
Sooner or Later You’ll Be Asked to Join a Nonprofit Board of Directors. Before You Say “Yes” Read This First
Assuming you’re 1) gainfully employed (or gainfully retired), 2) your reputation is intact, and 3) you’re younger than me (since I’m 82, you probably qualify), you’re bound to receive the following phone call:
“Hi, fill-in-your-name, this is fill-in-the-caller’s name of fill-in-the-blank organization that the caller represents. We’re a 501 © 3 nonprofit, I’m the Board Chair (or Executive Director) and your name has been suggested as a potential board member. Can we meet and discuss this opportunity?”
Then this message strokes your ego because an organization with a high-minded mission wants you to be part of their team. So you meet with the caller and discuss the opportunity, and the meeting goes well. You’re especially impressed because the person you met with is passionate and well-spoken. Finally, since the opportunity to give back is compelling and since board membership on this fine organization will look good on your Linkedin page, you say “yes.” Sign me up.
And then you attend the first meeting and realize you’ve made the Big One. You shoulda dug deeper.
Fess up, has this ever happened to you?
Before we go further, let me say this; the role that nonprofits, aka NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) play in making the world and your community a better place to live is hugely awesome and vastly under-appreciated. I’ve served on a dozen or so such boards as well as starting several from scratch, and the good ones can be exhilarating and fun while the bad ones can be a pain in the kuester. So, unless you’re someone who enjoys fixing things that are busted, you need to know how to tell a good board from a bad one.
Do not underestimate the importance of the Board of Directors in the success of an NGO, by the way. Boards can, and almost always do, make or break the organization. They make or break the organization because they have the final word regarding everything that goes on within it, from hiring the executive director, to keeping her on track, to firing her, to being responsible for the financials, along with everything in between.
The problem is that too many NGO boards fall into the mediocre-to-dysfunctional range, yet you, if you’re like most of us, want something better than that. However, you agreed to serve — typically for three years — and you’re not the type that quits. So you hang on, until finally, three long years later, your term grinds to a halt and you gracefully bow out, having wasted far too much of your valuable time, while accomplishing next to nothing. As a result you decide you’ll never join a board again because you had such a miserable experience, which means that you lose and so does your community.
What could, or should, you have done to avoid such a crummy experience?
I hope you’re OK with lists, because here’s a short one:
· If you initially met with the Board Chair, then you should also have met with the E.D. (Executive Director). And vice versa, if your first meeting was with the E.D. Remember, most Board Chairs are temporary but most E.D.’s are going to be around for a while. If the E.D. doesn’t pass muster, don’t sign on, even though the Board Chair might have wowed you. (Unless you want to do some serious repair work, which would, assumedly, include terminating the E.D.)
· Ask the E.D. — not the Board Chair — the following questions (among others): What, in your eyes, is the role of the board? Is the board currently fulfilling that role? What term am I signing up for? (Usually three years). What skills is the board missing right now? Who will be the next Board Chair? How many board members are serving their second term? Will I be required to make a personal financial commitment? Does the board utilize committees? What is the funding mix of the organization? What is the organization’s number one strategic issue? What keeps you up at night?
· Interview several existing board members. Ask tough questions, look for telling answers. If the board members aren’t effusive about the E.D., that’s a red flag.
· Then attend at least one board meeting. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
Now you’re armed. Ready to make the right decision.
Here’s the number one thing that makes for mediocre or dysfunctional NGO boards: Typically they are heavily populated with people who don’t understand how effective organizations work. These are folks who haven’t been part of a working environment; an environment that includes such attributes as execution, accountability, and teamwork, and all of that organizational kind of stuff that it takes to get things done, correctly and on time.
The primary reason those people are on the board is because they love the organization’s mission, they care deeply about the cause, and they feel good about spending time with people who feel the same way. And so they dutifully attend every meeting and afterwards they go home feeling warm and fuzzy, even though they aren’t giving the E.D. the help she needs. They aren’t bad people and their hearts are in the right place, but they just don’t understand how successful organizations work. And so mediocrity reigns.
Lest this post sounds like that of a nattering nabob of negativism, to quote a late Vice President, serving on a functioning board can be energizing, and besides it’s part of the price we pay to live in our country and be part of a healthy community. We have an obligation to give back, but it’s difficult to give back if we’re stuck in an environment where mediocrity and/or dysfunction are the order of the day.
Healthy NGO boards are a team effort. Similar to business and sports, if the team isn’t right, the organization doesn’t win.Your number one job, as a nonprofit board member, should be to help build the right team.
Jim Schell is an 82 year old, geezer-defying author, entrepreneur, and mentor. Jim writes CoolReads (i.e. condensed books) for his latest startup, Lights On Publishing. One of his CoolReads just happens to be How to Recharge Your Nonprofit: Introducing the Entrepreneurial Team Board of Directors. If interested in learning more about the super-cool topic of nonprofit boards, check out Lightsonpublishing.com or stop by Jim’s Amazon author page.
