Resuscitating your Board

There are times at any nonprofit organization when progress has slowed, stagnation is practically palpable and the institutional vision is blurred or stifled. One can generally trace this lethargy to lackluster leadership from the governing board. The tough question then becomes, “How do we resuscitate the board?”

The specific make-up of the board regarding gender, race, financial means and more, may need to be considered. But our task here is more related to building an “engaged” board than to looking at its demographics.

While it may be clear that a change is needed, how to bring it about is usually less clear. Be aware that organizational change is highly disruptive. It needs to be engineered by the CEO or President or Executive Director and the governing board chair. They must present themselves and their recommendations as a team, so that they may preserve institutional integrity and build trust.

Many seasoned development officers can cite horror stories stemming from the “lone ranger” approach to board leadership. This tack stifles involvement, breeds instability and quickly undermines integrity and unity. A team approach involving multiple board members will energize each of them.

Let’s look at a process that may assist you in resuscitating your board:

1. Set clear criteria. While wealth can be a critically important component of the traits you are looking for in trustees, it should not be considered “the” reason to immediately extend an invitation to join a board. Most outstanding institutions put together a process or plan that makes decisions about trustees far more objective and evident.

Does the following sound familiar as justification for nominating someone? “He/she has a lot of money and knows a lot of people.” Too often people nominate someone for a board using this perception as the primary reason. Not long ago, an organization for which I was consulting added a new board member in this way. In actuality, a new member brought on in such a way is likely far from making a significant gift because he/she was not approached properly and has little passion or knowledge yet about the organization. Therefore, he or she will frustrate the board leadership by not immediately “stepping up” financially.

2. Expect your board members to replace themselves as they rotate off your board. Ask them to refer three individuals who have the same qualifications they do. This should be pointed out when they are asked to serve on the board. In this way, board members help to provide a pool of candidates for consideration.

3. Do not wait to recruit board members only when you need them. This process should be ongoing and dynamic. Additionally, consider placing board candidates on subcommittees so that you may assess their attendance, involvement, team relations and train them for future membership when members are needed.

4. With your candidate pool, initiate a six- to twelve-month evaluation process. During this “get to know you” period, the board chair and one or two other board members should visit with the candidates. Visits could be one-on-one, in groups or a combination of the two approaches. The board members have two goals: introducing the institution to the individual and learning more about the individual.

During these visits, you will want to:

• • Review the current board and mission of your institution

• • Discuss the relevant history and current status of the organization

• • Discuss the unique aspects ofthe institution that set it apart from other like institutions

• • Provide the vision and long-range plans for the organization

• • Describe the duties that are expected of trustees and reviewing the activities of the committees

• • Finally, testify why the visitors are personally committed to serving the organization.

Before the visit, however, the board will want to learn the following about candidates:

• • With which organizations do they currently volunteer?

• • What charitable organizations inspire their financial support and why?

• • What do they currently know about your particular organization?

• • Who are some of their personal and professional contacts?

• • Nearing the end of the process, find out whether serving your institution would be something
    they would seriously consider, if asked.

5. If your organization has a “give or get x amount of money” policy, change it to “give and get” and get rid of the specific amount. Board members should give commensurate to their ability but also work to get others to give at their “peer” level. Additionally, board members should be expected to make the institution one of their charitable giving priorities.

Your nonprofit may be a large enough to have multiple boards that are grooming opportunities for the main governing board. These are ideal places to engage and evaluate future prospective members, similar to using subcommittees.

It’s time to take constructive action when your board members are not attending meetings, not working on a committee or showing other signs of disinterest. This situation did not occur overnight nor will its reversal. But with the right leaders driving change and using the right processes, you can begin to build that engaged team of professionals and volunteers your organization deserves.