Mind the Value of Personal Connections

Published in the August 2017 issue of the award-winning non-profit journal Board and Administrator for Administrators Only, Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company

It may sound like a no-brainer, but the value of personal relationships in the nonprofit sector can’t be overstated, according to Randy Bernhardt, president of Bernhardt Consulting in Albuquerque.

In a blog post on this topic, Bernhardt drives home a simple truth: People give to people and people buy from people. In other words, the personal connections that nonprofit CEOs, staff and board members have cultivated through their time in the field are valuable and a critical source of revenue, both direct and indirect. And this has to be considered if a change is being considered.

“Case in point: The board of a nonprofit organization that had been financially successful for more than a decade restructured the organization,” he writes. “An executive was informed that they would no longer have a role at the organization. In the years that followed, the organization lost more than $3 million in revenue and has been deficit spending ever since.”

He attributes the decline to the loss of deep connections the executive had—that no one else had, and that could not be easily replaced.

It doesn’t mean that such changes can’t be implemented—just be prepared to address the impact that losing valuable personal relationships will have on the organization.

To view the article in August 2017 issue of Board and Administrators for Administrators Only in PDF, click on this link: Mind the Value of Person Connections