Nonprofit Board Roles, On the Board vs. On Board

The Cool Table, How to Build
and Empower Your Board for
Long Lasting Financial
Success!

Rebecca Gordon, CFRE
rebecca@rebeccagordon.org
www.rebeccagordon.org
573-338-3773

@rgordongor6

facebook.com/RebeccaGordon
Group

Welcome!

Who Is Here?

@rgordongroup facebook.com/RebeccaGordonGroup www.rebeccagordongroup.org

Where are we heading today?


ENGAGED:
Strategies to Engage and
Energize Your Board of
Directors

On the Board vs. On Board


Though many people are not aware of it,
the nonprofit industry is an enormous
contributor to the American
economy. Nonprofits employ over 13.5
million individuals, roughly 10% of the
country’s workforce and in 2012,
charitable giving totaled over 346 billion
dollars, a 7.5% increase over 2010.

To provide a comparison, more people
work in the nonprofit sector than in the
finance industry, including insurance and
real estate combined.
From the Independent Sector and
Atlas of Giving


What are the biggest challenges with
your board?

Building?

Engaging?

Empowering?


Service:

Contribution to the welfare
of others. The act of serving
or a helpful act.

Source – Merriam-Webster
dictionary


Development:
The total process by which an
organization increase public
understanding of its mission
and acquires financial support
for its programs.

Source: AFP Fundraising
Dictionary

The Secret to Engaging
YOUR Board.


“Feeling good
is what
nonprofits
sell.”
Seth Godin, Author


Communication is KEY to cracking
the secret!
Communication Includes:


“The single biggest problem in
communication is the illusion
that it has taken place”

George Bernard Shaw


The Channel of
Communication – Who is
communicating?
•Staff
•Board Peer
•Community Members


What are the Channels of
Communication?

• Board
Meetings
• Newsletters
• Email
• Social Media
• Phone

* Communication
is personal…


Information Seeking Behavior
Where do we seek our
information?


Intervening Variables…
•Thousands of Messages
•Deadlines
•Competing Interests
•Family
•Work
•Other issues


Top of Mind Awareness – Created
and Reinforced by the organization
and its leadership.
First position is important because the
business that is in the first position is 2X more
profitable than the business in 2nd position and
4X more profitable than the business in 3rd
position.
Mark Dahl
Accountable Marketing Research Group


Okay, that’s
marketing –
but how do we
translate this
to engaging
our board?


Powerful contributions are made
when: People are in touch with their
purpose, their vision and with the
difference they make.

When it is clear that a board member’s
goals are clear and ATTAINABLE –
they are engaged to succeed!
Lynne Twist – Fundraising From the Heart


Your Communication:
You have an opportunity to empower
people to feel like a super hero.

To cause a
connection that
deeply aligns
with that
person’s highest
ideas and
values.


So What Does All of this Mean?
Have you ever asked your board
members…

WHY THIS ORGANIZATION?

WHY THIS BOARD?

WHY NOW?

Listen to their responses:
Board Members are our biggest
donors, advocates, sponsors,
partners.

An engaged board starts with
board members who feel
successful and know how their
contributions impact the
organization.


Tools for Board Engagement
Success
Board Mentoring

Succession Planning

Board Elections

Term Limits

The Power of “Bless
and Release”

Pots of Gold!
Board
engagement is
about -
connecting a
board members
passion, their
motivations, with
our mission.


In the board room…..

As the leader in your organization, you must take stock
using the 3 A’s:

•Altitude
• Vision (30,000 feet) – THE WHY
•Attitude
• Strategy (14,000 feet) – THE WHAT
•Action
• Execution (On the ground) – THE EXECUTION


Altitude

• Where are the majority of your
board members focused at the
moment?
• Where should they be focused?

Where are we in moving our
vision, mission and goals
forward?


Attitude

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING….the attitude of
your Board, as well as your attitude toward
your board, are literally, everything!
• If you feed your board every detail and
tons of the minutiae at board meetings
then that will be their attitude.

3 ROLES for your Board
1. CHAMPION …for your cause.
2. INVITE….others to get engaged.
3. INVEST…with a Commensurate
Commitment


ACTION

• Get the right people on the bus’
(BOARD) and the WRONG people
off the bus (BOARD)
• Change the way you run your
meeting – focus on the important
things.
• Visit with each Board Member
and go over their 3 roles!


Bottom Line…..

• Your Board, as a collective whole,
should beg engaged only at
30,000 feet around the vision and
the message and goals.
• Individual board members should
be engaged as individuals at the
STRATEGY level.
• No one should be involved in the
“details”of the EXECUTION.


THANK YOU!

Rebecca Gordon, CFRE
rebecca@rebeccagordon.org
www.rebeccagordongroup.org
573-338-3773

@rgordongor6


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