Building the Board Your Organization Needs

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Building the Board Your Organization Needs

• Presented by Indiana Youth Institute
• Community Foundation of Howard County 3/8/2007

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Non-Profit The Life Cycles Model
Advancing
Operational
Decline
Turnaround
Developing
Terminal
Idea
Life Cycles Model
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(No Transcript)
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Who owns the Organization?

• According to the state of Indiana and the US
  Government, the board of directors are the
  Owners of the organization.
• Board members are the gate keepers and assure
  that the mission, vision and values are in line
  with community needs and expectations.

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The Board

• Authorized by the state and the organizations
  supporters, the board governs the life of the
  club
• establishes mission and direction, ensures the
  necessary resources, and develops guiding
  principles.
• retains ultimate responsibility and power
• is accountable to the public trust and to the
  clubs constituencies.

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BOARD DEVELOPMENT IS THE KEY!!
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The Chief Professional Officer

• Authorized by the board, the chief professional
  officer manages the daily affairs of the
  organization.
• supports the board with strategic information,
  ideas and connections
• manages the affairs of the organizaton by
  ensuring appropriate planning, coordination and
  implementation of the program established by the
  board to support the mission
• retains immediate, or operational responsibility
  and power.

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CPO (Executive Director, President, CEO)

• Recommend Annual Objectives.
• Plan Implement Programs.
• Prepare Budget.
• Manage Budget.
• Employ Supervise Staff.
• Implement Board Community Decisions.
• Coordinate Resource Development Effort.

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Board Responsibilities

• Set Policy.
• Resource Acquisition.
• Assurance of Effective Leadership Planning.
• Interpret Agency to Community.
• Recruit New Board Members.
• Sign Legal Documents.
• Approve Budget.
• Employ and Evaluate CPO.

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Board Development Process

• Identify Board profiling requires the board to
  assess its skill sets and characteristics to
  learn where there are gaps that need to be
  filled.
• Recruiting Once the board identifies the gaps,
  a list of prospective board members is developed
  and reviewed based on the needs of the
  organization.

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Board Development Process

• Orientation New board members need an
  orientation to learn about the agency and also
  what the expectations and responsibilities of
  being a board member are.
• Engage Board members need to be and feel
  connected to the organization and the mission.

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Board Development Process

• Education All board members need continuing
  education. The board leadership, staff and
  volunteers need to continue being educated on
  trends, new programs and legislation that impacts
  their agency or funding streams.

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Board Development Process

• Evaluate Your Organization is only as strong as
  its board. Constant evaluation of programs,
  funding sources and staff and board effectiveness
  is critical to long term survival.
• Celebrate Board volunteers deserve to be
  recognized personally and publicly for their
  efforts.

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Roles of the Board

• Duty of Care Using your best judgment. It does
  not mean being perfect or not making mistakes.
  Have you used reasonable caution in making
  decisions?
• Duty of Loyalty Putting your personal and
  professional interests aside for the good of the
  organization.

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Roles of the Board

• Duty of Obedience Using funds for the purposes
  for which they were given. Stay true to mission
  and focused on program development. Follow all
  laws and regulations that apply to non-profit
  work.

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In a nutshell

• Determine mission/Identity
• Select/Evaluate CPO
• Ensure strategic planning process
• Ensure adequate resources
• Manage resources effectively
• Enhance community standing
• Ensure legal/ethical integrity
• Board is self-perpetuating

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Rule of thumb

• Good Program Results
• Build and attract great boards
• Which raise lots of dollars
• Which are then re-invested back into program
  expansion.

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Top Ten Key Characteristics of Strong Boards

• Strong Committees that do the work of the board
• Outstanding Board orientation/engagement
• Establish a planning culture.
• Develop strong community leaders who have skill
  sets to grow organization
• Keep board meetings focused and meaningful

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Top Ten Continued

• CEO-Board President must communicate
• 100 of the board gives financially
• Mission/Vision/Value statements are read before
  each board meeting. They guide your decision
  making process
• Be an ambassador. Keep the agency in your
  Frontal Lobes.
• Own dont rent.

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Engaging the Board Member

• Make the time to attend meetings and programs.
• Become a learner. Trends, non-profit work,
  funding issues.
• Respect the staff and hold them accountable for
  results.
• See the big picture
• Have Courage