CalcPA教育基金会的2020年非营利组织会议will be held virtually on May 20. I have the honor of presenting a bonus session on Enhanced Governance to start the Conference. Here is CalCPA’s description of the Conference:

CalCPA Education Foundation’s annual nonprofit conference brings together industry and public accounting experts to deliver timely updates surrounding this market. Engage with speakers who lead sessions covering topics ranging from new and developing tax issues to effective controls and private endowments. You’ll gain a renewed understanding about pertinent accounting, audit, legal, tax and regulatory updates relevant to this industry.

And my description of theEnhanced Governance会议：

本届会议将重点关注当今环境中的实际非营利性治理，包括董事会的三个主要角色：规划，保护和监督。与会者将学习董事如何履行其信托义务，以促进其组织的使命和核心价值，以及如何避免责任和其他将某些非营利组织降落在首页上的风险。此外，该会议将确定目前塑造董事会治理的事件和运动，以及某些董事会如何适应这些挑战时期。

Among some of the thoughts I plan to share:

• Planning。Of course, the plan must be mission-focused (and that means ensuring consistency with how the mission or purpose of the corporation is described in its articles and bylaws). But it should also be consistent with the core values of the organization. The plan must also reasonably reflect adequate resources available to the organization. That’s a big question mark and challenge now and why boards may be particularly valuable in helping to engage in scenario planning. For most organizations, adaptability is a key now more than ever.
• Generative thinking。In the bookGovernance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of the Nonprofit Boards, the authors identify three types of governance: fiduciary governance (which asks what’s wrong), strategic governance (which asks what’s the plan), and generative governance (which asks what’s the question). Boards should have discussions without the immediate goal of strategy creation about various ways of advancing the organization’s mission towards realizing its vision.
• Challenges in the COVID-19 era。Results of arecent survey由La Piana Consulting进行的，仅几个月来表明了大流行的严峻影响，并且对不久的将来的前景相对黯淡。91％的非营利组织不得不削减服务或改编他们的提供方式，90％的受访者共同放弃或削减了18％的员工，有44％的人希望进一步减少员工，而55％的人希望减少服务。。在此类挑战期间，需要应有的照顾，要求董事会成员更加关注。看Nonprofit Governance: Coronavirus and COVID-19。Among the concerns boards may need to be discussing: safety, financials, programs, employees, executives, facilities, and events. And in some cases: mergers, dissolution, and endowment funds.
• Equity。Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have been publicly embraced as values by many nonprofits. But the journey to becoming more equitable and inclusionary is a difficult one that requires resources. This does not excuse boards from ignoring DEI while adapting to new circumstances, assuming DEI is a core organizational value, but many will in attempting to make their organizations resilient (加载期限).
• Advocacy。In these difficult times, it’s particularly true that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. When nonprofits support and engage in advocacy, they get included in economic stimulus bills, they protect critical charitable assets (e.g.,DotOrg registry), and they benefit and protect their missions and beneficiaries. Where resources are very limited, systems thinking and changing systems may be the most effective and efficient course versus mitigating harms caused by these systems. As Paul Batalden observed: “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” And advocacy is critical to changing systems.