The Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee earlier this week named Robert Meiksins its new chief executive officer.
Meiksins, who succeeds Leigh Kunde, will take on his new role at the start of September. Get to know the nonprofit industry veteran in an exclusive BizTimes Q&A.
Name: Robert Meiksins
Title: CEO
Organization name: Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee
Organization address: 2819 W. Highland Boulevard in Milwaukee
Website: www.npcmilwaukee.org
Industry: Nonprofit
What interested you in leading the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee?
“I am a true believer in nonprofit organizations, having spent most of my career in the sector. I have seen the amazing work people do to improve the quality of life in the community from educating people, to keeping them healthy, to giving them creative experiences that challenge and entertain, to helping them achieve the American dream of buying a home of their own.
“As a consultant I have been able to help the agencies one at a time, but with the Nonprofit Center there is an opportunity to help the whole sector.”
What will be at the top of your priorities as you transition into the Nonprofit Center?
“Reaching out to stakeholders will be critical, I believe. There are a lot of expectations for the Nonprofit Center from a lot of people – some have been met and others have not. This is a chance to build on the successes of the past and have a greater impact, so I want to know what our stakeholders think and what they hope for. By that I mean both internal stakeholders in the board directors and the staff but also the external stakeholders such as donors, member organizations, nonmembers (and why they have chosen not to join), as well as some of our partners in the legislature.
“Of course, my board will have some ideas as to what I should be doing.”
What is your longer-term vision for the organization?
“I believe that the Nonprofit Center can have a significant impact on the sector as a whole, as I have already mentioned, and that can happen in a number of ways. I believe we are well positioned to work on capacity building for nonprofits, and I see the Center as both a connector and a builder. I want us to be able make connections between organizations and people to bring strengths together for greater impact. I see us as a place where we can build capacity and enhance effectiveness through education and support. I want us to become the voice of the sector, helping raise awareness of how important nonprofits are, how much good they do, and how much they add to our community not just in services but also economically.”
What challenges does southeastern Wisconsin’s nonprofit sector face?
“These are challenging times for nonprofits with money being tighter than ever and demand for services being greater than ever. The demands from funders and contractors for accountability and transparency are also becoming more and more intensive – often quite justifiably, I should add. At the same time there is a challenge to tax exempt status in many communities around the country, and I can easily see that coming to Wisconsin and Milwaukee.”
What are the sector’s strengths and weaknesses?
“I believe a major strength of the sector is the commitment and passion of the people who work here. Of course there are some people who are in it for the wrong reasons, or who are not doing their jobs well, but that is true of every sector and every profession. For the most part, the people in this sector are good, they have a desire to make a positive change, and they are willing to work hard to make it happen. That is a strength.
“A weakness might be that we have a tendency to think in terms of scarcity. We budget as tightly as we can, and we try to scrimp and save wherever possible. Excluding some of the larger institutions such as hospitals or universities, the mentality is often to demonstrate that we can ‘do more with less.’ That restricts our ability to dream and to grow to the size that can have a real impact. It also restricts sustainability – it costs money to do this work and we should admit it.”
Why have you devoted so much of your career to the nonprofit sector?
“As I said above, I have seen the work that people in the sector do. I am continually amazed at how so many people in the sector do their work because they care so deeply about their community, their neighbors. Unlike most other business, working in the nonprofit sector really is about working to benefit others. I enjoy being around that impulse.”
Do you have a business mantra?
“If you have seen one nonprofit, you have seen one nonprofit.”
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
“There have been many people I have met in my life who have had an impact on me and on the work I do. I sometimes think you can learn more about a person by looking at the people that have had a role in their life than you can reading their autobiography of what they did.
“One person I would single out is Barbara Stein. I got to know Barbara when I was working with the agency formerly known as Badger Association of the Blind. What I learned from Barbara is the value and the power of generosity. I learned that being generous is really at the core of what the nonprofit sector is all about. People who are donors are generous with their money. People on staff are generous with their talent. Volunteers are generous with their time. Board directors are perhaps most generous of all, giving of their time, their talent, their treasure and their reputation.”
What was the best advice you ever received?
“You have to be confident enough to trust other people to talk about the right things even when you are not in the room.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“I like to be with my wife of 35 years – I still love her madly. I also like to sit back and admire the cool people our children are growing up to be (at ages 24 and 29). And I can watch baseball endlessly – even when the Brewers (and my original team the Mets) are losing, the game is still beautiful.”
