"Management meetings should be fun!" was the challenge from Dave Norton, originator of the Balanced Scorecard and first speaker at the networking breakfast last Thursday. With the Gauntlet thrown, the fun really began when our guest speakers from Catholic Charities and ACCION told us about the transformation their board meetings have taken since they started reporting their strategic measures on their Balanced Scorecard to the Board. When board members exclaim that they are thrilled, give standing ovations and actually take strategic action – you know you are onto something!

I recently had the opportunity to lead a clinic at GSMI's Enterprise Risk Management summit in New York. It was a very interesting and interactive session where we really had the opportunity to "roll up our sleeves" and talk about how risk management works (or doesn't, for that matter) in the trenches.

Ascendant has teamed up with the Association of Research Libraries to help several of its members build Balanced Scorecards for their organizations. This initiative kicked off not a moment too soon as one of the libraries was notified of a 12% cut to its funding next year. The idea of a library scorecard is not entirely new.

In London, some interesting news broke last week. The Department of Health hired McKinsey to draw up Balanced Scorecards for their Primary Care Trusts. The PCTs are the providers of primary healthcare in a centralized healthcare system like the UK. So of course the PCTs are not happy about it, but it does raise the question about whether a third party can build a scorecard for your organization.

I gave a presentation at the GSMI Corporate Social Responsibility Performance Conference last week in New York City. This clinic was fun and interesting. The topic was about aligning social responsibility with the Balanced Scorecard. If you have heard any of my presentations about the Balanced Scorecard in the past, you can imagine my approach.

People with a college education earn 50% more than people without one. Only 8% of poor children go to college.

This was the context for a Boston Foundation forum on The ingredients of Effective Schools. It was inspirational watching a collection of accomplished educational experts with a broad range of views, collaborating on the elements of successful schools while debating the benefits of different approaches.

Have you ever wondered what people were talking about online? People are Tweeting and Blogging about all kinds of things, and some of these things are related to the Balanced Scorecard. How are you supposed to keep up? I think it is too much to ask to search Google, then search Google Blogs, then search Twitter, and then look for other search engines and other social networks. Well we have made it all much easier at our redesigned BSC Community.

Did you receive a postcard when you got home from the CLA conference? Our mailing company sent it a week after we wanted, so it would have been hard for you to bring the postcard to our exhibit booth. Don't worry, the offer from the postcard is still good through May 15, 2009.

Columbia Business School's "Ideas@Work" blog had an interesting post last week entitled "The Nonprofit MBA." The premise was that in a time of unprecedented challenge for non-profits, hiring a MBA may be a way for social sector organizations to tap into management expertise that can help them survive. (Since MBAs are a lot cheaper now than they used to be!)

There is always a silver lining. The economy has slowed, endowments have lost value and donations have declined. The hard work of the nonprofit sector is as needed now as ever. But this recession may help cure one of the critical crises facing the nonprofit sector today: the Senior Management Shortage.