By Joyce Penland, CFRE
As a knowledgeable nonprofit executive, you know that having a passionate, involved and supportive Board of directors is essential to the long-term health of your organization. Nonprofits thrive when they can motivate and engage an influential Board of directors to embrace your vision and mission and who will work as ambassadors for you.
So how do you go about building a Board of caring, involved and philanthropic individuals? It starts with you.
Your first step is to answer these questions:
- Does your current Board represent differing spheres of influence?
- Does it have expertise in various areas that are valuable to your agency? These include legal, accounting, marketing, construction (especially as you consider adding to your present facilities), human resources, banking, fundraising, etc.
- Do your Board members have influence? Do they personally have affluence or know others of affluence?
After looking carefully at the current makeup of your Board, you need to bring together your nominating committee to help brainstorm names for your nonprofit Board. If you don’t have a nominating committee, establish one. Its role is to bring viable names to the table for discussion and informal “vetting.” Finding the right people to serve on your organization’s Board goes beyond, “Hey, I have a neighbor who’s not doing anything these days, I’ll bet he would help us.”
We cannot overemphasize the importance of the nominating process. Too often boards simply rely on the Executive Director to come up with new names for Board members. Or, Board members quickly rush to add a friend or colleague to the Board without truly knowing how that person will impact the Board’s makeup. The vetting process is time-consuming, but it is worth the effort to bring persons to the Board who can make a positive impact.
We recommend getting to know your potential Board candidates through a series of sessions known as “dating” your prospects. Such dates include giving current Board members an opportunity to meet the prospective candidates over coffee or lunch, and to listen carefully to the prospective Board members’ thoughts about your organization. Ask questions about their passions, their current involvement with other agencies, and their all-important “sphere of influence.” The “dating” period also allows the candidates to get to know the nonprofit through tours of your facilities, the sharing of your strategic plan, and discussions of your vision for the organization’s future. After a series of dates, you and your nominating committee can narrow the list to the most viable candidates who can bring the most value to your Board.
Keeping a well-cultivated “short list” of potential Board members will help you fill unexpected vacancies that occur, as well as to expand your current Board with new strength, renewed energy and increased “reach” to potential new funders.
Need to boost the influence, affluence, and “reach” of your current Board? It starts with you. And if we, at Bacon Lee & Associates, can help you identify more ways to find new Board members, contact us at www.baconlee.com