Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards
- Determine the organization’s mission and purpose.
- Select the chief executive. Boards must reach consensus on the chief executive’s responsibilities and find the most qualified individual for the position.
- The board must assist in developing the annual budget and ensuring that proper financial controls are in place.
- One of the board’s foremost responsibilities is to provide adequate resources for the organization to fulfill its mission.
- Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability. The board is ultimately responsible for ensuring adherence to legal standards and ethical norms.
- Boards must actively participate in an overall planning process and assist in implementing and monitoring the plan’s goals.
- Recruit and orient new board members and assess board performance
- Enhance the organization’s public standing. The board should clearly articulate the organization’s mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community.
- The boar i’s responsible for determining which programs are consistent with the organization’s mission and to monitoring their effectiveness.
- Support the chief executive and assess his or her performance. The board should ensure that the chief executive has the moral and professional support he or she needs to further the goals of the organization.
Learn more in the Leadership: Governance, Board Policy & Volunteerism class. Click here for the yearly schedule to find the next class.