Notes fromWelcome to the Board: Your Guide to Effective

Participation for All Nonprofit Trustees

by Fisher Howe

Essential Qualities of Board Members

• Integrity

• Open Mind

• Competence

• Enthusiasm

• Sense of Humor

Nonprofit Board Responsibilities - Overview

• Ensure programs are useful and well run

• Attract funds sufficient to carry out the organization’s mission

7 Responsibilities of a Board Member

1. Attendance• Board meetings• Committee work

2. Mission• Define mission• Periodic strategic planning

• Review purposes, programs, priorities, funding needs, targets of achievement

7 Responsibilities of a Board Member (cont)

3. Executive Director- Approve selection and compensation- Regular evaluation of performance

4. Finances- Approve budget and oversee adherence

to it- Contract for independent audit

7 Responsibilities of a Board Member (cont)

5. Program oversight and support- Oversee and evaluate all programs- Support program staff and volunteers- Be an advocate in the community

6. Fundraising- Contribute personally and annually- Participate in identification, cultivation, and

solicitation of prospective supporters

7 Responsibilities of a Board Member (cont)

7. Board effectiveness

- Assure board fulfills governance responsibilities

- Maintain effective organization, procedures, recruitment

Board Organization and Procedures

• Composition– People with knowledge and experience in

program area– Those with professional skills helpful in

guiding the organization – accounting, legal, etc.

– Those with prestige in the community/access to funding sources

Board Organization and Procedures

• Recruitment and Orientation of Members– Often 2 successive terms are permitted– Then person must take a year off before

becoming eligible to return to the board– Staggered terms help achieve continuity– Need process for cultivating, recruiting,

orienting, involving, and acknowledging each new member

– Periodic orientation of veteran BOD members is highly valuable

Board Organization and Procedures

• Officers– Limited terms for officers– May want to keep succession orderly by

grooming vice chair to take over chair position

Board Organization and Procedures

• Committee Structure– Committees focus BOD on things that need

their attention– Committees make constructive

recommendations for board decisions– Committees DO NOT make decisions on

behalf of entire BOD

Board Committees

• Finance/Budget– Monitor financial statements, integrity, performance

• Board Governance– Nominations, meetings, annual retreat, committee

activities, BOD orientation, BOD evaluation, etc.

• Development/Fundraising• Programs

– careful not to dominate program management

• Other?? - partnerships

Board Committees

• Each committee should have an annual plan, goals, targets

Board Meetings

• Early notices

• Frequent reminders

• Well-planned meetings by ED and/or BOD chair

• BOD member preparation for meetings, i.e. review prepared documents prior to meeting

BOD Chairperson

• Have a vision for organization

• Motivate BOD toward fulfillment of vision

• Cause BOD experience to be productive, interesting, and rewarding for members

• Help BOD be effective

• Limited term

BOD Chairperson

• “A board must have a strong chairman whose primary task is to create and maintain a spirit of unity among diverse people on the board and to ensure that it works appropriately with the [ED] in exercising effectively and ethically…It is the chairman’s task to lead and restrain, blend in proper proportion the more capable and vocal members with the less experienced and silent ones”

Defining the Mission

• A comprehensive document that sets out the BOD’s determination of the purposes, framework and bounds of the organization’s activities

Strategic Planning

• Assess future economic, social, demographic and environmental trends and their possible and probably impact on the organization and its programs

• Examine thoroughly and realistically the need for what the organization does, the why of its existence

Strategic Planning

• Set vision for what org wants to be in coming years, programs that will fulfill that vision, priorities among programs

• Assess funding needs for programs and organization

• Prepare case for why people should support the organization – “case statement”, elevator pitch

• Establish procedures to evaluate performance

Program Planning

• Statement of purpose

• Current status

• Planned course of action

• Targets

Evaluating ED’s Performance

• Board holds ED responsible for management of organization

• A specific annual evaluation process should be in place

• The BOD chairperson should NOT lead the ED evaluation

• ED should have her own plan for the year and evaluation should be based on that plan

• ED should be on BOD ex officio without voting rights

Fundraising

• Who is responsible:– “In almost all you do as a board member, you

are deliberating and deciding; in fundraising, however, you are participating”

– Responsibility for attracting resources lies with the BOD

– BOD is helpless in fulfilling responsibility without strong staff – must be a partnership

Fundraising• Staff* Roles

– Keep files, records, and mailing lists– Researches potential funding sources– Prepares correspondence, acknowledgements of donations, grant

proposals– Generates fundraising ideas

• BOD Chairperson and ED Role– Motivate BOD members to do their job– Engage BOD members in simple projects, make each task specific and

limited– BOD members need to be individually stimulated, instructed,

encouraged, thanked profusely and given credit

* “Staff” = ED, development officer, volunteers, or BOD fundraising committee

Fundraising Fundamentals

• People give money because they want to. In raising money you do not need to twist arms or beg.

• People want to give money to worthy and successful endeavors that are making a difference. You must believe your organization makes that difference.

• People give money to people, not to ideas. Personal relationship underlies most contributions, especially major gifts.

Board Participation in Fundraising

• A.k.a. how to contribute without actually asking for a contribution:

1. Personal contribution: no organization can expect others to invest in it if its leaders do not do so first

2. Strategic planning: participate in determining COHIs funding needs and setting out the case for why people should contribute

Board Participation in Fundraising

3. Development plans – regularly approve the plans for raising funds prepared by the staff

4. Add names to mailing list

5. Identify and evaluate prospects

6. Cultivate prospects – speak out in your community, spark interest in prospective donors

Board Participation in Fundraising

7. Introductions8. Annual appeal letters – append personal

notes9. Supporting letter – append to grant

proposals10. Special events – attend and help

plan/manage11. Acknowledgements – letters of thanks12. Accompanying on an ask

Take-Aways

• Board meeting attendance – what are our goals/expectations? 80% of meetings? 1 retreat over 2 year tenure?

• Board meeting style

• Board diversity – gender, skills, experience, etc.

• How programming achieves our mission

• Committee structure