Dr. Wade provided valuable information about the way the executive director interacts with a board. It was especially interesting to gain more perspective about what agencies are non-profits. The scope of the work that non-profits complete, especially the areas of overlap, was interesting to discuss. Coming from an interest in business, it was great to hear about how I KNOW I CAN uses their curriculum to generate revenue. This is even an idea I took to another class and will be incorporating into a business plan for the other class project.
It resonated most with me the skills she uses in the community work that she does, especially the importance of effective communication between the agency and the board. A lot of the topics she spoke about where mentioned in the NBAB book, including the issue of founders syndrome. I think the prevalence of this in her organization was surprising to me. I thought most non-profit boards were managed by younger people who were community stakeholders. I wasn’t particularly aware of the committee based structure prior to the discussion with Dr. Wade, either.
The other thing that surprised and resonated with me was the amount of interaction Dr. Wade gets with the people she is serving directly. Because of her heavily administrative role, and the success she has grant-writing, I was shocked to learn she also gets to interact with the families. My biggest concern about working in the non-profit world, especially with more "corporate" non-profits (Goodwill, United Way, American Red Cross), is that I will spend time doing programing or administration and very little time with the families. It was encouraging to hear this tangible interaction with the families is still what motivates Dr. Wade to work in the field.
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