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Late February/
Early March 2025 | |
Bryan Orander, President, Charitable Advisors | |
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Charitable Advisors Celebrates 25 Years
How have you been involved?
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They say the days drag on, but the years fly by. As we mark 25 years, I’m grateful for the Charitable Advisors team and the thousands of nonprofits we’ve supported. While we can’t name everyone and everything, we appreciate all who have contributed to our journey.
2000s
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Charitable Advisors - In 2000, Bryan launched as an independent consultant after two decades in Fortune 500, nonprofit leadership, and management consulting roles. Early work included interim ED roles, small consulting projects, and training.
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Nonprofit Resource Guide (2001): A survey of 300 nonprofit leaders led to a printed vendor guide for nonprofits, later supported by sponsors.
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Not-for-Profit News and Job Board (2001): A weekly broadcast email sharing news and job postings grew from 200 to 13,000 subscribers, linking over 15,000 job seekers to jobs.
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“Get on Board” Board Recruitment event (Early 2000s): Bryan identifies the concept at the Center for Nonprofit Management in Dallas, TX and shares it with Theresa Rhodes and Ron Carpenter at LLA, the predecessor to Leadership Indianapolis, which still produces it annually at Newfield’s.
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Welcome to the Board booklet (2000s): A board orientation booklet created for “Get on Board” led to over 25,000 copies sold nationwide.
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Consultant Database at IUPUI - Bryan joins Teresa Bennett, Lena Hackett, and Nancy Silvers Rogers in recruiting financial support from CICF and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to add a nonprofit consultant database at the IUPUI Solution Center.
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Team Growth: Julie Struble joins to lead operations, Lora Olive focuses on design.
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Eight Peer Groups: free groups for HR, CFOs, EDs/CEOs, development directors, job seekers, consultants, and marketers launched. The HR group still meets.
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Executive Leadership Transitions – Lena Hackett loops Bryan into an Annie E. Casey Foundation initiative to train consultants in leadership transition/search.
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2010s
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Bryan develops the Charitable Advisors Board Self-Assessment.
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Bryan is part of the first cohort of Certified BoardSource Trainers
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Nonprofit Salary Survey (2010): Bryan, Jim Morris, and Lisa Weidekamp self-fund the first Central Indiana Nonprofit Salary Survey. The 2025 edition launches in June.
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Collaborations: Some of the best times have been working alongside experienced consultants like Ruthie Purcell Jones, Marnie Maxwell, Vicki Mech Hester, Sara Johnson, and Lena Hackett.
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Editorial Leadership: In 2013, journalist Lynn Sygiel joined as our first real editor, focusing on content and quality.
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Design Updates: Sara Altizer takes over as our new designer.
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NE Expansion: The Northeast Indiana Salary Survey begins.
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Executive Search Growth: Don Gulbrandsen and Kathleen Poland join the team, completing 38 ED/CEO searches in the 30 months before COVID. We still do 6-8 searches annually.
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2020s
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Leadership Changes: Shari Finnell replaces Lynn as editor; Allison Hunt becomes designer.
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Podcast Experiment: Recorded 35 episodes on local nonprofits but found little traction and paused production.
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100 Affordable Searches Milestone: Surpassed 100 nonprofit ED/CEO Executive Searches for small to midsized organizations.
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Community Engagement: In 2023, Chelsea Ohlemiller joined as Director of Community and Content, enhancing social media and outreach.
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“Work for a Nonprofit. Make a Difference.” on-line 50-day campaign – Chelsea records testimonials from nonprofit staff across the community and shares far and wide.
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Job Seeker Support: Chelsea is joined by Brooke Tichenor, of Interview Ally, in launching regular webinars for nonprofit job seekers.
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Wants & Wins newsletter – Chelsea launches monthly newsletter to connect with marketing and communications staff and share needs and surpluses.
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Consultant Gatherings: A monthly nonprofit consultant group formed, led by Bryan Richards, Aaron Speigel, Lucinda Nord, and later TJ McGovern.
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Statewide Consultant Initiative (2024): The Indiana Nonprofit Consultant Community was launched, featuring a listserv of 160, a monthly Zoom call, and a new Grant Writing Consultant Peer Group.
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The story continues…
How many jobs have you gotten through the Charitable Advisors job board? We are contemplating a contest or prize. Let us know if you have found more than 3-4 and you may hear back from us. Chelsea@CHaritableAdvisors.com or Bryan@CharitableAdvisors.com
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2025 Prosperity Indiana Summit
"Emerging Leaders, Emerging Ideas"
We are excited to invite you to the 2025 Prosperity Indiana Summit, where approximately 250 community economic development professionals will converge to explore ideas and leadership strategies aimed at expanding housing and economic opportunities across Indiana.
This year’s Summit will focus on innovative ideas to strengthen Hoosier communities, as well as dive into applicable practices to address the needs of Indiana’s community economic development talent pipeline.
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Preparing for Leadership Transition
March 4, 2025 Webinar with Bryan Orander, Charitable Advisors
If you are a nonprofit staff or board leader, one of your new year’s resolutions should be to ensure your organization is positioned for a possible ED/CEO transition in the year ahead. Use this article as an excuse to open the conversation. Maybe you can review your emergency succession plan at the next Executive Committee meeting? If you have a leader approaching retirement, it’s ideal to begin setting the stage a couple years out to ensure operations are in good shape at whatever point the leader is ready to step back.
We have supported over 100 nonprofit ED/CEO transitions and want to help you be prepared for your organization’s next leadership transition. About 40% of the transitions we see are ED/CEO retirements, so we will spend time discussing where extra attention is helpful for long-term leaders and founders. 10-20% of transitions are initiated by the board so we will talk about communications and the use of interim EDs to keep the organization moving during a transition. Finally, younger leaders are exiting sooner than their predecessors, whether seeking a new challenge, accommodating a family/life change, burnout or something else. So, board leaders need to be prepared to keep the organization on track with 30 days’ notice or less.
Register for our free webinar and join us to learn about successfully navigating a leadership transition. Tuesday, March 4, 2025 from 11:30am-12:30pm. Register here. You will also receive several helpful templates to develop your own succession plan. We keep the group small so we can answer all of your questions. The sessions are not recorded.
We are currently talking with board and staff leaders who are preparing for summer and fall 2025 retirements or leadership transitions. If you or a leader in your organization is planning to make a move soon, I would love to talk with you and help you develop a plan of action. Contact me at Bryan@CharitableAdvisors.com
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"Welcome to the Board"
Free ebook for new Board members
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As part of the early days of the “Get on Board” event that Leadership Indianapolis continues to offer, we developed this primer as a reminder for potential and newer board members. If your team could use a refresher or you have new or potential board members coming out of this year’s “Get on Board” event, you might find this free download to be helpful. | |
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We want to recognize board leaders
For most board members, board leadership roles come with a commitment and investment of time and resources to support a cause they care about. However, for the individual who steps up to serve as board president or chair, the role comes with the assumption of overall responsibility for the nonprofit and guiding the organization’s path forward.
As we continue to share news of board leaders who have taken the helm, we encourage you to recognize and thank these individuals for tackling the role, because as a community member, you recognize the value of his or her investment to help keep the sector strong.
If you want to announce your organization’s new board leader, please send name, position, and a headshot HERE.
We are open to other ways we can support and recognize board leaders. Send us your thoughts or tell us a story about a board leader who has made a difference in your organization. Share your ideas with Bryan Orander, president.
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SELECTED CHARITABLE ADVISORS NONPROFIT RESOURCES | |
Who else needs to know this information?
Tell your staff, board of directors and colleagues about Frontline Perspectives by forwarding this email.
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Charitable Advisors | 317-752-7153 | CharitableAdvisors.com | | | | |
