Board governance is a tricky subject, but it is worth taking on this topic. Getting your Board’s purpose and function setup correctly is critical to ensuring that your organization can thrive.
Governing boards, advisory boards, and fundraising boards come in all shapes and sizes. Some boards are awesome at what they do, some are ineffectual, while others can be downright destructive. If your board is serving the organization, then great, you can stop reading. If your board could do more (or do less) then this article is for you.
In a nutshell, the board of a non-profit is the owner of the non-profit and they provide oversight in the interest of the public’s trust. Non-profits are built to support a mission or service purpose. There may be staff that is invested, passionate, and carries out the daily work of the non-profit, but it is the board (as an entity, not as individuals) that is the keeper of the mission.
The board’s primary responsibility is to ensure the fulfillment of the mission and that the organization will sustain to fulfill the mission. The sustain part is where the fiduciary responsibility plays into a board’s role. To break this down to even more basic elements, the board should be focused on the Why of an organization along with an evaluation of the What of the organization. They must ensure the Whats are serving the Whys.
One area that the board should not be involved in, except for assessing sustainability and risk, is the How an organization functions. This is the job of the executive director and staff. They figure out and implement the How to achieve the What. It helps if the staff is dedicated to the Why and fully understands how the Whats manifest the Why. The board can help with this through evaluations and feedback.
Operationally the board’s role is to provide general oversight, guidance, and professional expertise. They should also be ambassadors and advocate for the non-profit in the community. I realize many boards are focused on fundraising, this can be a component of what they do, but really fundraising is a How function and should be carried out by staff. Board members can use their connections and advocacy to help in fundraising but expecting your board to be fundraisers undermines their objective function of oversight and accountability. Being able to point out this level of accountability will likely help your fundraising efforts. Everyone likes to know their money is being used wisely.
If your board is focused on keeping the mission and asking challenging questions of the organization’s activities, then it is doing its job. This kind of scrutiny and continuous self-improvement will make your organization stronger, more resilient, and be able to provide a bigger impact for more people.