Explore characteristics of resilient boards and ways to improve your board's resiliency.

Explore 4 tools that enhance board efficiency and effectiveness.

Explore 7 ways you can engage your board in fundraising and fund development.

Let’s look at three tips for creating a new culture and climate for your board that maximizes board member engagement and leads to their becoming a full throttle board.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... the opening words of Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities. Those words are as fitting today as when they were first penned. While much could be, has been, and continues to be written echoing those famous words, I want to take some license with his classic title and briefly explore a tale of two boards. These two boards are composite representations of several boards I’ve encountered in recent years.

Explore 4 ways to build a harmonious board for your nonprofit organization.

There are at least three possible types of platforms board members may have to influence others on behalf of a nonprofit organization.

Explore 4 ways to enhance board stewardship.

Having a dynamic duo is the best antidote to the superhero syndrome in nonprofits as well; one dynamic duo needed in every nonprofit organization seeking success and sustainability is not that of two individuals like Batman and Robin, but two entities -- the Board and Staff.

Keeping the mission central is essential to organizational success and sustainability. Explore the board's role in mission focus.

How much tension did you sense in your last board meeting? Are your meetings usually characterized with some degree of tension? If not, they should be!

Stewardship alone is not sufficient to lead your organization to be its best or achieve its greatest potential.

Research has proven that Thanksgiving is good for your health. In fact, there is "scientific proof that when people regularly engage in the systematic cultivation of gratitude, they experience a variety of measurable benefits’ psychological, physical, and interpersonal.”

Burnout reduces one’s productivity and saps their energy, leaving them feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. This may be a clinical diagnosis of what’s happening with members of your board. If these conditions persist without diagnosis or intervention, then eventually, people feel they have nothing left to give.

Learn what motivates board members to do what they do and create a winning situation for everyone.

Board members are sometimes disconnected from the nonprofit organizations they serve. This article outlines the disconnects and provides strategies for overcoming them.

This month we discuss starting over again with board leadership. Sadly, many grassroots organizations commonly experience fits, starts and struggles and go through a few iterations of their "board" before finally developing a Board that provides leadership and functions as it should. If this describes your organization, we encourage you not to give up on board governance! And to help, we are providing 10 tips for rebuilding your board.

We frequently encounter people who ask, "Why bother with boards?". This month we take a page David Letterman and provide our Top 10 Reasons for Bothering with Boards.

Is it important for your Board members to support your organization financially? If so, how can you encourage and manage the giving from your Board? Read this month's article for information and tips to grow a giving Board.

There are standards for board performance and one helpful approach is benchmarking the performance of your board to principles and practices of other organizations. Read this month's article to learn about the methods and rewards for benchmarking your Board.

Recently I’ve noticed that many boards are taking on so many projects that they find it challenging to provide effective leadership. Does this sound familiar? Your board must prioritize! Read this article to learn the importance of setting priorities for your board and suggestions of how to do that.

What can the Winter Olympic Games teach us about Boards? This month we discuss five very important lessons we can learn from first class athletes that will help get your Board performing their best.

Does your Board hobble along without any major achievements year after year? This month we offer a few practical suggestions for reviving and revamping your Board. 

As with so many arenas of life and business, success with Boards is intentional, not accidental. Great boards don’t just happen by chance! Great boards are the result of planning and ongoing investment, and like compound interest, the dividends they return to their organizations continue to grow and multiply.

Our recent articles have focused on best practices for nonprofit boards. This month we continue by looking at a few best practices that can help the Board become more more effective. We begin by examining how the Board conducts its business when assembling together.

Board members may waste valuable time in meetings trying to find, remember, or reconstruct key historical events, policies, or decisions. The board book can be likened to a playbook used by coaches or political consultants. In a sense, it’s their bible or ultimate guide and they are lost without it.

Without effective orientation, new board members often sit in the shadows for several meetings as they try to determine how things are done in your organization. Failing to equip new board members for their service actually does a disservice to both new and existing board members. New members are not sure how to properly engage or contribute to the discusions while some existing board members may feel frustration over what they consider "naive" questions or ignorance about board processes. These situations can be minimized by effective orientation for new members

Building better boards is an intentional process. It does not usually happen accidentally, although there may be rare exceptions when it does. We recommend boards develop, adopt, and implement an ongoing process for board member recruitment. Don’t wait until there is a vacancy to begin considering someone to fill it. Start now and engage the board in an active, ongoing process of board regeneration where you have a roster of possible candidates eager to serve when vacancies occur.

One of the greatest challenges for grassroots nonprofit organizations, in terms of board leadership, is attracting the right people to the board. As a matter of fact, some of the most frequently asked questions in our board training sessions center on finding, engaging, and/or retaining high caliber board members. A strong, diverse board is one of the greatest assets a nonprofit can develop and is an asset that continues to pay rich dividends to the organization. Yet, as with so many other elements, developing a strong board comes from intentional action, planning, hard work and the ongoing nurturing of relationships. In other words, it is an intentional process, not an accidental occurrence.

Does it strike you as odd that there is not a standard definition for best practice, yet many organizations and individuals encourage us to adopt best practices? Exactly what is a best practice? What does it mean that something is labeled a best practice? How does something become a best practice? We explore these ideas and more in this month's article.

In the past many nonprofits considered the annual 990 reporting as an accounting exercise and left its completion to the finance committee or delegated it to external accountants. As of 2008, things changed dramatically at the IRS and there are new requirements for completing and filing 990 reports. This month we focus on the changes and requirements for all nonprofits.

“Leadership is needed more during times of uncertainty than in times of stability” (Kouzes and Posner). Count on this – in 2009 your organization will face some of the most difficult decisions and challenges ever. This year, perhaps more than ever before every nonprofit organization needs its board to rise to the challenge and provide the leadership boards are called and commissioned to provide. It’s time to summon “all hands on deck” and rally the board for your organization. Here are just a few areas where Board leadership is essential in 2009.

We want to take this opportunity to express our thanks for you and to you, our clients and subscribers and for the opportunity to serve you. We also want to offer this Thanksgiving Proclamation for Nonprofit Leaders to encourage you to thank those that make your mission possible and give life to your vision.

This month we explore ways to maximize the overall board service experience for your volunteer board members.  That’s right, there are times we must remind ourselves that our board members are volunteers and as volunteers, we should seek to maximize their experience as board members. 

Board meetings should be meaningful, effective and productive. These are the times we have assembled those who are most engaged, committed and supportive of our organization and cause. Board members are investing their time and talents in our organizations and we should maximize this investment by seeking to make the most of this time and get the best thinking on the most important issues and challenges confronting our organizations. 

The whistle-blower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is one of the Act’s provisions that must be followed by nonprofit organizations as well as publicly traded companies. Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, criminal penalties, including fines and prison sentences up to 10 years, may be enforced against any person who retaliates against someone who provides truthful information about a federal offense. What this means in practical terms is that all companies, including nonprofit groups, should establish procedures for receiving and dealing with concerns and complaints about the organization, such as the organization’s financial practices.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act enacted in 2002 established new requirements relating to financial reporting and record-keeping. Generally, the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“Act”) only apply to publicly traded companies that are subject to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the Act’s whistle-blower and document destruction provisions apply to nonprofit groups.

Nonprofit groups are being asked to grow-up. The age of bake sales and casual nonprofit management is giving way to greater expectations for professionalism. For some years, the IRS has had special rules against private inurement, excessive personal benefit, and self-dealing. Serious penalties, including “intermediate sanctions” or taxes and penalties on illegal transactions and even loss of tax-exempt status, may be invoked for missteps. While providing loans to officers, directors and other “insiders”, a practice specifically discussed in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, is not a common practice among nonprofit groups, the IRS is more closely scrutinizing nonprofit operations.

Take a good look at the composition of the board of directors for your organization. What do you see? Chances are you see a lot of people who look like you. Unfortunately they may also think like you. Please don’t take offense at that statement -- it is not a judgment on your mental aptitude or capacity. You may have great ideas and be a dynamic leader. Rather it is an observation that too often boards of grassroots organizations attract people who have more similarities than differences. They may also be good friends and supporters of the executive director or founder of the organization. Frankly, this has the potential to cause a multitude of problems that increased diversity could prevent.

A common challenge for many nonprofit organizations is finding quality candidates for the board and keeping current members engaged and motivated in their board service. Too many board members are burned out with serving and don’t give their best to the organization. They do, however feel obliged to continue in the routine as a member. Perhaps you have experienced this syndrome with board members in your organization. These are the people who are like zombies and go through the motions of board service, but bring no value to the organization and rob other members of their zest and zeal. Board burnout creates a multitude of problems for the organization, ultimately resulting in stunted organizational development as well as diminished performance.

This month we want to expand the topic of financial oversight and explore the board’s role as financial managers for the nonprofit organization. We remind you that we share the widely held view that boards operate at a strategic level (versus operational level), but are also legally bound to provide financial oversight for the organization(s) they serve. In other words, each board member has a fiduciary duty to and for the organization. Each member is responsible for ensuring that the organization, as well as the finances are properly managed and safeguarded.

Providing financial oversight is one of the primary legal responsibilities of the nonprofit Board. While this may not be one of the most exciting articles in the series, we feel compelled to address this topic in light of recent changes with 990 reporting for ALL nonprofits.

The first law of leadership described in John Maxwell’s “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” is the law of the lid. In essence, leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness. Leadership ability is always the lid on personal and organizational effectiveness. Whatever you want to accomplish is restricted by your leadership ability.

WARNING: Reading this article may cause severe discomfort, perhaps even sharp pain, but it may save the life of your organization.

Developing a strategic plan for your organization is critical for success. Preparation of this plan will allow your organization to remain on target and clearly communicate your message to your supporters. Find out what an acceptable strategic plan should include.

Board orientation is a critical step for getting board members engaged and involved with the organization. It is intended to prepare new board members for their role in the organization and to ensure all members operate from the same script. Though orientation may only be conducted with new board members, all members of the board should participate in training once a year. This training will build a sense of team work and assure everyone is heading in the same direction.

Board members and the organization’s executive director must work very closely. In this close relationship there are sometimes conflicts that arise. In order for the board and the executive director to professionally differentiate their roles and excel at their jobs, they should take the following steps.

The establishment of nonprofit organizations are guided by both state and federal levels. The government has determined that organizations with a "public-spirited purpose" are worthy of tax-exemptions and other benefits. The term 501(c)(3) is a reference to the section of IRS code that allows certain organizations to pass onto their donor the right to deduct the amount of the donation when calculating their income taxes.

According to Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards by BoardSource (Ingram, 2001), boards generally assume the following legal and financial responsibilities:

Your board of directors is comprised of a group of leaders that are volunteering their time to lead your nonprofit organization. They are also the spokespersons and advocates for your organization. Your organizations bylaws should include the descriptions of the board’s offices, as agreed to by the board.

There are more than 1,000,000 groups recognized by Internal Revenue Service as nonprofits. The reason most nonprofit groups are started is that a group of people get together with some public-spirited purpose and agree to marshal resources from among themselves and the wider community to address that cause.

Many nonprofits aren’t sure whether they need directors and officers liability insurance coverage (D&O). When a person becomes a board member of a nonprofit organization, she assumes a level of responsibility for the organization (“duty of care”), and exposes herself to claims that she has failed to run and manage it in a proper way. Whether or not your organization needs D&O insurance depends on what the likelihood is that one of your board members will be the target of such a claim.

People possessing the following characteristics will likely be effective board members:

There are many benefits for the board members and the organization with incorporation. This article shares some of the benefits you should consider.

Nonprofit and for-profit corporations and unincorporated associations are generally managed by a board of directors. Though these members are protected against liability for acts of business in the conduct of business on behalf of the organization by statutory and common-law immunities, courts have generally held that the there are several duties that are expected by the board members in behalf of the organization.

A board member may be paid for services rendered to the organization, but the organization has the legal obligation to have written policies in place governing such actions.