Donalda Club Gets it Right

Quick thanks to Martyn B. for hosting us at Donalda yesterday.

The latest improvements to the Club are impressive and well done.

Donalda has been true to its mission of "providing a high quality, well managed, family oriented golf and multi-activity country club in the city of Toronto that provides year round recreational and social activities to meet the needs of its members".

Keeping a club like Donalda on track isn't easy. With volunteer Boards of Directors and Presidents being elected directly from the membership (independent directors? it's more like having your employees be your Board) - frequently from a population that is aging, and not necessarily with any experience in strategic or long range planning - leadership and decision making can be daunting. Who wants to be the President who raises fees to build the new club house, then golfs with his/her buddies on Tuesday mornings?

Like any organization, having a clear mission is clearly helpful. Donalda's mission to be both family oriented and to provide other activities besides golf has helped ensure a young, vibrant and capable membership with strong vested interests in looking to the future. It's paid off in terms of membership and revenue. Downturn? There hasn't been one.

Donalda's experience probably makes an interesting case study in private club governance, direction setting and execution. I know a Director or two who would benefit from a quick drive down the Don Valley to check it out.

Boardroom Metrics Feedback

I'm always happy to answer questions that come into my info @ boardroommetrics dot com account. This past week I received the following from a foundation in Seattle:

Subject: Boardroom Metrics Feedback

Comments: Do you have any resources for how to write a policy assessing an organization's performance and effectiveness?
Thank you for any help you can provide
Submit: Submit

Here's my response:

Claire - I don't have specific resources that I can point you to but org performance and effectiveness is part of the consulting work I do. Recently I completed a small project for a well known foundation in Toronto (which has certain similarities to your organization). Here are some thoughts based on that experience:

1. we started with vision and mission - in their case "to brighten the lives of seriously ill children" - and (working with the Board) completed an assessment of how well we were achieving the vision/mission (we used objective and subjective measures)
2. defined the core competency/competitive advantage of the foundation and
3. completed a SWOT analysis of the foundation
4. reviewed/graded each program delivered by the foundation based on contribution to the vision/mission (again objective and subjective measures like # of children/families involved, focus group feedback, etc)
5. based on the different assessments, developed recommendations for upgrading programs, marketing and governance around improving effectiveness and delivery of the vision and mission.

Maybe there's something in this approach that's helpful? It's always good to start these assessments at vision/mission.