Ari Betof

The Leadership Brainery Offers National Ambassador Fellowships

President of Organizational Sustainability Consulting, where he coaches executives on institutional leadership and effectiveness. In addition to his consulting work, Ari Betof regularly speaks on leadership and governance topics. He supports a spectrum of organizations, inclduing The Leadership Brainery in Boston, MA.

A nonprofit group, The Leadership Brainery helps underrepresented and first-generation college students access graduate and professional-level academic programs. The organization seeks to alleviate the disparity amongst minorities in professional positions through its National Ambassador Fellowship program.

The National Ambassador Fellowship chooses one undergraduate student from across the US states and Puerto Rico to join the program. The selection process is competitive and requires all candidates to be nominated. A limited number of these individuals are invited to submit personal leadership statements and participate in video interviews. Fellows are then accepted into to The Leadership Brainery program from this whittled-down pool of nominees.

Ambassadors receive supportive services that include three years of personal and professional development, graduate-school admissions assistance, and preparation materials for the Law School Admission Test, the Medical College Admission Test, and the Graduate Management Admission Test. Upon completion of the program, ambassadors provide a trusted diversity pipeline for industry recruiters and professional-degree programs recruiting innovative leaders and change agents.

Independent Schools Receive Data-Informed Consulting Services

An experienced school administrator, Ari Betof has a doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania with focus on organizational dynamics and financial sustainability. Ari Betof is also a frequent presenter at national and regional conferences and serves as the president of Organizational Sustainability Consulting, LLC, in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Organizational Sustainability Consulting is a mission-driven firm that fosters the health and vitality of groups that operate in the social-service sector. In addition to nonprofits and small colleges, the firm provides consulting assistance to independent schools.

These institutions benefit from a data-driven approach, which promote financial and organizational sustainability. They also receive access to an array of coaching for senior leaders and boards of trustees including executive coaching, retreats, working sessions and strategic-planning consultation. Moreover, Organizational Sustainability helps independent schools in conducting fundraising and enrollment management audits, financial modeling, and viability analysis.

For further information on services offered by Organizational Sustainability Consulting, visit www.orgsustainability.com.

The Need for Financial Crisis Simulations

A consultant to senior leaders at nonprofit organizations, Dr. Ari Betof is the president of Organizational Sustainability Consulting, LLC. In an article on his Medium website titled “Fiscal Fire Bubbles – The Case For Financial Crisis Simulation,” Dr. Ari Betof states that while active-shooter exercises have sadly become routine in workplaces and schools, a mass shooting is less likely to happen than a financial crisis.

However, many organizations are not prepared for the possibility of a financial crisis. For instance, nonprofits should consider what would happen if changes in tax laws led to a major decrease in annual giving or if grant funding suddenly disappeared.

Organizations should consider creating a tangible plan to help them weather a potential financial crisis. Specifically, they can develop financial crisis simulations, which would consist of senior leaders, the board, and the finance committee. In addition, an outside consultant can be brought in who is knowledgeable about the organization’s financial state. The consultant can map out possible scenarios and build accountability on the team.

False Optimism Is Detrimental to An Organization’s Mission

The founder of Organizational Sustainability Consulting, LLC, Dr. Ari Betof assists senior nonprofit leaders to achieve their mission and overcome fiscal challenges. One of the areas of focus of his consulting work is the phenomenon of false optimism. While leaders should be positive about their mission, they should not be blinded by it. Dr. Ari Betof recently published an article on the website Medium on the seduction of false optimism.

Positivity is often required of nonprofit trustees. The reason they choose to serve in these organizations is that they sincerely want to be forces for good. However, Dr. Betof observes, such optimism can be detrimental if it blinds trustees from reality.

In good practice, trustees must inform their decisions using hard data and prevailing fiscal realities. They should not allow false optimism to birth misleading data interpretation. For example, small revenue jumps should not be the basis of long-term projections, and historically uncorrelated statistics should not be used as predictive indicators. Likewise, revenue dips should not be shrugged off. Where false optimism leads many to look at the future through rose-colored lenses, effective trustees must confront the hard numbers and base their actions on them.

Ultimately, only fiscally healthy organizations fulfill their missions. When false optimism threatens the sustainability of an organization, no matter how well-intentioned the trustees, it cannot fulfill its mission. Optimism is good but it must be held in context to the realities on the ground.