Every Nonprofit is required to have a board. It should be easy to find people who believe in your mission and want to assist your organization, right?
Well let’s focus on who makes up your board. Most boards are comprised of business owners, leaders, and executives of the community. They’re busy people and their time and attention is in high demand. You want these types of people on your board because they don’t require a lot of hand holding.
How do you keep your proactive board focused and involved so you stay at the top of the priority list? In order to successfully have a fully knowledgeable, vested, and engaged board who clearly understand the current financial status of the short and long term goals, training is highly suggested.
Here are some tips of what should be divulged to the board initially:
- Explain the organization’s mission and purpose. You, the board, are an extension of the mission and purpose. You will be an advocate for this Nonprofit.
- You are the ultimate boss over the organization. The Executive Director (ED) should report directly to you. You should review the ED’s performance annually. Meet with different staff levels to receive “insider information” about how the ED is performing within the organization.
- Understand that you are required by law and are held liable as a board member. Understand that the law will not accept “I was not aware” as a reasonable excuse to not be fully aware of the actions within this organization.
- Be sure you have no conflict of interest with the organization.
- Be sure that the board itself is being reviewed annually to ensure you are upholding all required and requested duties of this Nonprofit.
After becoming a board member, training should be provided annually to refresh, renew, and review.
We know you wear a lot of hats and your mission is to help the community. You are doing the best you can with the limited resources available. If you are struggling to find the time to implement board member training, we’re here to help.
