Governance

Good Governance In The Age Of Teleconference Meetings

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Scheduling board and committee meetings is a chore under normal operating conditions. Add the pressures of shelter-in-place orders along with the sorts of heavy agenda topics most boards are facing, and you have ideal conditions for making shortsighted decisions based more on frustration and fear than stewardship. Having said that, there are a few pointers to help keep your board and committees on track and above reproach: Record Every Teleconference Meeting …

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Why The “If You Aren’t Playing, We Aren’t Paying” Rationale Just Doesn’t Work

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As coronavirus shutdowns continue, we’re seeing some genuinely positive interaction between employers and musician employees working toward mutually agreeable solutions to the sensitive issue of payroll. Outside of those scenarios, I’m seeing one of the most derogatory old-school stereotypes emerge as justification for cancelling musician pay entirely: musicians only work 20 hours per week. This twisted notion assumes that musicians are only paid for the time they are on stage rehearsing …

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The Latest Trend In Hiding Compensation Within The Nonprofit Sector

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There’s a thought-provoking article by Sarah Pulliam Bailey in the 1/17/2020 edition of the Washington Post that examines a growing trend among evangelical organizations to shift from a traditional nonprofit status to what the IRS defines as a “Church” status. The impetus for this is a desire to obfuscate executive leadership compensation. While both status allow donors to deduct charitable gifts, the Church option provides the ability to hide compensation while …

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A Decision Is Not Always The Same Thing As Resolution

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Adaptistration People 170

The beleaguered Grand Teton Music Festival (GTMF) continues to dodge PR blows related to an executive leadership decision to dismiss three musicians. It turns out, the organization scheduled an emergency session of the full board that took place on Tuesday, 12/3/2019. While the musician dismissals were a primary focus, the more pressing issue the full board needed to face was the accusation by GTMF Music Director, Donald Runnicles, that the organization’s …

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A Matter Of Governance At The Grand Teton Music Festival

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Adaptistration People 125

Shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday, a public relations disaster started brewing at the Grand Teton Music Festival (GTMF). In a nutshell, the festival’s President and CEO, Andrew Palmer Todd, decided to fire a trio of long-time musicians for non-artistic reasons. The decision has been met with an enormous amount of dissatisfaction from festival musicians, patrons, and donors. That discontent quickly snowballed into a host of local, national, and international news outlets …

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