Non-profit governance
Experience that makes it possible to understand a volunteer’s reality as well as an executive director’s.
The community sector holds an important place in my path. Since the age of fifteen I have helped create numerous non-profit organisations, and I have supported boards of directors for several decades.
I also founded and led CARE Montréal, a homelessness shelter organisation that grew to four sites, 250 staff and over 50 volunteers. This is not theoretical experience: it is the reality of tight budgets, exhausted teams and decisions that directly affect vulnerable people.
A non-profit is not a small company with less money. It is a different structure, with its own obligations and its own decision logic.
What the support covers
- Drafting and revising bylaws
- Governance and the role of the board
- Administrative policies
- Accountability to members and funders
- Legal obligations
- Funding strategy
- Fundraising campaigns
- Grant applications
- Financial management
- Human resources
- Volunteer management
- Strategic planning
The difficulties I meet most often
A board that manages instead of governing
Volunteer directors end up arbitrating operational decisions because the line with the executive director was never drawn. Everyone burns out and nobody really decides.
Bylaws never revisited
Many organisations run on bylaws adopted twenty years ago that no longer match their size or their mission. They become a dormant legal risk.
Accountability that dictates the mission
Funder requirements gradually redefine what the organisation does. Good accountability structure lets you report without being reshaped.
Memory held in one head
When a long-serving director or board member leaves, the history behind past decisions often goes with them. It is the sector’s most underestimated risk.
Quebec non-profits and municipalities are subject to the same laws as private companies, without the same resources. That observation is exactly what gave rise to Synera.
A question on this?
Describe the context in a few lines. I answer with a proposed angle, not a brochure.