Resource Library

This guide for boards of directors introduces the two most important financial documents - the balance sheet and income statement - that help board members meet their fiduciary responsibilities.

(February 15, 2018 webinar) Ivan Canada and Michael Robinson of the National Conference for Community and Justice of the Piedmont Triad presented the second webinar in the Center's "Walking the Talk" series, Impact > Intention: Understanding Implicit Bias

Those who care about the health of the charitable sector—those who believe, as we do, that strong nonprofit leaders are the best predictors of organizational success—can draw both warning and inspiration from the results of this national study produced in partnership by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Meyer Foundation, and Idealist.org.

"We haven’t confronted this elephant in the room: If few people of color want to lead your staff or serve on your board despite the fact that you work in and with communities of color, it is entirely likely that people of color don’t see your organization as a place through which to make social change."

Tools to help organizations understand how racism operates to create disparities that are often maintained inadvertently through policies and practices that contain barriers to opportunity. Provides examples of how to close equity gaps by using strategies determined through an intentional focus on race.

OpenSource Leadership Strategies provides definitions for diversity, inclusion, and equity that reflect current thinking in the field.

Short assessments to gauge personal cultural competency between personnel and in programs for nonprofit clients.

Training for Racial Equity and Inclusion: A Guide to Selected Programs provides an in-depth review and comparison of ten race equity training approaches. The Guide is intended to help community leaders, organizations, policy makers, funders and other stakeholders select and support approaches that best suit their needs and goals. It describes why programs do what they do (theory of practice) and how they believe their approaches will produce positive results. Specifically, it examines how programs understand the sources and dynamics of racial and ethnic oppression and what principles and methods they use to address the problems. In addition, it assesses organizational capacities and the connection between programs’ activities and intended outcomes.

The Nonprofit Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Assessment is designed to help nonprofit organizations assess their capacity and progress in demonstrating best practices in diversity, inclusion and equity. The underlying assumption of this assessment is that all organizations will move back and forth along a continuum of best practices. The framework and the descriptions in the grid were developed based on the input of nonprofit experts and practitioners, literature regarding best practices, and the collective experience of the framing partners
lifecycle and journey towards building and sustaining a diverse, inclusive and equitable
organization. Furthermore, the results of the exercise should be interpreted in the context of the
organization’s stage of development, level of capacity, geographic region, mission area, and
constituency.

BoardSource's report, Leading with Intent, analyzes board composition and governance from every aspect.

This is a short description of a multi-year initiative led by the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits to address the racial leadership gap in NC nonprofits.

Guiding principles and best practices for managing a nonprofit

Nonprofits attract bright, dedicated, and capable staff and volunteers. And many have the "Midas touch" for recruiting dynamic, well-respected, and effective board members. Despite all that resident talent, every organization needs outside help sometimes. What experts do you need and how do you find them?

This skills and experience inventory can be adapted to fit your nonprofit’s needs in assessing the skills of your staff, designating duties and responsibilities, and planning professional development training.

Like families, organizations need financial nest eggs for different purposes. One of the main purposes is an operating reserve — sometimes called an operating contingency fund. They are a first line of defense against financial uncertainties ranging from uneven cash flow to cutbacks from major funders.