Board Development

Board Development: How to Identify, Recruit, Orient and Assess Your Board

Books have been written about the art of cultivating, identifying, asking, and nurturing a strong nonprofit board. (Some great publications on those topics are listed at the end of this section.) While we can’t get into all the details here, we have the following suggestions for the process of shaping your nonprofit’s board into an effective force for good governance.

1. Whose job is it anyway? It may be unclear whose job it is to identify and “invite” prospective board members to join the board. It should be everyone’s job to help identify potential new board members, but it is best if the actual invitation to join a board is extended only by those current board members who have been specifically authorized to extend an invitation, usually after the “Board Governance Committee” (sometimes called the “Board Development Committee”) has vetted a list of potential prospects, and decided not only who should be asked, but also who is the best person to “make the ask.”

• Thoughtful comments on the process of recruiting new board members, and the downsides of making an “ask” prematurely, are shared in this article by Blue Avocado.
• Some advocate for using a board application form that people interested in serving on your organization’s board fill out to indicate their interest. More tips and discussion about that process of recruiting board members are available from Carter McNamara’s Guidelines for Recruiting New Board Members from the Free Management Library.

2. What is a Nominating Committee? Calling the committee that identifies new board members the “Nominating Committee” implies that its only function is to nominate board members for election to the board. In today’s world, there is a recognition that nonprofit board service is about more than just being elected – it’s about constantly learning about the organization, providing stewardship, and becoming the most effective problem solvers and policy-makers possible for the nonprofit. Society expects so much from our volunteer board members – in turn we need to thoughtfully prepare them, and give them lots of support.

The current thinking is that committees that focus on growing the board of directors should be referred to as the “Board Development Committee” or the “Board Governance Committee” for the reason that the focus of such committees goes well beyond nominating, and encompasses everything from evaluating the work of the board, to oversight for policies that the board uses to fulfill its fiduciary and legal obligations.

3. Beyond Orientation. Infrequently, board members will arrive on the board with years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Most often they will have only a passing familiarity with what a nonprofit is all about, but lots of passion for the mission of your organization. Consequently, regularly educating your board members about their important role, and about the nonprofit itself, should be a high priority.

• Should you use a board member agreement? Read guidance from BoardSource about what typically is included in board member agreements.
• More thoughts about “board member contracts” from the Best of Board Cafe.
• New board members definitely need an orientation. But veteran board members do, too! Review this Sample Table of Contents for a board orientation manual that all board members will find useful throughout their tenure.
• Review job descriptions for board members and officers collected by the Free Management Library.
• Great board meetings take some time to plan -- but the rewards of sending out a great board packet will bring you immediate ROI! Read this article from Blue Avocado about what should go into the "board packet" sent to the board before the meeting.
• Inviting staff to board meetings periodically to make short presentations on a program area or a substantive issue is a good way to keep the board engaged and up-to-speed with the current environment and challenges.

4. Finding “the right” board member. The “recruitment” process is really better described as a process of “cultivating” the interest of a potential board member until he or she is ready to accept an invitation to become a board member. Some nonprofits “test drive” potential board members by asking them to serve on a task force first, or to volunteer for one of the nonprofit’s programs. Other nonprofits invite potential board members to attend a board meeting as an invited guest. Need help finding the right board member? Contact your State Association of nonprofits, local United Ways and community foundations, any of which may sponsor or know about board-match programs in your area.

• Bridgestar has written a downloadable guide to nonprofit board recruitment strategies, which provides helpful information to guide a nonprofit in the process of finding the right board members.
• Board Member Connect is an online portal that might help your nonprofit find the right match.

5. Mind the gaps! Step one in building a board might be to conduct an assessment of the current board to identify individual board members’ skills, professional expertise, and life experiences so that you can analyze what strengths you have today – and whether your organization has the type of board to meet challenges in the future. Consider where the organization is today, where it needs to go, and what kind of people should be around the board table to make that happen. For certain nonprofits, specialized financial, or programmatic, expertise might be needed. What kind of inspiring leaders can help bring your board from “good to great?”

• Use a tool, such as this Sample Board Composition Matrix to create a snapshot of the composition of your current board.

Next, analyze where your board’s gaps are in expertise, experience, or diversity, and then make your own “wish-list” of who would be great board members for your organization.

• Review and download sample tools such as benchmarks for effective boards, available from the online library of Governance Matters.

• The National Council of Nonprofits has developed materials suitable to share with board members at an orientation program or board meeting that uses humor to get them to focus on: How to Be a Great Board Member. 

6. Onboard with vigor. Bringing on a terrific board member is only the first step. Make sure the board member becomes engaged in the work of the board and feels that his or her time is well spent. Finding the right committee for the new board member can be helpful to ensure early engagement. Some people join boards to share their professional expertise with the nonprofit. Others want to do something completely different as a volunteer from what they do in their work-a-day-world, so make sure your new board member has an assignment that suits him or her well.  Assign new board members a mentor and use name tags at meetings so that new board members can get to know their colleagues easily. 

• In this article Blue Avocado tackles a delicate question: What to do with a board member who won’t do anything?

Helpful publications on board development from BoardSource.org

• The Board Building Cycle, 2^nd ed. Nine Steps to Finding, Recruiting and Engaging Nonprofit Board Members, by Berit Lakey (BoardSource, 2007)
• Getting on Board with Effective Orientation (BoardSource ebook)
• Recruiting a Stronger Board (BoardSource ebook)

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