon debate. The public still believes the League sponsors presidential debates at the national level, even though it has not done so for about 10 years! Nonetheless, the League gets the "credit," which underscores how long an organization's reputation for an activity -- good or bad -- remains in the public's mind.

STRATEGIC PLANNING AND FUNDRAISING

There is money available to support nonprofits from foundations worldwide, quasi-governmental organizations and some governments. But nonprofit organizations must have a professional approach even if they are not yet in the professional stage. Where do they begin? Strategic planning must be the first task.

Strategic planning is a method of meeting a nonprofit organization's ultimate goal. Resources -- whether they are money, volunteers or time -- are limited no matter how large or small the organization. Strategic planning is a way of using all your resources in the most efficient, most effective way. First you must ask yourselves these questions:

What is the mission of the organization?

What is the goal of the organization?

What are the strategies?

What quantifiable, measurable objectives have been planned to reach these goals?

What is the budget for each of these objectives?

It is only in asking and answering each of these questions that you will have a strategic plan. This is not something that can be done in just a few hours, however. It requires a group of individuals who must discuss, hone and sharpen the finer points until they have come up with a plan. With this meshing of objectives comes the key to obtaining funding.

To show an example of how the League has applied a strategic plan in gaining funding, let's look at one of its two arms: the League of Women Voters Education Fund.

The League looked at the Education Fund's mission and determined that it was still relevant and appropriate to the organization, yet recently had not performed up to expectations. With the help of an outside facilitator to draw up a strategic plan, it was determined that the Education Fund's mission should reflect its goal of encouraging the informed and active participation of citizens in government -- a goal developed to empower citizens to shape better communities worldwide.

Task forces composed of both grassroots and board members, staff and off-board members from around the nation were formed to develop strategies for reaching this goal. Over a three-year period, this collaboration developed five strategies that will guide the League's citizen education work through the year 2000 and beyond.

The five strategies are:

Enabling people to seek positive solutions to public-policy issues for the common good. The League developed a Grassroots Internship Program offering courses in community dialogue, processes, grassroots-intern training, and civics awareness programs.

Becoming the leading organization to promote citizen participation through diversity in programs and participation. Through partnerships with a diverse group of other organizations, the League established national standards on diversity for its programs and participation, and the development of model workshops and community forums for building political participation with diverse audiences.

Encouraging women and minorities to run for office to create an elected body that reflects the diversity of the community. The Running and Winning Program encourages women and minorities to run for office at all levels of government and helps to prepare them for the job after they have been elected by ensuring that elected officials are effective officeholders.

Leading the effort to achieve and maintain an 85-percent voter turnout at the polls. The League focuses on groups that historically have been under-represented in the electorate, and provides materials and programs to encourage voter participation and information about candidates, issues and voter registration.

Providing citizen information and spurring interactive public-policy discussion and problem-solving online. By making full use of emerging technologies such as the Internet, the League hopes to advance the political process by stimulating broad community dialogue about issues of concern to citizens and policymakers.

It is at this point in the Education Fund's strategic plan that funding was sought. A realistic budget to accomplish each strategy was developed, with the premise that whether there is staff or volunteers, every project costs money.

Those who provide the funds like to see a complete plan of action and how much it costs to accomplish that plan. While you may not receive the entire budget from one provider, you can break down the components with separate funding and still reach the goal.

CONCLUSION

The League of Women Voters is but one example of the many types of management styles of nonprofit organizations. Undoubtedly, there are other successful models, yet here is one that has worked for more than 77 years.

Any organization is like a giant juggling act: All the balls are in the air and management must keep them from crashing to the ground! Yet success is not measured in mere maintenance of the status quo. It is measured in how well the organization changes and adapts to the changing environment.

No organization can afford to sit back because it has done a good job in the past. The task of re-inventing itself is the biggest challenge an organization faces. It will either wither and die of age, or it will emerge with new life and vigor, to begin the process anew.

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Issues of Democracy
USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1998