January 28, 2022
I have led board meetings as a chair. I have participated in board meetings as a member. And I have observed board meetings as a consultant. And it is, as they say, a mixed bag of nuts. Nonprofit boards, often at the urging of consultants, will address board development through structure: Is our board the […]
July 20, 2021
“Tell me and I will forget. Teach me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand.” Typically, board training focuses on the first two parts of this ancient wisdom. We tell board members what they should do, which they are likely to forget. Or we teach them best practices that they are likely […]
October 13, 2020
The Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards created by BoardSource is considered the gold standard in benchmarking board performance. The responsibilities are clear, concrete, and specific. Whether your organization is a startup or has achieved organizational maturity, the ten responsibilities provide a starting point for setting board expectations and for assessing the quality of your […]
April 13, 2016
Sometimes, we need a wider lens to get a fuller view of the landscape. If we want to capture the vastness of the forest, for example, a close-up image of a single tree will not provide the proper perspective. Whatever the object, if we zoom in too tightly, we have no context for understanding the […]
March 27, 2012
I have been asked numerous times by clients to describe what a “good board” looks like. I understand the point of the question – what is the right size, what are the right committees, etc. But asking what a board should look like misses the more important point, which is this: a good board is […]
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