Turbocharge Your Board

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Turbocharge Your Board

• Betsy Hills Bush
• Program Officer, Westchester Community Foundation
• Adjunct Professor, Pace University

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Role of Board of Directors

• Legally responsible for the organization
• A corporation shall be managed by its board of
  directors.
• Article 7, sec 701, New York State Non Profit
  Corporation Code
• IRS new 990 form pointedly asks if board has
  reviewed financial information, compensation
  reviews.

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We all know the roles the board is supposed to
play

• According to Fisher Howe¹, who wrote the
  definitive work Welcome to the Board, the seven
  responsibilities are
• ¹ Howe, Fisher. "Welcome to the Board Your
  Guide to Effective Participation" by Jossey-Bass,
  1995

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The seven responsibilities

• Attendance at meetings
• Adherence to Mission
• Hire and fire the Chief Executive
• Oversee finances
• Program oversight and support
• Fund raising
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the board

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But staff at many organizations are disappointed
with the performance of their board members

• Theyre disengaged, never want to do anything,
  dont attend meetings
• Wont fund raise
• Overly intrusive, block good ideas
• Ask too many questions at board meetings

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Board Staff Relationship

• Staff is trained in nonprofit management board
  (most likely) is not.
• Staff attend educational sessions
• Board does not.
• Board members are volunteers, work and family
  commitments often conflict.

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Board members may feel marginalized, unsure of
their roles and responsibilities, and are not
sure where to go for guidance.
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Lets take a trip down memory lane.
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The Good Old Days
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Women also played an important but restricted
role.
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Board membership was an elite institution through
the 1950s

• In 1940, there were only 12,500 charities
  registered with the IRS.

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Then in the 60s everything changed

• Government began funding social programs and
  nonprofits were formed to take the funding and
  run the programs.
• The nonprofits had boards made up of community
  members, not people of wealth
• Nonprofits were formed to effect social change,
  rather than uphold the elite power base.

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How to be a superhero and get paid for it
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The rise of the superheroNonprofit
Founder/Executive Director

• Twilight of the powerful board of directors?

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The number of 501(c)(3)sskyrockets

• In 2008, there were almost 1.9 million
  nonprofits.
• Since 1999, an increase of 53
• In 1999, there were 745 NPOs per 100,000
  households
• In 2008, 1,016 per 100,000 households.
• Source Giving USA 2009

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How to form a NY nonprofit

• Step by step instructions from the Web site
• Citizens Media Law Project
• Step 1 Write out your mission
• Step 2 Figure out your fund raising plan
• Step 3 Choose a business name
• Step 6 Recruit and appoint a board of
  directors

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Board and staff confusion of roles

• Youre asking me to serve on the board as a
  favor, and yet Im the one whose legally
  responsible for documents filed with government
  agencies.
• All you want is my money. You dont want my
  opinion on anything.
• You recruited me for my expertise, but you
  expect me to sit quietly at meetings and rubber
  stamp reports.

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Bringing balance back to the board/staff
relationship

• Look at best practices for boards
• Better Business Bureau Standards
• Independent Sector
• Governance Matters
• Board Source

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Two best practices

• Term limits should be in your by-laws and you
  should adhere to them.
• Boards need fresh blood and the fresh enthusiasm
  that comes with new people seeing the program
  through new eyes.
• Need to constantly cultivate potential members
  will keep board members out there, looking and
  communicating to others.
• Board chairs especially need term limits.

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Best Practices, cont.

• Limit related parties on the board, i.e., married
  couples, parents and children, etc.
• Be wary of the appearance of cliques.
• Both practices are turn offs to potential board
  members.

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Turbo charge your board

• Include them in problem solving
• Communicate, communicate, communicate
• Give them experiences that will help them
  understand your mission
• Place your organizations mission in a global
  context

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Include them in problem solving

• An opportunity for the board to contribute in a
  meaningful way.
• You have to be honest with your board they are
  legally responsible for the agency. Hiding
  information breeds distrust.
• If theres bad news use board members as a
  sounding board before going to outside donors.

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Communicate!

• They need to be constantly updated on programs,
  have an elevator speech to easily explain what
  agency does.
• Board needs to feel confident in talking about
  the agency.
• Take the communication challenge Communicate
  every day with a least one board member.

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Make it an experience

• Younger affluent board member types often
  belong to what I call the Experiential Class
  they want to acquire experiences for themselves
  and for their children. They are intensely
  interested in the world, in other cultures, and
  in understanding big issues.
• Eco tourism vs. beach resort, etc.
• Volunteer on vacation

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How can you give your board an experience?

• What does your agency do that is out of the realm
  of experience for your board?
• Work for a day in a job training program
• Offer a tour of the neighborhoods in which your
  agency works, or from which clients come
• Eat a meal in your soup kitchen

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Tie your programs to larger social issues

• Help your board see that what youre doing has
  global implications no matter how small your
  program.
• Share articles, press reports, web site/national
  organizations concerned with the same issues.

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Example 1

• Education is the civil rights issue of our
  time.
• College graduates earn 1 million more over a
  lifetime than high school graduates
• The US cannot afford to lose the brainpower of
  millions of its young people

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Example 2

• The wonderful thing about education is that no
  one can take it away from you.

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And make your board feel like superheroes, too!