Firm hosts nonprofit governance seminar

 Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C. recently hosted a Harvard Business School Alumni Not-For-Profit Leadership Collaborative meeting, featuring sought-after nonprofit consultant Susan Katz McFall. Jaffe CEO Bill Sider made the announcement.


Sponsored by Jaffe’s Not-for-Profit Practice Group, the seminar was attended by nearly 90 of the top Southeast Michigan leading nonprofits and their board chairs. Former General Counsel of the Kellogg Foundation Susan Katz McFall discussed nonprofit governance with topics including fiduciary, strategic and generative approaches. Additionally, the two-hour program included a panel discussion, a question and answer round, and Tony Rothschild, the CEO of Common Ground, also spoke about the success of this collaborative, nonprofit governance model, which provides a framework for nonprofit trustees and executives to govern more effectively. Panelists also included retired Hospice of Michigan CEO Dottie Deremo of The Deremo Group and James Bayson, chairman of the American Red Cross and founder of Business Consultants for Nonprofits.

Jaffe’s Not-for-Profit Practice Group counsels a wide variety of nonprofit and charitable organizations throughout the nation, including family foundations, cultural institutions, and other educational, religious and social impact organizations. Uniquely positioned to address the multidimensional needs of tax exempt organizations and social enterprises, the practice group counsel their clients in all aspects, including federal tax exemption qualification and compliance, creation of sustainable revenue streams, nonprofit corporate governance, joint ventures, fund investment management, program related investments, employment and compensation issues, and local and national charitable solicitation registration.

“It was an honor to host this informative discussion with great leaders in the nonprofit (also known as the ‘for-impact’) industry,” said Jaffe Partner and Not-for-Profit Practice Group Leader Jennifer Miller Oertel. “I have seen in action the Governance as Leadership model presented tonight by Susan Katz McFall, and it encourages the best use of the valuable insights of the board.”

The Harvard Business School (HBS) Alumni Not-for-Profit Leadership Collaborative, to which 50 of the top nonprofit leaders in Southeast Michigan belong, is a part of the HBS Alumni Group. Given the tremendous positive feedback of the event, HBS Alumni Not-for-Profit Collaborative President Richard Shapach intends to hold additional sessions. Each year this outreach initiative sends four to five nonprofit leaders to Harvard to attend a certification program in nonprofit management.