Here is another great article from Gayle Gifford for Step By Step Fundraising- (pictured at left).

Gayle brings over 30 years of experience to her work with nonprofits – from her personal activism for peace, disarmament, environmental, human and civil rights, to her professional work as a consultant and former director of development and senior nonprofit manager.

She is one of fewer than 100 individuals in the US who hold the advanced fundraising credential, ACFRE, issued by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Gayle learned her craft as Director of Development and Communications at PLAN USA, as Deputy Director/Director of Development and Marketing at Save The Bay, and as Director of Development at CityYear RI.

I urge you to read more from Gayle’s fantastic collection of articles and learn about her consulting services by visiting her site, Cause & Effect. I also would recommend that you check out the book Gayle wrote called “How am I Doing, the 1 hour guide to evaluating the performance of your nonprofit board” available through Contributions Magazine. – Jim Berigan

Past time to evaluate your new Executive Director?

Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 13, 2011

What are you waiting for?

You owe it to your new ED and to your organization to complete this review ASAP.

As a Board, this interim evaluation can answer the questions that should be on your mind about this new hire:

• What impact has this Executive Director had in their first months in office?
• How well has the ED fulfilled our expectations at this point in time? (Caveat: How clearly were those communicated to the ED at the time he/she was hired?)
• How is this Executive Director perceived among key stakeholders outside of our organization? Inside of our organization?
• Have we established the ideal relationship between the Board and the Executive Director? What do we need to do to create that?
• Is this an Executive Director we want to keep? If yes, what can we do to ensure that happens? If not, what are our next steps?

Your new ED is likely hungry for formal feedback. A well-constructed review also provides an opportunity for your new ED to answer some questions of his or her own:

• Is this job all that I expected? Is it a position that I want to continue serving in?
• What does the Board appreciate about my performance to date? My staff? Other constituents?
• Are there areas for improvement in my performance?
• What is working well about my relationship with the Board? Individual board members?
• What can be improved in the way we work together? How?
• What does the Board want me to accomplish in the next year? Over the next five years? How does this mesh with what I’d like to accomplish?
• What do I need from the Board to succeed in this position?

You’ll find a sample review process in our free Toolbox.