3 Essentials to Becoming an Effective Nonprofit Board Member

Of all the ways to volunteer with a nonprofit organization, serving as a board member can be one of the most rewarding. Boards are responsible for creating a governance structure that allows people and organizations to thrive, to serve as champions for a mission with which they deeply connect, and to build the professional skill sets of members.

Being a board member - a steward of public funds being used for charitable purposes - is also a big responsibility. Most board members are familiar with the tried and true 10 responsibilities of board members. 

I am here to offer some additional perspective on additional responsibilities that will be essential for strong boards and board members moving forward.

Redefine and focus on board engagement

Historically, board engagement was measured by the number of members who show up to a meeting, participated in committee work, filled tables for events, and the number of donors a board member is willing to call during a campaign. However, Board members may do all those things and still remain disengaged.
 
True engagement means leveraging the strengths of board members to solve critical problems, to evaluate and ensure the right strategy, funding, and infrastructure are in place, and to plan for the future of the board and the organization. Less experienced boards - those composed primarily of first- or second-time board members - can build engagement through board development such as deepening their learning about the role and importance of boards or mentoring that builds skills in major donor stewardship or finance. Boards whose meetings have fallen into a pattern of “update - auction - base-level decisions” should consider all of the possible work they can do to ensure a solid foundation for the organization and refocus their time together to maximize purpose and engagement. And if your bylaws require you to “meet on the third Tuesday of every month”, your board should get to work on revising those to ensure that meetings are purpose driven and not just going through the motions

Build your knowledge and understanding around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

​All nonprofit organizations working toward the improvement of an aspect of American society could benefit from sharpening the skill set of their members around issues of racial and economic justice, including diversity, equity, and inclusion. America was built on a foundation of white supremacy with tentacles of that foundation stretching into every system and structure of our society. Every board should assess their members’ level of fluency and understanding with issues of power, privilege, and race in America.
 
Boards should discuss these topics openly and ensure an understanding of how racism negatively affects the organization, including staff and the ultimate beneficiaries of their work. White-led and white-dominated boards should do this in careful partnership with a skilled facilitator so as to avoid causing microaggressions to and putting the onus of the work on staff of color. This work will lay a strong foundation for the next strategic planning process, for the next time your organization conducts an executive search, for recruiting and retaining a diverse board, and is ultimately critical for delivering on its mission. 

Prepare for stormy seas

Ultimately, one of the most critical roles of a board member is to ensure stability in times of struggle or transition. Boards focus a lot on financial highs and lows, but struggle can come in many forms, such as a sudden leadership change, a programmatic snafu, legal issues, or worse. Implicitly board members know this, but how many of these issues are they truly prepared for? Examples of some activities to focus on while times are good:

• Ensure the financial house is in order with a strong treasurer and a diverse finance committee composed of board members and non-board members, long-timers and newer folks, seasoned finance professionals and those earlier in their career who want to learn.
• Establish or evaluate your risk management committee. RMCs don’t have to meet often or decrease the risk tolerance of an organization, but they do need to be organized, have catalogued and assessed the myriad risks an organization is open to, and have a plan for risk management that is re-evaluated periodically.
• Have a list of potential board members “on deck” and board recruitment procedures known by all and written down should you need to replace a critical skill set on your board or need additional help to weather a tough period.
• While you’re at it, take a look at those bylaws. Do they support the modern functioning of your organization? Do they leave you the flexibility you may need to get through a tough period? Do they represent current governance best practices?

The bottom line: these responsibilities are nice to do in good times, but they are prerequisites to navigating bad times and coming out stronger on the other side. Consider them like preventative maintenance: much easier to do in good times than when you’re already in crisis.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Klein is the Board Chair for Ada Developers Academy, a tuition-free coding school for women and gender-diverse individuals working to diversify the tech industry.
​
She has served on the board of or worked for over a dozen nonprofit organizations in her pursuit of ensuring that all Americans have access to a high-quality education.