Interview with Prof Chris Cornforth on "Innovative Approaches and Perspectives to Nonprofit Governance"

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From the course by The State University of New York

Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector, Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Leadership and Governance

94 ratings

The State University of New York

Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector, Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Leadership and Governance

94 ratings

Course 1 of 4 in the Specialization Improving Leadership & Governance in Nonprofit Organizations

This course introduces you to the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations, and the concepts of leadership and governance. While this course has been developed with North American culture in mind, we do appreciate that in other parts of the world the nature of the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations, nonprofit leadership and governance may not be the same. Nevertheless, it is our hope that much of the course content will still be of value to those in other parts of the world. To learn more about this course, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://goo.gl/YMg1Qd. Keywords: Nonprofit; Nonprofit Sector; Voluntary Sector; Nonprofit Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Volunteer Organizations, Leadership, Management, Governance, Board, Board of Directors, Performance, Effectiveness Course 1 Overview: Week 1: Some of the questions you will explore this week are: What is the nonprofit sector and why does it exist? What are the unique characteristics of nonprofit organizations? What are the trends and emerging issues facing organizations in the nonprofit sector? Week 2: Questions to be explored this week are: What is leadership at the governance level and how is it different from management? What is good governance and why does it matter? What is a board of directors? Week 3: This week's questions: What roles do board members play in nonprofit organizations? Broadly speaking, what are boards responsible for and how do they go about their work? What are some of the issues that challenge the board's ability to go its work? Week 4: At this stage, you are asked to review the course content, submit a written assignment (known lightheartedly as a BEAR (Board Effectiveness Readiness Assessment), and take two multiple choice Readiness Assurance Tests (known similarly as RATs). One RAT will assess knowledge and reading comprehension and the other will test application of knowledge within a practical case. Week 5: We will encourage you to discuss the RATs in the discussion forums and take them again should you wish to change any of your answers based on the information exchanged.

From the lesson

Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Organizational Governance and Boards of Directors

Hello and welcome to Week 2 of the first course on Leadership and Governance of Nonprofit Organizations! The goal of this week is to introduce you to the concept of nonprofit leadership and governance and the function of boards in organizational governance. Details can be found on the week 2 course pages below. As usual, we encourage you to engage in the content and with each other on this online teaching and learning journey!

Week 2 Overview27:34

Interview with Prof Chris Cornforth on "Innovative Approaches and Perspectives to Nonprofit Governance"7:54

Meet the Instructors

Prof. Yvonne D. Harrison, PhD
Associate Professor and Director
Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN)
Prof. Vic Murray, PhD
Adjunct Professor
School of Public Administration, University of Victoria

[MUSIC]

Has the governance context changed?

How has it changed?

And what lessons can be applied from the research to increase

the leadership capacity of nonprofit organizations and their governing boards?

I'm here today with professor Chris Cornforth, a professor of

organizational governance and management at the Open University business school.

Chris is interested in non-profit governance,

nonprofit organizations, cross sector partnerships, and capacity building.

I want to welcome you here today, Chris, and thank you for

being part of our course.

>> Hi, Avon.

It, it's good to be talking with you again.

>> Chris, you and professor Will Brown of Texas A and

M University are editors of a new book on nonprofit governance.

What's unique about this book?

>> I think there are two things that are unique about the book.

first, as well as looking back and

summarizing the findings of past research on nonprofit governance, it looks forward

to new ways of thinking about and trying to understand non-profit governance.

So for example, one chapter examines how learning theory can be

used to better understand how boards can learn to work together effectively and

govern effectively.

Another chapter draws on systems theory to better understand the problems and

tensions that can occur in the governance of federal not-for-profit organizations.

For example, between the national center and local affiliates.

Secondly, it explores new questions that have been little studied so far.

So, for example, what makes an effective chair of a governing body?

Or how might we involve the wider community that

a nonprofit organization serves in its governance?

Also, nonprofit organizations are increasingly working in

collaboration with other organizations.

And this raises the question how should those collaborations be governed?

>> Chris, how is it different from other books on nonprofit governance?

>> The book brings together some of the latest thinking from many of the leading

researches on nonprofit governance in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

And as I said before, it also addresses some new questions about governance and

brings out interesting new insights from a range of theories that haven't really

been used, or, or not very often anyway, to understand governance processes.

>> For who is the book intended?

>> the, the, the book's intended for students,

researchers, the government's advisers and consultants and practitioners who,

who'd like to be exposed to some new ways of thinking about nonprofit governance.

However, it should be stressed that the book isn't a how to do it book.

It, it's more about suggesting new theories and concepts to try and

better understand governance, and explore some interesting new

questions that haven't really been adequately examined before.

And then also to suggest some new, new further directions for research.

As a result, some of the chapters might not always be so easy to read for

practitioners and, and may require a little bit of extra work.

>> Chris you wrote the first chapter in the book on the need for

innovative approaches for nonprofit governance research.

What has changed in the world of nonprofit organizations and

why is research into it important?

>> A number of things have changed in the world of nonprofit organizations in recent

decades that that have had important implications for how they're governed, and

I want to highlight four, yes, four important challenges.

Many nonprofit organizations have been increasingly involved in delivering public

services as governments have moved to contract out a range of those services.

And while this has opened up new opportunities and

new sources of revenue for many organizations,

it's also created new challenges, both for the organizations and their boards.

There's been a growing concern that dependence on

government funding has compromised the independence of some organizations,

potentially leading to mission drift, and weakening their ability to campaign and

challenge government policy.

There has also been concern that the boards of

smaller organizations may not always have the skills to deal with the risks

that organizations may be exposed to in, in this new competitive environment.

Secondly, funders, I think, are increasingly concerned that

their resources are being used effectively and efficiently by nonprofit organizations

to achieve their mi, mission and to meet the needs of beneficiaries.

Increasingly, there are calls for

nonprofit organizations to measure their impact.

And again, I think this raises new challenges for

organizations and their boards.

And thirdly, the increased scale and

public prominence of many nonprofit organizations.

And unfortunately occasionally some high profile problems and

scandals has opened them up to, to growing scrutiny from both the media, sorry,

the media and the regulators with calls for greater openness and transparency.

As a result, there is increased pressure on boards to demonstrate that

they are exercising adequate oversight of their organization.

And fourthly many social, economic and environmental problems these

days are too complex to be tackled by government or single organizations alone.

And as a consequence, many nonprofit organizations are having to work

in cross sector collaborations with a range of organizations.

And these collaborations might take a variety of forms from loose

networks to formal partnerships.

And this raises interesting new questions about, both about how these collaborations

and partnerships are governed, and then what the implications are for

the actual organizations themselves that are involved.

It's important that research examines these emerging challenges that

nonprofit organizations and their boards face, and how they might be addressed.

Hopefully the book throws more light on at least some of these issues.

>> Chris, your chapter will be the subject of a peer learning discussion during

the course.

What questions might help guide our conversation?

>> The chapter in my comments earlier suggests some of

the important changes influencing the world of nonprofit organizations, and

the resulting pressure these organizations and their borders face.

Students might like to reflect on a couple of questions.

Do these changes chime with your experience of working in not,

nonprofit organizations?

And are there other important changes and

challenges that you think nonprofit organizations and their boards face?

>> Chris, we look forward to reviewing your chapter, and

working through this book.

Thank you so much for being with us.

>> Thanks, Yvonne.

I, I've enjoyed talking with you, and I hope the course goes well.

[MUSIC]

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