4. • Must be strategic
• Board and staff leaders actively engaged
– Needs assessment
– Prospect identification
– Recruiting strategy
• The right candidate must be
– Passionate about mission and committed to you
– Should fill targeted skill needs and connections
– Aligned (interests and priorities) with your mission
• Be clear about expectations
• Assess interest and fit
• Synergy essential for success—not one sided
6. • Orientation
– Meet Board and staff leadership
– Discuss institution’s vision and goals
• Further discuss expectations
– Number of meetings, committee assignments, etc.
• Museum tour (front and back of house)
– Lay seeds of key messages
• Listen and learn
– Interests, concerns, opportunities to help
• All new Board members serve on Development
Committee for first year
15. Board Engagement Actions
• Staff Relationship Manager (RM) assigned to
each Board member
• Initial 1:1 meetings with CDO, RM and Board
member
• Regular contact with RM
• “One point of contact” removes friction
• Call out examples of Board member efforts
• Annually ask for feedback
Editor's Notes
I work in a large organization with a $24M per year operating budget governed by a 30+ member Board of Directors
While that is the lens I look through in my day job, I have also served on several Board of smaller organizations with operating budgets of $500k to $2M.
From my experience on both sides of governance (Board and staff), I can tell you that the principals we will discuss are relevant for all sizes and types of non-profit organizations.
Successful Board engagement is a partnership.
The best results are achieved when the Board and staff work collaboratively towards a common goal.
I have heard many non-profit leaders complain about their Boards; we need to stop complaining
The quality of our Board, it’s effectiveness and impact are a direct result of what we put into the relationship
It must be viewed as a “partnership” from both sides
-The best Board members must be sought out, they rarely just appear at your doorstep
-Busy and successful people should not be shied away from—they know how to get things done
-It’s essential to be strategic in Board recruiting
-Staff and Board leadership must both be engaged in the process
-Don’t be afraid to ask: “Why do they want to join your Board?”
-Part sales/part interview
-Be clear about expectations from the beginning and why you think they may be a good candidate
-Do not be shy about discussing financial expectations (and other expectations)
-Future surprises do not contribute to a strong relationship
-Make sure the candidate is a good fit for the Board and the institution (the wrong choice can have a chilling effect on overall Board engagement)
-Setting up the relationship for success from the beginning
-What you put into the relationship from the beginning correlates directly to future effectiveness
-Board engagement must be managed; it doesn’t happen by itself
-For the Board to be fully effective, they must be engaged
-This responsibility cannot be delegated, it must be owned by the CEO and the CDO
-Other relationship managers on staff can help, and you need them to, but the CEO and CDO
must ultimately own and lead Board engagement in collaboration with Board leadership
-It’s an investment
I literally heard a CEO of a Board I served on say this.
And the organization actually tried it.
Did it work? NO
-Board members need to be inspired to be effective fundraisiers
-Fundraising is rarely the number one activity that everyone wants to do
-As non-profit leaders charged with engaging our Boards and volunteers, we need to motivate them with positive encouragement and inspiration—we can’t legislate engagement, we need to inspire it
-That said, we have to be balanced in our messages: we must acknowledge challenges and prepare Board members/volunteers to meet them
-If we only “blue sky” our messages, we are setting our Boards and volunteers up for disappointment, which ultimately leads to frustration and disengagement
-Relationships must be managed: they don’t just happen by themselves
-What you get out of the relationship is reflective of what you invest
-This is true of all relationships: funders, staff and Board. In other words treat Board relationships with the same importance of donors and staff
I have used this framework for years in managing my staff and have found it’s really no different for volunteers and Boards.
If something isn’t working—someone is disengaged, it is usually a breakdown of one or more of these categories.
And in reality, this framework is just good Donor Centered practicce; and Board members are donors: time, talent, treasure
In the Board context, I mean:
-Hope: Confidence in organization; belief in mission; plan/vision for the future; success
-Trust: organizational transparency; fiscal reporting and management; honesty about challenges; confidence in staff and Board leadership
Feeling valued: acknowledge and thank Board members for their efforts; congratulate them when they are successful: don’t be afraid to give credit
Feeling competent: train Board members in fundraising and relationship management; ensure they have good materials; are well briefed, have good research—are basically set up to be successful; celebrate success and commiserate and coach through turn-downs
-Failure of any one of these can lead to disengagement
-As non-profit leaders: this is great advice to us; particularly when seeking to motivate and inspire our volunteers and Boards
When managing relationships: one size fits all . . . does not work
-Each Board member will need a personalized approach
-No two are alike, they have different styles, needs, talents and connections
-You need to find out what they need from you and your team to be successful as a Board member and to find out how they want to be managed: listening and understanding are essential
Taking it down to a tactical level, these are successful actions we have employed at Pacific Science Center
RM assignment
One point of contact removes friction and makes it easier for Board member to know who to call with a lead—e.g. RM may be an MGO but is point of contact for any gift source the Board member may have (Foundation, Corporation, etc.)
Call out examples of the type of actions we want Board members to make—use specific examples—ask those Board members to tell what they did and how they did it
