You've been asked to join the board of directors of a nonprofit agency. This is the first time you've been asked, or maybe it's the tenth time and you are already currently sitting on two nonprofit boards. Either way, the experience of being a nonprofit board member is likely to be greatly varied from one agency to the next, and you may find yourself seeking guidance on what is expected of you and of the board as a whole.
You are probably already familiar with the typical roles for board members, such as president/chair, vice-chair, secretary, treasurer, committee chairs, etc. If as a kid you and your friends ever formed a club, or participated in student government, you probably made similar role assignments (and then things deteriorated from there because everyone wanted to be president or no one wanted to chair the trash cleanup committee). This method of hierarchy and assigning individual roles is a mainstay in American organizational culture.
However, in order to be a more effective board volunteer and use your term of service with an agency to its full advantage,
it is important to know what roles are often expected of nonprofit boards as a whole. It is these roles with which many of us are less familiar and which vary more among all types of governance boards. There are a few notable exceptions, such as being responsible for hiring the executive director and assisting with garnering financial support, but there is much more a board can do beyond those things that may be greatly beneficial to an organization, without upsetting the balance of board and CEO governance. In his book, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, Dr. Richard T. Ingram outlines basic board roles, including such tasks as determining mission and purpose, long-term planning, and training and developing board members.
it is important to know what roles are often expected of nonprofit boards as a whole. It is these roles with which many of us are less familiar and which vary more among all types of governance boards. There are a few notable exceptions, such as being responsible for hiring the executive director and assisting with garnering financial support, but there is much more a board can do beyond those things that may be greatly beneficial to an organization, without upsetting the balance of board and CEO governance. In his book, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, Dr. Richard T. Ingram outlines basic board roles, including such tasks as determining mission and purpose, long-term planning, and training and developing board members.
You may see this list of roles and say that in your experience boards you have served on haven't had that much agency involvement. Or, you may serve on a board that could easily expand upon this list of responsibilities. The intent of my upcoming series of posts on board roles will be to discuss board involvement in light of current nonprofit governance trends, examining how volunteer boards of directors are currently serving - and steering - their organizations.
It is my hope this blog will be a resource to nonprofit board members and agency directors with varied levels of nonprofit governance experience for a broad range of agencies. I welcome comments and discussion drawing on the experience of others and to talk about what roles you and your boards are currently serving.
It is my hope this blog will be a resource to nonprofit board members and agency directors with varied levels of nonprofit governance experience for a broad range of agencies. I welcome comments and discussion drawing on the experience of others and to talk about what roles you and your boards are currently serving.
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