Boards of Directors: Recruitment, training,
and evaluation
 Causes of Board Absenteeism and
What You Can Do About It
While no one would find fault with a director or trustee who
misses an occasional meeting due to unforeseen circumstances,
the morale and the work of the board can be compromised by
persistent absenteeism by one or more board members. In this
article, I outline list four causes of persistent absenteeism
and five recommendations for how to deal with them.
What Nonprofit Boards Can
Learn from Penelope Burk
In interviews with many donor, Penelope Burk learned that they want
three
things:
-
to be thanked promptly with
some form of meaningful acknowledgement;
-
to be reassured that their
donation would be used for the purpose they intended; and
-
to receive a report on the
results of their last gift before they are asked for the next one.
Board members deserve no
less. This article describes how to apply these principles to recruit
and retain great board members.
Board
Application Form.
To build a strong and effective board, you must recruit and select
volunteer board members with the same diligence you would apply to any
other important position. Identify the skills you need for your board
and modify the form as needed
Checklist
for the Chairperson
Use this checklist to help your board or committee work more
efficiently and effectively
Click here for pdf format
A
Strategy for Building Governance Capacity suggests that you devote
one year to improving board performance in each of three categories:
assuring integrity and accountability; planning and evaluation; and
acquisition and management of financial resources
What
You Need to Know about our Board (help sheet). A
template for an information sheet for initial contact with prospective
board members.
Governance
Checkup (help
sheet). Twenty questions to help you determine what training or action
your board needs to improve its governance
Seven Questions
You Should Ask Before Joining A Board How to tell if you should accept an invitation to join a
Board.
Making
the Best Use of Self-Evaluation Questionnaires
There are many board self-assessment tools in print and online. Don't
try to administer any of them before you read this.
How much money should a
nonprofit organization keep in a reserve fund?
Planning & Evaluation
What
is Strategic Planning (help sheet) Basic introduction to the process
of strategic planning and the role of the consultant.
Get
Ready For Strategic Planning
In
a rapidly changing world, it is important to have clear goals for our
organizations and to regularly review our progress. The steps in strategic
planning provide a framework for the board to clarify organizational goals and
evaluate different strategies for achieving those goals. This Help-Sheet lists
the major steps in strategic planning, focusing on the role of the Board
of Directors.
Linking
Resources
to Results (Treasury Board report).
Approaches, innovations and good practices that could be applied in the
federal government
Governance Models
Governance
Models (article). Describes five different ways that Boards see their
jobs.
What EXACTLY is
the Board's Job (article) My rant on the idea that there is only one
true way to run a board of directors (subscription to CharityChannel is
required).
Executive
Committees (article) An increasing number of organizations have
disbanded their Executive Committee. Governance Matters asks why.
Board Job descriptions
President or Chair
(help sheet). A generic job description for the President or Chairperson
of a voluntary Board of Directors.
Secretary
(help sheet). A generic job description for the Secretary of a
voluntary Board of Directors.
Meetings
What is the procedure for handling
confidential matters?
What is a "Consent Agenda" and how
will it make our meetings go faster?
How
to Be a Great Chairperson: What you need to know to run
effective, efficient, friendly board meetings.
Employment Issues
Evaluating the Executive Director is one of
the most challenging jobs for a Board of Directors. Here are some
resources that you might find useful
360_degree_questionnaire.pdf (Adobe Acrobat format only): A template
for creating questionnaires to obtain feedback related to Executive
Director performance from board members, sister agencies, funders, and
employees. The results can be part of the performance appraisal of the
CEO. Applies some principles of John Carver's Policy Governance model.
Major
Oversight : Marilyn Dickey's article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on
reviewing the performance of the Executive Director. I give my views on the
"360 degree" approach to evaluation. (links to Chronicle of
Philanthropy website)
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