Taking Your Nonprofit Board from Good to Great

Tell us about your topic, “Taking your board from Good to Great.”

I’m going to explore how to improve your board with four practical steps. My approach applies to all types of boards by addressing a general framework for how to look at your board and the team working within your nonprofit through a full cycle: from what kind of board do you need at this point in your organization’s lifecycle, to how to focus, structure, recruit, onboard, support, and evaluate.

The role of a board can be complex, and most board members have little experience with comprehensive board development. It can seem overwhelming, but the primary need is to be intentional about your board’s strategy and operations. I will walk you through the overall purpose and role of a board. And I’ll share four practical steps that can help you take your good, okay, or even relatively weak board to the next level by understanding board development and its best practices.

How can you help nonprofit organizations and their boards?

As much as we love our nonprofit executive directors and CEOs, a nonprofit board is essential to the trust, credibility, and success and sustainability of a nonprofit. As a governance expert and fellow active nonprofit board leader, I want to show you how to help your board be a better asset for your organization. And hopefully I will motivate and equip your board to work successfully on the board’s growth and development.

I also want to motivate individual nonprofit leaders and board officers to be better leaders. I’ll introduce a framework that you could bring, even if you’re not an officer or not in charge of the governance. When my clients see this content, they’re inspired to go back and bring it to their team to say:

• Do we have clear board goals?
• How could we go to the next level?
• How could we get better organized to have more impact?

This workshop is an opportunity to bring in an objective process to your organization to improve yourself, improve your board, and improve your nonprofit overall.

Ultimately, the best nonprofits have strong boards. Foundations will tell nonprofit leaders, “We love your mission, but when we’re evaluating where to put our money, we look seriously at the strength of your board.” Having a strong board is an important aspect of nonprofit success, and it is a serious responsibility.

What sorts of challenges or problems could this topic help my board solve?

Nonprofit boards face common obstacles: some of these include time, complexity, lack of intentionality, and lack of process. Even if you recognize the symptoms, it can be difficult to enact change if you don’t understand what the obstacles are.

To break down barriers to understanding, questions you could ask yourselves include:

• How does the board’s role break down to make it feel less undefined or overwhelming?
• How can we identify a focus for the board for what the organization and board needs currently?

When thinking about the three hats of boards (Governance, Strategy, and Doing), sometimes boards don’t know where to start, and sometimes they get stifled and stuck. Best practices come into play when figuring out how to better engage your board for impact.

Ask yourselves:

• Do you have a plan and focus for your board?
• Does that plan and focus tie into a strategic plan or focus of your organization?

What is the most common obstacle that holds a board back from being great?

I think the most important obstacle is lack of intentionality. Boards need to take the time to come together and ask the same questions organizations ask themselves. Even the best board should evaluate itself every 1 – 2 years to gain focus as a team.

I challenge boards to ask themselves:

• Who are we now as a board?
• Where are we? What are the key issues?
• Where are we going?
• What type of board do we need to be now for this organization?

Another piece of intentionality is recognizing your board’s engagement and reasons for lack of leadership or engagement besides the reality that board members have busy lives. You will always have individuals more engaged than others, but if you want to improve that area, you need to be intentional with your board development; and you may need to be very strategic in recruiting for your gaps not just in skill but with willingness to lead.

Strategy 101 is being intentional without overcooking it. Don’t make it overly complex. This is what the four practical steps will help lay out to move you to a Better Board.

Brady Ware Nonprofit Advisors want to help you fulfill your mission with financial health and compliance services and a network of nonprofit consultants who specialize in strategic decision-making.