Marilyn Donnellan, MS, has more than 35 years experience as a nonprofit CEO and consultant. She served in organizations ranging in size from a single-staff nonprofit with a $150,000 annual budget to one with a $6 million budget and 300 staff. Her CharityChannel books include:
- Nonprofit Management Simplified: Board and Volunteer Development
- Nonprofit Management Simplified: Internal Operations
- Nonprofit Management Simplified: Programs and Fundraising
Donnellan has developed more than two dozen training modules and webinars, based on the Nonprofit Management Simplified books. She is also the author of several books in the Nonprofit Toolkit series. She has published articles with CharityChannel, The Nonprofit Digest, Nonprofit Times, Nonprofit Pro, and many other trade journals.
Browse Articles by Marilyn L. Donnellan, MS
Executive Coaching for ALL Staff
I had lunch recently with a highly effective nonprofit CEO. Most nonprofit staff members leave after two to three years, but his had stayed with him for more than ten. When I asked him why his staff was so loyal, he replied, “I tell every one of my staff members that their goal should be to take my job away from me.”
Now there’s a challenge!
My 'ComeLead' Approach to Staff Supervision Worked Much Better - Part 3
The entire concept of the ComeLead approach to staff supervision revolves around the things we all know work, but we often struggle to find time to do: coaching, mentoring, cross-training, communication, teamwork, and good time management strategies.
My 'ComeLead' Approach to Staff Supervision Worked Much Better - Part 2
The ComeLead approach has two basic principles: A comprehensive cross-training program which is a combination of coaching and mentoring, and supervision and leadership strategies focused on proven communication, teamwork, and time management implementation.
My 'ComeLead' Approach to Staff Supervision Worked Much Better - Part 1
I started developing my ComeLead approach to staff supervision, adapting principles from coaching, mentoring, and everything I’d studied on leadership. The result is a kind of hybrid one-year program that has proven effective in my work with young nonprofit professionals. It is basically the same approach I had started developing around staff supervision in my last nonprofit.
Can a Board Member Have a Staff Member Terminated?
No joke! This really happened. A young, enthusiastic professional I’ll call “Sally” was hired to coordinate all of the nonprofit’s fundraising events. “Betty” was a board member and volunteered to be the chair of the first golf tournament, in partnership with Sally. At their first meeting, Sally noticed that Betty was very dictatorial and expected…