Securing Board Members For Your Nonprofit Organizations

The governing body of a nonprofit organization is crucial to its success as it provides the necessary leadership, planning, accountability and oversight to propel the organization forward. The success of a nonprofit board often hinges on effective planning, policy, meetings and committee work. Board members of Northeast Texas CASA are described as invested in the program and the children they serve.

As Gill has stated “A committee's function is to bring the experience, expertise and judgement of a group of interested and informed individuals to bring a specific area of the corporation's responsibility,” (Gill, 2005). The boards would each research and gather informations, analyze data, come up with affirmative action plans and present these finding, plans and suggestions to the board, the board will then discuss the suggestions and decide on the best course of action. The three committees I would suggest would be financial and risk management committee. a fundraising committee and a program/ service committee that also handles quality assurance. Each of these committees would ensure that key areas of governing is constantly paid attention to. These committees would give board members a sense of purpose as it would utilize their best talents and have them focus their areas of expertise to create strategic plans for each

“The governing board of a non-profit organization holds ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the organization serves its mission and for the overall welfare of the organization itself.” (Worth, 2017) This week’s reading was about how boards of non-profit organizations or better known as “governing boards”, operate and the types of responsibilities they have. Before taking this class, I thought that boards held the same responsibilities and held the same amount of power. Elected boards, self-perpetuating boards, appointed and hybrid, and advisory boards were discussed in this chapter. I was able to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each board. For example, an advantage of a self-perpetuating board would be the board is able

Considering the construction of my organization's board, which is comprised of 51 individuals, ranging from the 30 elected representatives from the organization's largest chapters to the 21 business leaders

What do you see as the ideal relationship between the board and the executive director?

The board of directors is composed of three parts that Holly has created. The first is the Executive Committee. Holly has made herself the Executive Director not only because of her family background, but her special interest in saving the arts and Southwest cultures is a very important moral in her life. The remaining of the Executive Committee are composed of the following members. These people have served for at least three to five years;

The board of a nonprofit organization plays a major role in the organizations processes and effects. Chris Morfas, the Board Chair of the nonprofit organization “California Bicycle Coalition” makes it clear that “it’s the board’s role to establish the long-term strategic direction of the organization: its mission, vision, values and goals” (Best Practices in Board-Staff Relationships). As a board, we are responsible for the direction, oversight and resources for the organization. The board steers the organization as a whole in the right direction, making sure that its mission is being respected and upheld. To do so, the board oversees and monitors the activities and overall behavior of the organization, making certain that no actions done

As world business has changed dramatically during recent years, chargers of business entities, including Non-Profit entities, urged to find a perfect rules in order to enhance their competence within an excellent environment. To fulfill the requirement, the National Center for Non-Profit Board has issued a paper on "Ten Basic Responsibilities of Non-Profit Boards" to clarify the roles and responsibility of the board about 30 years ago. This regulation paper requires ten basic responsibilities including Determine the organization, Select the executive director, Support the executive and review his/her performance, Ensure effective organizational planning, Monitor and strengthen programs and services, Ensure adequate resources, Protect assets and provide financial oversight, Build a competent board, Enhance the organization’s public standing and Ensure legal and ethical integrity (Richard T. Ingram, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, Second Edition (BoardSource 2009). We will first introduce the Board of Director and purpose of Non-Profit Board of Director, then introduce all of ten responsibilities in detail and finally make extension about it.

Being that my nonprofit organization is a dog and cat rescue in Visalia, California, it is important that I develop a plan for organizing and staffing for my organization along with developing the board. As mentioned previously, we are located in the Central Valley in the city of Visalia, California. Now that we have assessed our needs and objectives for the organization, we must now focus on developing a plan for organizing, staffing our organization, and working on the development of our board in order to help the organization be more successful in the future. A big responsibility of being on a board is raising awareness and funds for the organization (Blakemore, 2013).

The need for clarification on the board requirements for a majority of independent directors as it relates to corporate governance is of great importance and would be discussed in this write up.

Board members who have been serving on the nonprofit organization’s board are dedicated to their organization’s mission, but sooner or later, their term will end. Many board members want to continue to help this nonprofit organization reach its mission, which means that they would have to be reelected to the board again. Most board members would be reelected to the organization’s board, but only some board members realize that it is time to give other people an opportunity to serve on the board to share their perspectives on the organization’s mission. Although many nonprofit organizations have started to move towards limiting the number of terms on the board, there are still some nonprofit organizations that have not limited board members’

Nonprofits are still mainly volunteer based but they are now more organized and articulate than ever. Most nonprofits are comprised of a group of people to oversee the volunteers and they are commonly known as the Board of Directors. Sometimes referred to as the board of trustees or the governing board, these people are entrusted with the major decisions of the organization and are responsible for providing leadership and directions for the nonprofit (Arshad). The Board of Directors are usually members of the community that have been elected to act as management and they make major decisions for the organization. These members are the governing body of the nonprofit and they are responsible for overseeing the organization’s activities (Grobman).

When organizations recruit individuals to sit on their board, they recognize that they are competing with other organizations for the select few individuals that have the qualifications to sit on a nonprofit board. To entice individuals to sit on their board opposed to another, not-for-profits tell potential board members that the commitment is minimal, while in reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Board members not only need to show up for meetings, either “give or get” a donation, but they also need to understand how the organization is using their money and how their financial decisions are being portrayed by the outside world. They need to understand the investment portfolio of the organization and believe that the organization is using donor dollars to allow the organization to further their mission.

Members Characteristics – Overall, Hausman did a good job on assembling his board of directors. When determining who will make a good board member there are several things to look for. First a good board has an expert in legal matters, accounting, marketing, human resources, and finance. The only expert missing from RO’s board is a human resources expert. Next it is important to ensure that all board members will be able to regularly attend meetings. While most board members were local, several were not, and it was an area RO could improve. Also for outside members of the board, it is important to have knowledge of the industry and/or target market. With the appointment of the EVP of a large health snack company, Hausman made a good appointment (although location is an issue), but the knowledge that the CEO of the tech company may bring to the table may not be valuable. Finally, it is important to have complimentary personality traits. Overall, the RO’s board of directors is a strong, valuable board.

Among all nonprofit organizations existing, including Public Charities, Foundations, Professional and Trade Organizations, Social Advocacy Organizations, the Trust as a nonprofit seems to be the most viable. Indeed, charitable trust is the first legal form of nonprofit organization (Hopkins, 2013). Its creation usually involves financial services and investment Management Company that stands as its pillar. In this form of nonprofit, the administrator uses trust to fulfill charity purposes. In this logic, we distinguish three types of charitable trusts, which are the charitable remainder, the pooled charitable trust and the charitable trust (Hopkins, 2013).