Board Self-Assessment

A trend in nonprofit governance is the use of board self-assessment tools. It is common for boards to assess the performance of their CEO, executive director, or other top paid management staff, but less common for boards to assess their own performance as a governing body for the nonprofit. However, it seems the number of boards who use self-assessment is still more than half.

Some nonprofit boards may not even be aware that this is a role to consider taking on. I think some of this may be attributable to the fact that most nonprofit board members are volunteers. If you perform volunteer work with an organization, would you then think to assess, or ask the group to assess, your performance? Likely, not.


However, as boards are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of this type of transparency and willingness to participate in self-assessment, more resources on tools are emerging on this concept. BoardSource lists some of the benefits of performing a self-assessment, which include opportunities such as:  reflecting on division of responsibilities, discovering issues that need attention, increasing board teamwork, clarifying expectations, and impressing funders with the board's level of commitment to quality governance.

Once a board decides to start using self-assessment, the likely questions that follow are regarding how often to assess, and what to assess. It is recommended that the board perform a self-assessment every two years. Two years is enough time to show change and gather new data while not waiting too long to act on opportunities for improvement.

As far as what to assess, or what a board self-assessment looks like, this is a sample board assessment tool from The Council of Nonprofits. There are numerous tools like this available - some more comprehensive, such as this tool used by the Denver Foundation, developed by McKinsey & Company. I would recommend searching reputable nonprofit resource sites or even buying an off-the-shelf product from a consulting group. There is some not-so-good stuff out there, too, so be sure to review the actual questionnaire before deciding on what to use. Ask boards members from other agencies what they use. If you are particularly ambitious and confident in your own skills, design one yourself based on your review of existing resources.

Regardless, review what is out there and choose what will best suit your board culture and assessment needs. If the members are wary of adding this new task, and the idea of a self-assessment sounds scary, maybe start with a simple assessment, then actually execute plans to act on the results, and implement a more in-depth assessment the next time around. A board could even alternate using "survey-lite" and "survey-how-long-is-this-supposed-to-take?" if they wanted to. The point is, there is a lot out there, self-assessment shouldn't be an overwhelming task, and the results can help the board to make the most of its service to the organization.