Getting Your Board ON BOARD…

7 Key Responsibilities of Nonprofit Board Members

Over the years, I’ve been on SO MANY  nonprofit boards! They were all very different and ranged from small, local grassroots organizations to large, national boards serving thousands of constituents. As a board member, there were times when I wrote grants, solicited individual donors, participated in strategic planning, helped to hire and terminate the executive director, reviewed financials, and even represented the organization on local television segments. I performed all these tasks at the request of the executive director or the board chair. I didn’t always know if specific tasks were appropriate, I just did them! It wasn’t until much later that I came to understand the SEVEN major responsibilities of board members.

Board members are the fiduciaries who help to guide the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission.

The primary areas where most board members assume some level of responsibility include: 

• organizational planning
• hiring lead executives
• financial oversight
• providing other resources
• legal compliance and obligations
• contributing to public standing
• recruiting and orienting new board members

One
Organizational Planning

One area that will make or break any organization, but especially in the nonprofit sector, is planning for the future, both near term and long term. Often staff are charged with developing the shorter term plans, but those must be based on a long term, overall vision that is approved by and bought into by the board of directors.

As part of ensuring that organizational planning is effective and efficient, board members participate in the strategic planning, review the organization’s vision and mission – all in service of helping to determine the trajectory of the organization. 

A note for new board members:

This is a big responsibility, one to be taken seriously. As a board member, it’s important that you have both a thorough understanding of the mission of the organization and also of its operations, programs, staff, artists, constituencies, and history. 

Give yourself time. Express curiosity. Book a call or a luncheon with a key representative to spur your learning process!

Many a new board member has come into their first official meeting loaded with new ideas that are not based on a fundamental understanding of what’s happening today and what happened in the recent past. Thus, their ideas, which may seem original and exciting at first glance, don’t go far. This can happen because the idea is something that was tried a year or two ago and failed to yield the hoped-for outcomes. Or, it may be because the idea requires access to resources that are currently far beyond the organization’s reach. 

This is not to say new board members shouldn’t come forward with new ideas!  Not at all. Simply take this as a cautionary note: get to know the organization as much as possible so that your ideas can be on target, relevant, and based on realistic possibilities.  

If you want to propose something that’s a radical departure from how things are currently done, something that deviates in substance or magnitude from the current operations or programming of the organization, first spend time with experienced board and/or staff members and thoroughly explore the history. Learn about ideas that have been tried and succeeded, as well as those that have been tried and failed. Learn what the biggest problems are. Consider the currently available resources. If your ideas would require an influx of new resources, identify a potential path to obtaining them.

Two
Hiring the E.D. or Lead Executive

Members of the board may form a sub-committee that covers the recruitment and selection of the Executive Director. The board is also responsible for the supervision of the executive director’s work.

Helping to select the Executive Director is one of the most impactful roles you can play in an organization’s development. The person who takes the helm may be there for years, and your participation in identifying the right person is a way of extending your own influence and ideas even beyond your tenure as a board member.

If you’re considering joining a new board, find out where things stand with the existing E.D.  This is an important way of assessing the health of the organization and whether it’s a good fit for you. If it’s a young organization, they may be preparing to hire their very first E.D. after being run primarily by volunteers. They may be transitioning to a professional E.D. after having been run by the founders for some time – a tricky transition for any organization. On the other hand, perhaps you’re joining an established organization with an E.D. who’s been in place for some years, which can point to stability, but can also signal stagnation and being stuck in a particular way of thinking and operating.  These are things for you to know as a new board member!

If you end up serving on a committee that is selecting a new E.D., perhaps the most important thing you can do is become crystal clear about the short- and long-term objectives of the organization, and then talk to other board members about what kind of person they think is most likely to steer your nonprofit in this direction.

Here’s a cautionary tale:  An unnamed foundation in the Southeast was, about 20 years ago, looking for a new E.D. after operating effectively for 5 or 6 years under the leadership of its founder, who had gifted a sizeable endowment to establish the foundation in the first place. The board was diverse and worked well together; however, with the passing of the baton from the founder to an unknown new person, they had NOT completely determined which kind of person they needed at the helm in order to move forward.  After several days of interviews, a woman was hired who had a massive marketing background but almost no credibility in the community the foundation was serving, and no contacts in that community. She had impressed many of the board members with her slick presentation and big money ideas, and she was hired. However, very soon thereafter, a group of board  members who believed this was a mistake went to the founder and expressed their concerns.  Almost immediately, once the founder had the chance to weigh in, clarifying her ideas about future priorities, the new hiree was let go and replaced with a much less “slick” person, a woman who had decades of experience working within the community being served by the foundation. She stayed with this foundation for over 15 years and led it to be a strong and effective funding source for hundreds of women artists, while standing for the principles on which the foundation was originally founded.  

Three
Financial Oversight

Board members should know the organization’s financial situation. This information is usually reviewed during regular board meetings. Many boards have a financial committee that prepares financial documents for presentation to the full board. Board members review profit and loss statements and balance sheets regularly. The board also helps to create and approve the operating budget for the coming year.

Staying abreast of both the obligations and opportunities financially for your organization is one of the best ways to be a good steward of its future stability and its ability to fulfill its mission.

Four
Provide Resources

 Board members ensure the organization has the financial and other resources to conduct its business. This can be done by providing contacts to help with organizational management, introducing the organization to funding sources, and making personal financial contributions. In many cases, an annual donation from each board member is required.

At times you may find that your contacts in the community are of real significance to your nonprofit. Sharing your influence can help in multiple areas, including obtaining press coverage, finding a space from which to operate, recruiting talented volunteers, identifying donors of both funds and inkind contributions, providing introductions to potential partners and other significant community members, and attracting the right people at the right time to provide technical assistance.

Five
Legal Compliance & Obligations

Board members should monitor the organization’s registrations, insurance requirements, and governance in compliance with federal, state, and local guidelines. Has the annual tax return been filed? Is the state’s charitable registry application up to date? Is the organization’s federal and state nonprofit status current?

Six
Public Standing

Board members represent the organization to the public. They are often called upon to solicit donors, meet with funding agencies, and appear at public events on the organization’s behalf.

This can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of serving on a volunteer board of directors – especially if you enjoy socializing, public speaking, or simply bending the ear of a friend at a fundraising event! When board members can appear and effectively represent the organization, it provides the community-at-large with a broader picture of who is interested in its success!

Seven
Recruit and Orient Board Members

Board members are often the best and most efficient resources when recruiting and orienting new board members. They work together to create the desired profile for new members. 

Once new members are in place, experienced board members must help to explain expectations, history, and other valuable information about how the body operates. Sometimes, more experienced members are assigned as “mentors” to assist with orientation. They meet regularly and help new members to decide where to place their focus.

The more steeped you become in your organization’s mission, objectives, successes, strong points and challenges, the clearer you will be about the sort of person who could lend a hand in a meaningful way as a new board member.  Because members usually rotate off on a regular basis (often, but not always, every three years), it’s a reality of the nonprofit world that you’re always keeping an eye and ear open for the next round of inductees. After all, it’s the Board of Directors that looks out for the longterm stability and sustainability of a nonprofit organization, helping it to stay alive and viable for as long as it continues to serve the community.