Does Your Nonprofit Need a Better Board?

The internet is littered with “5 Tips” and “8 Ways” to build a better board. But what does “better” mean? Can standardized definitions even begin to be relevant for the huge variety of nonprofit structures and sizes? And might some of these standardized definitions cause more harm than good?

As consultants, we have opportunities to work with many boards in many different organizations. We don’t have a standard for “better,” but we do encourage current and prospective board members as well as staff members to apply critical questioning to the unique role of the board for their organization.

We offer some questions for your board to consider – and know that not all questions may apply to your organization. When you consider these questions, ask how they might be answered by someone you serve, someone outside of your organization, or by a Millennial / Gen Z.

What do you really mean by “diversity?”

BoardSource’s Leading with Intent reported in 2017 that Executive Directors and Board Chairs were largely dissatisfied with their board’s diversity and yet don’t have diversity as a high priority in board recruitment. We need to ask ourselves some hard questions on “diversity.” Would including diverse board members -- with different perspectives and experience -- push us to more effectively deliver our mission? Are we willing to truly welcome different perspectives? Do we put our own discomfort before the mission?

Does your board have substantive discussion?

Board members are busy people. They’re volunteers. The easy answer is to provide a report-out meeting with a consent agenda – all of which have their appropriate uses. But we need to find ways for our boards to be critical thinkers, learners, and participants in the mission work. Are board members asking for input from different perspectives? Are board members willing to be vulnerable and learn?

Do all your board members understand your financial statements?

No one wants to admit that they’re not really sure what the financial statements mean. Yet we have seen (multiple) organizations where the board has either willfully ignored the financials or can’t interpret them. Can your board members articulate your greatest financial risk area? Do your board members understand which programs are fully funded and which are subsidized by other means? Do they know how long your organization can run if it loses a key funding source?

Is raising funds a board responsibility?

Many swear that this is fundamental. Yet, we don’t think we’ve ever met an ED who’s not wringing their hands about the board’s failure in this area. Board fund raising comes up repeatedly, everyone gets the hangdog look, a new plan is made, and …. little happens. What if organizations changed this expectation? Would you recruit different board members? Would you use that time for different purposes? Could you modify your internal structure to accommodate this shift?

Regardless of your organization’s age, size, or mission focus, keep asking the critical questions. They’ll be different every year.