Thelma Watson appointed to serve on 2017 Board of Governors for NANOE

ALBANY — A figure in the Albany area non-profit community has recently been appointed to the 2017 Board of Governors for the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations and Executives (NANOE).

Thelma Watson, who has been active in the fight against homelessness in the Albany area in recent years, will join hundreds of individuals in determining the best practices for non-profit organizations throughout the United States.

“I was surprised and honored,” Watson said. “I don’t know which one came first.

“It came right out of the blue.”

Officials with NANOE said non-profits have been struggling with a set of failed best practices that turned the non-profit sector into a non-growth sector decades ago, and that the systems in use today were established by industry associations that persist in methodologies detrimental to the general public.

In response, NANOE formed a working group made up of practitioners, volunteers, academicians and philanthropists to research and develop a new set of capacity-building “competencies” that empower non-profits. The group will submit 60 new key practices to NANOE’s Board of Governors for evaluation, officials said.

The governors are expected to review, expand and/or redact key practices relating to outreach, organizational development, communication and collaboration during NANOE’s 2017 Capacity-Building Convention & Expo, and will emerge with a new set of competencies meant to increase sector impact.

Jimmy LaRose, one of the founders of NANOE, said there are 1,102 governors who are focusing on 12 principles with the goal of revising the current methods that are well-meaning yet flawed — and have rendered some organizations within the non-profit sector less effective.

“There is no reason the charitable sector can’t tackle a problem of scale,” he said.

Watson appears prepared to tackle the role she has been given.

“We will be reviewing and commenting on a set of best (practices) for non-profits,” she said. “They will be used in organizations across the country.

“(Non-profits) are recognized for (following through on) their missions. There are other attributes that contribute to our economy.”

Based on her own personal experience, Watson said she would like to see more standards in place for small non-profits.

“A lot of my work has been with small non-profits,” she said. “A lot of times, they are not as operatively strong as they could be.

“I am humbled by the level of passion of those who do that work. Some do it with little or no compensation, but they have a passion.”

Watson will be honored alongside her fellow governors March 7-8 in Columbia, S.C. at the NANOE convention.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C. NANOE is a nationwide association for charitable organizations and executives serving multiple sectors.

For more information about the organization visit nanoe.org.