NAMI Best Practice and Standards of Excellenceil.nami.org/Illinois Leadership Conference April 2010.pdf · NAMI Best Practice and Standards of Excellence. Benjamin Staples, MS, MBA

Center for Leadership Development

NAMI Best Practice and Standards of Excellence

Benjamin Staples, MS, MBANational Leadership ConsultantNAMI Illinois Leadership Conference – Springfield April 2010


• Good to Great by Jim Collins (2001)• Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim

Collins (2005)

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What is Greatness?A great organization:

• delivers superior performance and • makes a distinctive impact • over a long period of time…


Does your Affiliate Deliver Superior Performance?

• Are we effective and efficient in delivering on our mission?

• Have we established a baseline?• Are we improving?


Are We Making a Distinctive Impact?

What makes your Affiliate so unique that no one else can do the same

thing?


What you are deeply passionate about

What drives your resource engine

What you can be the best in the

world at

Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins


Getting to know you and your Affiliate

• Demographics of your community

• Size of your Affiliate

• Support, Education, and Advocacy Programs

• Recruitment and Fundraising Efforts


Best Practice

•Define Support•Define Education•Define Advocacy


Best Practice Definition:

• Methods and techniques that have consistently shown results superior than those achieved with other means, and which are used as benchmarks to strive for. There is, however, no practice that is best for everyone or in every situation, and no best practice remains best for very long as people keep on finding better ways of doing things.

- BusinessDictionary.com


Best Practice: Planning and Evaluation• Are the mission, purposes and values of the

organization clearly defined and approved by the board?

• Does the organization have a multi-year strategic plan that has been adopted by the board?

• Does the organization's annual plan contain clear evaluation and monitoring procedures?

• Do you attempt to evaluate both the number of people served and how lives have been improved?


Best Practice: Board of Directors • Do board members understand their legal, fiduciary and organizational

responsibilities?

• Does the board have a regularly scheduled planning session that revisit your organization's mission, vision and goals?

• Does the board recruit and maintain a pool of qualified candidates for the board?

• Do new board members receive orientation in all aspects of the boards work?

• Do board members conduct a yearly self evaluation?

• Do board members talk positively about NAMI in public and represent NAMI to the public by giving reports and listening to public needs and concerns?


Best Practice: Staff and Volunteers

• Are written personnel policies and job descriptions in accordance with the law and regularly updated?

• Does the board conduct an annual performance assessment of the executive director based on a performance plan?

• Do all staff members receive annual performance reviews?

• Are staff and volunteers adequately trained to conduct effective programs?


Best Practice: Financial • Does the organization comply with federal,

state and local tax reporting requirements?

• Does the board review financial reports at each board meeting, approve an annual budget, select the auditor and reviews the audit?

• Are restricted funds tracked and spent in accordance with their restrictions?


Best Practice: Financial • Does the organization establish and work toward an

operating reserve considered adequate by the board of directors?

• Does the organization have a system for keeping track of services provided, volunteer hours, donations and other relevant statistics?

• Does the organization have appropriate internal control procedures in the organization's financial management?


Best Practice: Legal Issues • Does the organization have a clearly defined and strictly

enforced policy relating to conflicts of interest?

• Has the organization complied with IRS's political involvement and lobbying restrictions?

• Does the board operate with a clear and current set of bylaws with which all board members are familiar?

• Does the organization have any tax liabilities for unrelated business income?

• Does the organization annually report to the Secretary of State?


Best Practice: Community Support• Does the organization involve the community being served

in the planning, implementation and evaluation processes?

• Does board and staff membership reflect the diversity of the community being served?

• Do you have significant and documented support in your community for your organizations activities?

• Does your organization seek to collaborate with appropriate entities in the community, particularly in situations where duplicate services are being provided?


Best Practice: Resource Development

• Do all board members participate in fund-raising activities and make a personal financial contribution?

• Does your organization have a diverse, multi-year resource development plan?

• Is your organization working to develop self sustaining sources of income?

• Do you have a track record of donations of time, goods, services and money from your community?

• Does the organization regularly document its successes?


Standards and Organization Growth

Strategic Plan of 2007-2010:

Making NAMI a Household Name– It is the grassroots leadership who are

in the position of most intimacy with people who need NAMI

– Assistance is available on the NAMI website


Standards and Organization Growth: PSA Documents have been prepared to make the PSA use as easy a process

as possible, including:– A letter to send to new stations, for those of you purchasing PSA’s to

send to additional stations beyond our distribution list;– A letter to use as follow up to send to station directors who have

received the PSA;– A letter to use as a thank you to send to station directors who have

aired the PSA;– E-mail and phone script suggestions for follow up; and more.– Remember that in addition to the 400 TV and multiple radio stations

who have received the PSA through our NAMI national distribution efforts, additional copies of the PSA are available upon request for your own distribution efforts. To order please go to this link: http://www.tvaccessreports.com/nami/ then click the tab to order and follow the instructions.

http://www.tvaccessreports.com/nami/


How do we help the organization to grow?Puzzle Pieces Broadcast & Cable TV Report Report Start Date: Posting Date: 4/15/2010 Results Through: 3/28/2010 Sorted By State: IL

Stations Reporting Airings 5 Broadcasts Reported 255 Average Broadcasts Per Station 51 Broadcast Audience Impression 5,739,086 Equivalent Dollar Value $34,680.00

STATION CITY AIRINGS AUDIENCE

6018 ADDISON 13 1,124 WSIL CARTERVILLE 156 3,432,000 WGN CHICAGO 7 1,603,000 WFLD CHICAGO 4 696,000 6045 S HOLLAND 75 6,962


How do help the organization to grow?Testimonials Radio Report Report Start Date:

Posting Date: 4/15/2010 Results Through: 3/28/2010 Sorted By State: IL

Stations Reporting Airings 4 Broadcasts Reported 248 Average Broadcasts Per Station 62 Broadcast Audience Impression 173,000 Equivalent Dollar Value $15,624.00

STATION Location AIRINGS AUDIENCE

WESN BLOOMINGTON 18 27,000 WPEO EAST PEORIA 100 120,000 WJDK MORRIS 65 13,000 WCSJ MORRIS 65 13,000


Standards of Excellence


History of the Standards of Excellence

– Driven by the NAMI grassroots– BOD of 1997 Commissioned the NAMI 2000

Task Force (Building Blocks)– Written into the 2001-2003 Strategic Plan– Requested by the NAMI Board– Standards Work Group (2007)

• Council members• Large and small affiliates• Rural and urban

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The NAMI 2000 Task Force was commissioned by the Board of Directors in 1997. It developed a standard for naming State Organizations and Affiliates and provided standards called “Building Blocks” for rechartering Organizations and Affiliates. In 2001 the NAMI Executive Directors were tasked by the Board of Directors with surveying their membership and recommending actions necessary to re-engineer NAMI operations. This work was supposed to lead to more in-depth work on standards. It was later expanded to recommendations for the 2001-2003 strategic plan . . . many of which are now incorporated in the current NAMI Standards of Excellence. Later in 2001, the Board of Directors appointed a task force to make recommendations regarding membership, system standards and dues. That report was issued in March 2002. Great work, but nothing changed. In 2003, the NAMI Strategic Planning Group created a NAMI Standards Task Force. This group produced a document that examined NAMI bylaws and Policies and Procedures in light of current federal and state regulatory and statutory requirements. This was the document that drove the now infamous NAMI “Call to Action”. The grassroots response to the “Call to Action” slowed the drive toward standards for three years in spite of a continuing call from many state organizations and affiliates for a more effective way of doing business. In 2006 the Board of Directors determined that NAMI had to have a valid and reliable system for counting its membership. A Membership Count Task Force was created by the BOD to make recommendations regarding the definition, reporting and management of membership. The recommendations of the task force were reviewed, amended and approved by the Board of Directors for implementation in 2007. This Task Force was representative of the broad profile of NAMI’s grassroots and its procedure was to test its ideas by surveying the grassroots and communicating its draft recommendations to the grassroots for comment after Board of Directors review and permission to proceed. The Membership Count Task Force recommendations were shared with the grassroots and revised as necessary before they before were finally approved. Many of the recommendations have already been implemented and others will be as they are incorporated in the Standards of Excellence. Which takes us to the next logical step… The NAMI Board’s Infrastructure Committee is charged with overseeing NAMI’s organizational structure and health as a national organization. The NAMI Board recognized that with the success of the Membership Count Task Force, the NAMI membership was ready for standardization of national, state, and local organization and operation. In 2007 the Board created a NAMI Standards Work Group charged with developing recommendations for standards in keeping with the 2007-2010 strategic plan. The Standards Work Group was composed of leaders who reflected the broadest possible representation of the NAMI membership. The plan was to focus only on what the standards should be and to leave the question of how they should be operationalized for later. Once again, there was a commitment to communicate every recommendation in its draft form to the grassroots for discussion and potential revision. Once again the Board of Directors agonized over each recommendation, considered extensive input from all stakeholders, and finally, in 2009, it approved the Standards of Excellence, pending legal review and any necessary amendments of language. The Board and staff of NAMI then made a commitment to have the tools in place to make these standards not only possible but also doable within the resources of State Organizations and Affiliates. Moreover, NAMI committed to working toward implementation of those standards that pertain to the national office before asking states and affiliates to implement their standards.


Standards Development Process

– Committee work– Survey– Town Hall calls– Email– Web posting– Legal review– Board Review

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The NAMI 2000 Task Force was commissioned by the Board of Directors in 1997. It developed a standard for naming State Organizations and Affiliates and provided standards called “Building Blocks” for rechartering Organizations and Affiliates. In 2001 the NAMI Executive Directors were tasked by the Board of Directors with surveying their membership and recommending actions necessary to re-engineer NAMI operations. This work was supposed to lead to more in-depth work on standards. It was later expanded to recommendations for the 2001-2003 strategic plan . . . many of which are now incorporated in the current NAMI Standards of Excellence. Later in 2001, the Board of Directors appointed a task force to make recommendations regarding membership, system standards and dues. That report was issued in March 2002. Great work, but nothing changed. In 2003, the NAMI Strategic Planning Group created a NAMI Standards Task Force. This group produced a document that examined NAMI bylaws and Policies and Procedures in light of current federal and state regulatory and statutory requirements. This was the document that drove the now infamous NAMI “Call to Action”. The grassroots response to the “Call to Action” slowed the drive toward standards for three years in spite of a continuing call from many state organizations and affiliates for a more effective way of doing business. In 2006 the Board of Directors determined that NAMI had to have a valid and reliable system for counting its membership. A Membership Count Task Force was created by the BOD to make recommendations regarding the definition, reporting and management of membership. The recommendations of the task force were reviewed, amended and approved by the Board of Directors for implementation in 2007. This Task Force was representative of the broad profile of NAMI’s grassroots and its procedure was to test its ideas by surveying the grassroots and communicating its draft recommendations to the grassroots for comment after Board of Directors review and permission to proceed. The Membership Count Task Force recommendations were shared with the grassroots and revised as necessary before they before were finally approved. Many of the recommendations have already been implemented and others will be as they are incorporated in the Standards of Excellence. Which takes us to the next logical step… The NAMI Board’s Infrastructure Committee is charged with overseeing NAMI’s organizational structure and health as a national organization. The NAMI Board recognized that with the success of the Membership Count Task Force, the NAMI membership was ready for standardization of national, state, and local organization and operation. In 2007 the Board created a NAMI Standards Work Group charged with developing recommendations for standards in keeping with the 2007-2010 strategic plan. The Standards Work Group was composed of leaders who reflected the broadest possible representation of the NAMI membership. The plan was to focus only on what the standards should be and to leave the question of how they should be operationalized for later. Once again, there was a commitment to communicate every recommendation in its draft form to the grassroots for discussion and potential revision. Once again the Board of Directors agonized over each recommendation, considered extensive input from all stakeholders, and finally, in 2009, it approved the Standards of Excellence, pending legal review and any necessary amendments of language. The Board and staff of NAMI then made a commitment to have the tools in place to make these standards not only possible but also doable within the resources of State Organizations and Affiliates. Moreover, NAMI committed to working toward implementation of those standards that pertain to the national office before asking states and affiliates to implement their standards.


Why do we need Standards?

– Sarbanes-Oxley legislation– IRS 990 adjustments– Legal obligations of non-profit

organizations– Credibility as advocates


Why Standards?• They give us credibility.• They help us work together.• They make our expectations explicit.• They keep us on the right side of the law.• They will save us time and energy in the long run.• They help us define what it means to be “NAMI.”


Sample of Standards . . . Identity & Branding









NAMI Standards of Excellence are:

– Guided by a vision in each thematic area

– Supported by required practices– Extended by aspirations toward which

all organizations are encouraged to work


What’s Next?• NAMI Board of Directors approved NAMI Standards of Excellence in

principle September 2009.

• Standards of Excellence undergoing legal review.

• Developing tools for State Organizations and Affiliates.

• NAMI implementing standards first.

• Working on timeliness for implementation for all.

• Many states ready to implement.

• A deliberate, but not unnecessarily slow, process.

• Eventually will entail some bylaws amendments.

• Developing ongoing communications to the field.


Case Studies


Standards of Excellence: Diversity, Inclusion & Non-Discrimination

NAMI’s growth depends on our ability to reach into all communities and attract members from all walks of life. Our future grant and government funding will depend increasingly on our ability to demonstrate our openness to all, and to describe who our members are and how we are serving the communities in which we operate.


Standards of Excellence: MembershipStandards of Excellence in this area are intended to create an unambiguous definition of membership that supports the evolution of the organization from a loose confederation of semi-independent organizations to a single unified national organization with state and local presence.


Standards of Excellence: CommunicationStandards of Excellence in this area are intended to create an environment in which information is shared in the most effective, appropriate and timely manner both within and between all levels of the organization so that all levels of NAMI can collaborate most effectively to accomplish their common mission.


Standards of Excellence: Communication

Practices in the “Communication” area are intended to help each level understand what is happening at other levels of the organization. With this information, each level can then work more effectively with the others, making NAMI stronger. In order to be able to help one another, we need to know about one another.


You can find additional information at:

www.nami.org/standardsofexcellence


http://www.nami.org/standardsofexcellence



Further Contact:

• Benjamin Staples, MS, MBA– National Leadership Consultant– NAMI (Central and Southern States)– [email protected]– (919) 612-2879

mailto:[email protected]