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Ten Ways to Boost Your Board

By Charles S. Whelan, Jr.

As your organization seeks the resources needed to underwrite the vision for the future, here are some suggestions on very practical things that you can do to build a stronger and more vibrant Board.

1  Develop a Board Profile   As you look ahead as an organization, one of the key questions you should be asking yourself is: What is our vision for the organization and what skill sets, capabilities, and access will we need on our Board if we are to realize our vision? Additionally, you should be asking what is an appropriate size for our Board; what geographic distribution do we want; and, how closely does our Board reflect the racial and ethnic diversity and the gender of our service population and community.

It is important to recognize that the Board Profile will change over time. If your organization is embarking on the development of a new building; you will want skill sets that contribute to the success of this project – people with experience in design, construction and cost control, perhaps. At other times different skills and experience will be necessary. For instance, you’ll need more sophisticated asset management skills as your endowment grows.

2  Develop a Written Job Description  Recruiting people to fill Board assignments is very much like executive recruiting. You need a clear definition of the job in writing so that your leadership is in agreement with respect to the requirements of Board membership. Of equal importance, with a written job description, the prospective Board member will have a clear sense of what is expected of a Board member before he or she agrees to accept the responsibilities of Board membership.

3  Install a Serious, Goal Oriented Nominating Process  Visualize what you would like your Board to look like in three-or-five years and then map out a process to get you there. The Nominating Committee’s work is a year round activity – this is a proactive group looking for people that will be committed to your organization and that fulfill the requirements of your Board profile. Be tough, be disciplined. Each person you ask to join your Board should be recruited with a clear set of expectations for the specific role they will be asked to play as a member of your Board.

4  Install a Formal Board Orientation Process  Getting your entire Board – whether it’s 15, 26 or 43 people – on the same page is no easy task. A good, well considered, and serious Board Orientation Process can be an important step in the process of getting your Board focused on your mission, the challenge ahead, and on the role the Board, individually and collectively, must play in advancing that mission. The development of a Board Orientation Kit and the protocol for an Annual Board Orientation Session will assure that all incoming Board members are trained and oriented to the same standard.

5  Define and Communicate the “Give/Get” Responsibilities  The most successful Boards define, in very clear terms, the annual “Give/Get” responsibility of each Board member – and communicate this responsibility before they offer Board membership. They have a declared minimum contribution that they expect from each Board member and they work with each Board member to define their individual fundraising goals.

Defining these roles clearly is especially critical as the organization moves toward a major fundraising campaign. A great many campaigns look to the Board to contribute 25%-40% of the campaign goal. The Board is expected to take responsibility for raising another healthy fraction of the goal. With clearly defined expectations you will have assembled a group that is prepared for and committed to the task.

It is worth noting that while every Board member has a give/get responsibility, not every Board member has the same capacity to give and get. You will purposefully attract a few people to your Board who can make important contributions to the vitality of your programming or who have great contacts in the community that you serve but who are unlikely to lead your fundraising efforts. Their resource development role, however, is no less important. They should be asked to provide financial support at a level that is generous for them. In addition, their help in, for instance, negotiating an institutional partnership or attracting a key person to staff can be invaluable. The key is to find the special talent that each Board member brings to the table.

6  Develop Formal Performance Criteria and a Performance Review Process  Having standards for what is expected from each member of your Board without a parallel way to review the performance of each Board member on an annual basis is akin to having no standards at all. A clear and unambiguous way to evaluate Board performance as well as a mechanism for communicating that evaluation will elevate, in a substantial way, the overall performance of your Board.

7  Establish and Enforce Clear Membership Terms  The most abused best practice in Board development relates to Board terms. For most organizations, one of the more controversial and politically charged issues is the creation and enforcement of Board terms. For far too many organizations there are either no Board terms or the Board terms are not enforced. Without enforced Board terms, deadwood will certainly accumulate, performance expectations carry less weight, and inactivity creeps in.

Board terms relate not only to Board membership but to Board Officers and Committee Chairs as well. Good Board members will not, as a rule, join boards where the avenues to leadership – Officership and Committee Chair roles – are not open. So create the avenues that suggest to new Board members that outstanding performance sets them on the path to Board Leadership.
At the same time, attention should be devoted to fostering a solid and enduring relationship with good Board members whose terms have expired. Service on Board Committees or a special taskforce are but two of the many ways you can keep good people connected and engaged. These people are often among your greatest advocates so your investment in stewarding these relationships is important. Be Creative!

8  Conduct Periodic Board Retreats  With the rush of events in everyone’s busy life, few opportunities present themselves to sit back, to reflect on the lessons learned from recent experience, and to refresh the organization’s outlook for the future. Well organized Board retreats are an excellent way to recharge the Board’s enthusiasm and to refocus their energies for the year ahead. Many organizations use retreats as a way to update their five year strategic plan…refining the course as they progress through the plan.

9 Create the Leadership and Map Out a Succession Plan  With the right people in a room you can make even the most ambitious vision happen. To this end the most successful Boards focus on leadership. You need to ask yourself: Who is going to be the next person to chair your Board; and, Why this is the right person at the right time. You need a succession plan…who is the next in line to be Board Chair and what experience and exposure do we need to give that person so they are ready when the time arrives. Similarly, leadership is centrally important in setting the direction and tone of the Board Committees. The energy spent preparing natural leaders to chair Board Committees is time well spent.

10  Conduct a Board Development Process  Organizations that are serious about Board Development will take the important steps to refresh and re-energize their Board. This process audits the overall health of your Board; it assures that the nine recommendations, outlined above, are effectively in place; it helps you define and communicate an appropriate role, responsibility and growth plan for each Board member; it would help the organization to install an effective way to identify quality Board members; and, finally, it would foster a more dynamic Board recruitment and nominating process.

Charles S. Whelan, Jr., President, The Whelan Group serves as a management and financial advisor to a broad range of educational, cultural and social service organizations.  In the course of his work, Mr. Whelan has helped hundreds of nonprofit organization to shape a new or broader vision for their work, to build stronger and more engaged voluntary Boards, and to develop and implement creative strategies for growth.  Mr. Whelan serves on the Board of several nonprofit organizations that respond to the needs of disadvantaged children and promote peace building in post conflict societies.  For additional information about The Whelan Group, you may visit our website at www.whelangroup.com or send an email to us at: twg@whelangroup.com.

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