From Entry-Level to Leadership: How to Join a Nonprofit Board of Directors. Board experience proves invaluable to leadership development.
By Rosetta Thurman | Apr. 3, 2009 I’ll just go ahead and tell you that my view is that all young nonprofit professionals should serve on a board at some point. If you plan to stay in the nonprofit field, you should see the work from all angles, especially the governance arena. But more importantly, if you aspire to a CEO or other leadership position, board experience will prove to be invaluable to you. Here’s why: Not Just a Resume Booster: Tips for evaluating a ... Today is your lucky day.
You received an offer to join a board of directors of a nonprofit and you readily accept. You cannot be more excited. It seems like a perfect fit. It has a mission you care about and you cannot help but think how great it will look on your resume. But you soon discover the position is not what you imagined. Unfortunately, situations like this are not uncommon. Here are some tips for evaluating a nonprofit before joining the board: Legal Compliance: Are you comfortable with the current state of affairs? As a director of a nonprofit, a critical part of meeting your fiduciary duties is to ensure that the nonprofit is operating in compliance with the law.
Articles of Incorporation: Does it have unique provisions (e.g., describes the purpose with specificity or makes references to members)? Both Forms 990 and 1023 are required by law to be publicly disclosed. Additionally, some states provide online search tools for a quick snapshot of information.
What to Do with Board Members Who Don't Do Anything. In this Board Cafe column, we look at short-term and long-term strategies for the board members known as deadwood or worse: "He never comes to meetings or does anything.
Why does he even stay on the board? " "She always says she'll take care of it and then she doesn't follow through. Aaagh! " Whose responsibility is it to "do something" about a board member who is AWOL, deadwood, undependable, a procrastinator, or worse? What's the Point of a Nonprofit Board, Anyway? Democracy is the worst form of government, said Winston Churchill, except for all the other ones.
The same might be said of nonprofit boards. Here we take an unconventional look at three dimensions of why boards exist: legal reasons, mission reasons, and reasons related to political values. First, all corporations, whether nonprofit or for-profit, require boards of directors, and these boards have formal responsibilities, so we'll start with a quick discussion of the nonprofit corporation. What should I know before joining the board? Our Learning Center includes a bookstore, hundreds of downloadable resources, and a calendar of live and online training programs on how good governance can shape an organization’s missions, finances and strategic direction.
Access your Member Resources BoardSource members have access to hundreds of resources on the issues nonprofit leaders face daily. Get Started with a Collection BoardSource has compiled some of its most popular resources into special collections addressing key governance roles and responsibilites. Nonprofit Board Recruitment as Inspiration! Kelly over at the Nonprofiteer had a great blog post today – a rallying cry to stop whining about board recruitment and just get out there and do it!
(Ok, to be honest, Kelly always has a rallying cry to stop whining about this or that – she has no tolerance at all for BS and excuses – my kind of gal!) Here is what Kelly said: Board recruitment is nothing more than stating the case for an institution you love to people who will be prepared to do the same thing. Perfect! You all know that I wrote what I am often told is “the book” on Board Recruitment. And why does that happen? First, as a sector, we tend to de-value boards. From that assumption, governance models are, almost to the one, prescriptive – the lists of things boards must do, the lines they are not allowed to cross. If board work was an ice cream sundae, the flavor of the month would be Dull. How Many Board Members? This is a question that came up in a conversation last week, and from time to time; "What is the appropriate size for a nonprofit board of directors?
" Related to that question is, "Does it need to be an odd number? " and "Is it okay if we run on fewer for a while? " The generally accepted number for most small- to mid-sized nonprofits is 9-14 members. Any fewer and you will burn out your members quickly with multiple duties, have difficulty making a quorum when even a couple of people are ill or out-of-town, and you will fail to build in new leadership development into your regular board activities.