The Nonprofit FAQ

What are good jobs to keep board members involved?

Ina Frank wrote: First and foremost: Think about leaders in a different way than you might think about office volunteers. Leadership leads. They set policy. Maybe with professional staff's guidance and recommendations; but it's their responsibility, both legally and organizationally. Committees are one of the best ways to engage people who want to help. Engage them in areas where they have an interest and can be most helpful. Committees do much of the preliminary work on certain topics; they gather information and make recommendations between board meetings. If the real work doesn't happen then, it's very difficult for the organization to be effective. Common committees are: Executive, development (both people and money, though usually the latter), nominating, personnel, finance, audit and education. Jane Garthson added: I think they should be out fundraising and raising public awareness on the agency's mission. Are there some other "regular" activities they should be involved in?" The role of a Board is something the Board and Executive Director (ED) should spend time defining, as it is critical and not simple. I assume in this case there are staff and non-Board volunteers, so the Board is not delivering the services of your agency. In that case, the Board role is normally defined as primarily policy-setting the overall direction for the organization (desired "ends") and leaving the "means" and details up to the Executive Director and staff. The Board must manage its relationship with the ED, including hiring, appraisal and dismissal as for any management relationship, but also including setting any limits on his or her authority. For example, does the Board want approval of capital projects but will leave operational cost decisions to the ED? The Board's role is to represent members, clients and other stakeholders in making the major decisions for the organization. It also represents the agency to the community, and as such must be involved in public awareness and fund-raising to some extent. The extent relates to the availability of staff time and expertise and the relationship with major donors and partners. Board member time on fund-raising is usually better spent in meeting with foundations, corporations, service clubs and the like than in event organization. The Board must take responsibility for its own renewal and development. In other words, it must find replacements for members whose terms are expiring, and should do so in consideration of skills gaps, representation gaps (e.g. if no clients are on the board, find some, or some proxy clients; for example, all clients are children, find parents for the Board). Thus, if the Board has no other committee, it should have a Nominating Committee preparing for the election and Annual General Meeting. One Board I am on has split the work of Board members between "Board" committees-Nominating, Fund-Raising, Public Relations, Planning and Evaluation (at the organization level, not the program level), and Finance/Audit-and "Management" Committees. The Executive Director decides what management committees are needed and whether he wants any board members on them, basically they let him have access to board members with special skills so they can help him carry out his management responsibilities. Board committees report to the Board at Board meetings; management committees do not although the Executive Director's report may deal with their issues and progress. Another board I am on has no staff, only an association management company that charges for each task, so we even do things like banking ourselves. We have no choice about being hands-on, but as much as possible such details should be kept out of Board meetings so that the Board as a group can concentrate on its leadership responsibilities. Our Board also includes people who are regular volunteers in our programs, so we don't lose touch with the clients, staff and other volunteers. There are a number of books about boards (don't bother with anything written before 1990; the thinking is changing too much) and many colleges and unversities have courses in non-profit management, ranging one day seminars to MBA programs. If there is an umbrella group in your community they may also run conferences or seminars; in my community the United Way takes lead on this. The Free Management Library notes that one of the best ways to keep board members involved is by including them in appropriate board committees. For a description of typical board committees, see http://www.mapnp.org/library/boards/brdcmtte.htm . For suggestions to ensure strong attendance to committees, see http://www.mapnp.org/library/boards/goodcmte.htm . Also see the Board Attendance Policy at http://www.mapnp.org/library/boards/brdattnd.htm Revised 8/11/99 -- CM