Board Issues April 25, 2007

I'm on 4 nonprofit boards. I've seen a lot of issues over the past 7 years of involvement with various nonprofits, and the role of the board and advisory board is usually dysfunctional; in fact, only one of the nonprofit boards I'm involved with currently is in decent shape.

One of the nonprofits I'm involved with is having some board issues. In response, I wrote a bit of a missive, including the following. I'd like to hear what you think about this.

The board exists to advise, direct the ED as a group, and raise money. The Executive Director takes guidance from the Board as a whole and reports to the Board. Board members in this role have no direct oversight of the Executive Director. The Chair opens meetings, moderates meetings, and closes meetings, and has no direct interaction with the Executive Director in that role.

When Board members volunteer to carry out a task or run a program, they do so as Volunteers, not as Board members, and report to the Executive Director. They do not have authority over the Executive Director in any way, and no Board member can or should direct the Executive Director outside the context of a unified Board action.

If we adopt these roles and rules, I think we'll all be happier, more productive and more satisfied. If you are burned out, take a break. Step back. Keep supporting, keep believing, but step back.

I'm not on this particular board. But I started the overall thing and hate to see internal conflict when we have so much external work to do. Or any time, really.

What has your experience been?

Comments

We are getting ready to hire our very first Executive Director. Seeing something like that really helps gain a little perspective... some heads-up on a potential challenge for us. I think what you have there is pretty straight-forward.

The challenge is figuring out how to best leverage the board for the mission, and allow the ED to server the mission with support but not encumbrance by it.

But I wonder--it's different for different organizations. Some are so founder-centric and have weak boards...