Choose to Improve

Anyone who has ever worked in a not-for-profit organization governed by a board of directors knows that the organization depends for its success on the strength of its board. Sure, you’ve got to have a strong and capable leader in the person who serves as Executive Director.  But that person needs an equally visionary and supportive board to move the organization forward.  How do you achieve this result?

I won’t pretend for a moment to have all the answers. In my leadership and board member roles, I’ve experienced both functional and dysfunctional boards, so I have some personal experience that is relevant to this question. Many authors with credentials much more impressive than my own have also weighed in on this issue. I will recount their advice, interspersed with my own observations, in three posts about building a strong board, organized as follows:

1. Recruitment Roles of the Board, Its Governance Committee, and the Executive Director
2. Identifying, Nominating and Electing New Board Members
3. Ensuring a Diverse and Inclusive Board

The first of these, on recruitment roles, follows.

Everyone involved in a nonprofit needs to have his or her eyes and ears open for the people in the local community who can help to move current strategic initiatives forward. Ultimately, there are three roles that are instrumental in the process of board recruitment and they are played by the Board Governance Committee, the full Board, and the Executive Director.  We’ll review each role, in turn.

1. building your board: Role of the board governance committee

A strong governance committee is essential to the recruitment and education of good board members. Let us look at what we mean by “governance committee,” who should serve on this committee, ideally, and what duties and responsibilities are within the purview of the committee.

a. why a "governance" and not a "nominating" committee?

Once called a “nominating” committee, today’s “governance” committee is the result of a growing realization that the work of making a strong board does not end with cultivating new members:

“Nominating committee” implies that the only function is to nominate board members for election to the board, but that limits our vision of good governance …. As the name "governance committee" suggests, the focus of what used to be called the "nominating committee" is now on effective board governance, and its role goes well beyond nominating. The committee tasked with keeping the board on track is usually also responsible for ensuring that the nonprofit has effective governance practices, that individual board members are engaged, and that the board as a whole is effectively fulfilling its obligations as a steward of the nonprofit's assets, reputation, financial and human resources, and mission. (Council for Nonprofits, Finding the Right Board Members for your Nonprofit).

That said, if your organization is young and you have a “nominating” committee and not a “governance” committee, that’s fine. But set your sites on growing the nominating committee into a governance committee as the organization matures and begins to hire staff.

B. who should serve on the governance committee?

Your best-connected, respected, and, ideally, most experienced board members who have a good feel for the organization and its current priorities, should serve on the governance committee. One commentator underscores the importance of this idea, noting that: “[y]ou are NOT going to stir interest in the candidates you really want in future board roles unless an individual they respect makes the contact.” (Love, J., 6 Easy Steps to Nonprofit Board Recruitment).  It’s also a good idea, if possible, for the board chair to be an active, not just “ex-officio” member of the committee, given the role the committee plays in addressing current priorities.

c. responsibilities of the governance committee

The governance committee has these responsibilities:

1. To keep the board and individual members focused on particular board responsibilities (e.g., fundraising priorities, advocacy goals) for the next 1 to 2 years based on the organization’s strategic plan (and for more on strategic planning see these posts);
2. To plan for the evolution of the board and its future composition, size and leadership based on the current and anticipated needs of the organization;
3. To ensure that board members receive a proper orientation and to design and implement an ongoing program of board education;
4. To assess and monitor board effectiveness, ensure compliance with conflict of interest laws, and provide counsel to the board chair as to what he or she might do to enhance board performance;
5. To plan for board succession, actively recruiting and shaping future leaders of the board.

(Board Source, Recruiting a Stronger Board).

The responsibility to plan for future composition deserves a bit more discussion, given how critical this can be to the organization’s growth and sustainability. There’s a lot of information floating about that includes board skill matrices and the like that never seem to have a great impact on organizational outcomes. That’s because there’s more to it than just having a board member who fills your need for accounting, finance, marketing, or some other area of expertise.  Joan Garry suggests that the secret to building a strong board lies in being able to identify the following in current board members and prospects:

1. Level of commitment, engagement, fundraising potential, added value;
2. Skills, expertise, nonprofit experience, influence and understanding (e.g., skills in finance, industry knowledge, spheres of influence, connections to potential donors, and understanding of diversity); and
3. Ability to help the organization accomplish its top three priorities this year (e.g., particular expertise, relationships, or affiliations that may be of assistance to the organization right now)

(Garry, J., How to Recruit Board Members Quickly).

2. building your board: the role Other board members

A good governance committee will execute its succession plan by reminding other board members of their responsibilities for cultivating their connections’ interest in the board. Board members should be on the lookout for prospects in the following groups:

• Circles of friends and neighbors
• Professional and business contacts
• Other organizations and their annual reports
• Professional associations
• Major corporations and their community outreach programs
• Local business people
• Local United Way chapters or community foundations
• People who are featured in the news or print media

(Board Source, Recruiting a Stronger Board)

3. building your board: the role of the executive director

Just 73% of chief executives state that they have the right board members to effectively govern the organization. (Barlow, J., Recruiting Board Members).  It's essential, therefore, for the Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer to play a role in: 

• Helping the board draft appropriate criteria for board membership;
• Identifying candidates;
• Nurturing the interest of prospects;
• Consulting with the board during recruitment and expressing concerns as appropriate;
• Briefing candidates; and
• Following a new member’s election with a call and an orientation program.

(BoardSource, Recruiting a Stronger Board, p. 10).  

The bottom line is that everyone should be looking beyond a prospetive board member's skills to his or her motivation to serve, the role he or she can play in fundraising, and how he or she can contribute today toward helping the organization achieve its top three goals for the year.  This presumes, of course, that the organization has engaged in strategic planning and actually established priorities for the year, a topic discussed in these posts.

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Resources

Barlow, J., Recruiting Board Members: A Plan and a Process (Board Effect: May 2, 2016) (Available at: https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/recruiting-board-members/)

BoardSource, Recruiting a Stronger Board (BoardSource: Washington, D.C. (2015))

Council for Nonprofits, Finding the Right Board Members for your Nonprofit (n.d.) (Available at: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/finding-the-right-board-members-your-nonprofit)

Garry, J., The “Recruit New Board Members Fast!” Checklist (n.d.)(Available at: https://www.joangarry.com/recruit-board-members-fast/)

Love, J., 6 Easy Steps to Board Recruitment (Bloomerang: n.d.) (Available at: https://bloomerang.co/blog/nonprofit-board-recruitment-is-as-easy-as-1-2-6/)