The Leadership Role of Nonprofit Boards

The Leadership Role of Nonprofit Boards Presented to Association of Fundraising Professionals Joan A. Hensleit-Minasian, MA March 29, 2010

Nonprofits in the United States
Over 1.5 million U.S. nonprofits.
Play a vital role in society.
Make up 10% of the US gross domestic product (GDP).

As the number of nonprofits have grown, so
too have the incidents of scandal and/or
organizational collapse.
Fact

Fresno Met Museum Fails

The Fresno Bee
“ From its birth, observers say, the museum
was hampered by an ill-focused mission,
uneven leadership and the lack of a steady
revenue source.”
Russell Clemings & George Hostetter
March 6, 2010

Purpose of the Study
To ascertain the experiences and attitudes
of leaders in the nonprofit community
regarding the role of nonprofit boards.

What Is Good Governance?
The Internal Revenue Service suggests that
“under the rubric of ‘good governance’, is the
development by each organization of a system
of internal controls that is appropriate to the
organization itself.”
Sarah Ingram, 2009

Good Governance is Reflected by…
A clear understanding and public expression of an organization’s mission.
A board with real rules and responsibilities. One that is engaged, informed, independent, and transparent.

Reasons For Ineffective Board Governance
A controlling chief executive.
A board that doesn’t understand the real work of the institution.
Personal board members who lack accountability.
An inability of the board to work as a team.

History
“Tradition has produced boards that spend
more time looking over their shoulder than
over the horizon.”
John Carver, 2006

The Reality
With a plethora of information, training
materials and consultants available, nonprofit
organizations are continually looking outward
for solutions—for someone to show them
how to fix the problem.

Question
What is the role of the board in nonprofit
organizations?

Objectives
To identify current best and effective board practices.
To identify the specific governance issues that prohibit a board from achieving its leadership role.
To identify a systematic approach to transition to a new work model of governance.

Qualities of Boards Effective Boards Ineffective Boards Clear roles (6) Members not engaged (6) Orientation and ongoing training (6) Do not understand roles or responsibilities (6) Diverse (6) Lack of orientation or trainings (4) Uses effective committee structure (5) Lack of diversity (4) Good board and CEO relationship (5) Poor board and CEO relationship (3) Financially supports the organization (5) Bad board meetings (2) Assurance of fiscal health (4) No financial support of organization (2) Focus on mission and vision (3) Lack of confidence in roles (2) Annual review of strategic plan (3) No consistent structure (2) Strategic (3) Staff dependent (2)

Key Themes that Emerged
Roles and responsibilities of the board and staff.
Orientation, education and training.
Diversity.

1. Roles and Responsibilities for the Board and Staff
Good governance provides the systems and support for both the board and the staff to know and embrace clearly defined and delineated roles and responsibilities.
A positive relationship between the board chair and the CEO.

Participant Comments…
“The relationship between the CEO and the board is pivotal in the board achieving its potential leadership role.” (Participant 8)
“Everybody has a role, knows their role, and does their role.” (Participant 2)

2. Orientation, Training & Education
Good governance provides the systems and support for orientation and ongoing board and staff training and education (resulting in confidence in serving in their roles).

Participant Comments
“An effective board practice is the thoughtful recruitment, orientation, and engagement of people in the work that they are confident about.” (Participant 8)
“An effective board is one that pays attention to all the functions of a board including its own development towards excellence.” (Participant 7)

3. Diversity: A Broader View
Good governance embraces diversity (ideological), not just for the sake of diversity, but rather as a means to see through different lenses resulting in approaches to accomplishing a mission that normally be missed.

Participant Comments
“When I talk about diversity, it’s not just cultural diversity. Ultimately, too, it’s ideological and perspective diversity; because even if you get everyone who is different on the outside, but they all think the same – that’s terrible.” (Participant 3)

Observations
Boards can readily identify what they are doing well.
Organizations know what the results of good governance looks like;
They just do not know how to get there.

Looking Forward
“ To achieve significant, visionary community
and global improvement, it will require
different approaches to governance, planning,
program development, and program
sustainability”.
Hildy Gottlieb, 2009

We have the flexibility to develop a system of
internal controls that is appropriate to our
organizations themselves under the rubric of
good governance – that’s where we need to
put our energy!

Recommendations
21 st century thinking.
Fluid governance models.
Mentorship and coaching.

The Leadership Role of Nonprofit Boards Joan A. Hensleit-Minasian, MA [email_address] 559-259-6722

http://www.afp-cv.org	34
http://afp-cv.org	22
http://www.slideshare.net	7
http://dev.afp-cv.org	3

The Leadership Role of Nonprofit Boards

by joanminasian on Apr 19, 2010

Accessibility

Upload Details

Usage Rights

4 Embeds 66

Statistics

The Leadership Role of Nonprofit Boards — Presentation Transcript