What Makes a Truly Effective Non-profit Board?
Since 2006, tax-exempt organizations of all sizes have been required by the IRS to file a Form 990 approved by all board members. Failure to do so for 3-consecutive years can lead to revocation of their tax-exempt status. Two-years after these tightened requirements, the worst recession in our lifetime caused a perfect storm of declining resources and increasing demands on non-profit organizations.
At One Page Solutions (OPS), we were initially surprised to receive even more inquiries from prospective strategic planning non-profit clients. Then we learned that their Boards were urging the development of even more focused strategic plans to ensure that the Board and Management were fully aligned on the best way to achieve their mission despite these new headwinds.
Since 2001, OPS has helped 75+ unique non-profit organizations develop their One Page Strategic Planâ. All of us at OPS have also served on and led many volunteer non-profit Boards. We have learned a great deal over this time about best practices, passive neglect, or outright worst practices. Even best efforts by the Management to build an exceptional strategic plan can be undermined if the Board is not by their side to Inform, Inspire and help Resource the chosen strategic priorities for achieving future success.
We codified what we believe are the 10 Characteristics of Highly Effective Non-Profit Boards, summarized below and linked in more detail to this month’s One Page Brief:
The Organization’s Mission and the Board’s Role in advancing it are clearly defined.
The Role & Expectations of each Board Member are shared and clearly understood.
There is a well-defined process for Board Member selection, term limits, & succession.
There is a robust and timely new Board Member Orientation program.
There is a well-defined process for Election & Selection of Officers and Committee Chairs.
Best practices are followed for Timing, Pre-reading, Agenda & Follow-up for all Meetings.
There is a robust Strategic Plan in place, properly Resourced and Renewed regularly.
Board Members are regularly engaged by Management between meetings to remain informed.
An annual self-assessment by all members & formal review of the CEO is completed.
The Board sees itself as “servant leaders” and models the desired values and behaviors.
We have developed more detailed Board Retreat materials and tools to execute each of the above characteristics. We have used these with our strategic planning clients and their Boards to help them more effectively to execute their most critical strategic priorities.