Is Your Board Effective?
Too often a nonprofit’s board members are relegated to a secondary role – help raise some money, add name value to the letterhead, conduct an obligatory meeting now and then. They generally approve of what the nonprofit is doing and hope that things will go forward as planned.
“Hope is not a strategy,” said Lisa Allison, a former board member of several nonprofits in Florida and elsewhere. “Good governance allows everyone to know their roles and assists with proper communication both internally and externally. It assists a Board in serving the stakeholders fully, properly, and in a transparent manner.”
The foundation of ethical nonprofit governance is serving stakeholders. The public is a crucial stakeholder in nonprofit organizations because they were founded to provide public benefits, and board members serve as the guardians of the public interest.
A fiduciary duty binds board members. They supervise the annual budget, keep tabs on income and outlays, request external audits, and ensure that the organization abides by the law.
Different governance structures are used by nonprofits, including policy boards where the CEO or executive director makes the decisions, management boards where many functional committees are heavily involved, and collaborative or co-op boards where members have equal authority.
No matter the form, Allison reminds that “all have a focus on achieving the organization’s mission and ensuring the organization is stable.” Foundation grants for programs are important but a board is the steward of the nonprofit’s long-term thriving and service to community needs.
What can be done to keep a nonprofit board from going off the rails? Allison, a retired veterinary professional, has a useful prescription. “Revisiting governance and training for the board on a regular basis keeps the organization healthy, like an annual physical. It makes sure everything is functioning properly and hopefully finds and addresses any problems before they spiral out of control.”
Slippage occurs when boards lose sight of the mission, depend on old data or records, ignore tax and legal changes, shrug off serious mistakes by the senior executive or become partisans in internal squabbles. Being alert to all these considerations might sound like drudgery, but Allison affirms that “sitting on a volunteer Board is a reinvestment in my community. It’s a gift, being able to serve, being able to help.” © Copyright 2021 The Grantsmanship Center
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Source: The NonProfit Times The Nonprofit Times has been a preferred partner since 1996 when John Mcllagquhan, Publisher, was a Keynote Speaker at the Fifth Annual Nonprofit Conference and has published information about the Florida Association of Nonprofits in its monthly national publication. https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/grant/the-business-of-nonprofit-governance/