With the end of the calendar/fiscal year approaching, many nonprofit boards will be undergoing important change. New directors are coming and term-expired directors will be leaving. Thank you to both groups for your service.
Change is never easy but it is necessary and this one is critical to your nonprofit’s long term health and sustainability. Hopefully you, as board chair or executive director, have in place both a written Board Policy Manual and a formalized New Director Orientation Program to help “on-board” these new members. All well and good, but even with these important tools in place, it may not be enough.
I’ve been thinking about my experiences while serving on my first board or two–more specifically–what I was thinking as everyone welcomed me to the team. Here are a few thoughts to consider when your new directors first show up to begin their term of service. Do you have plans to address these unspoken thoughts?
- I wonder how long I should hold my tongue before speaking up at meetings on topics I care about or consider myself knowledgeable
- It would be helpful if they assigned to me a currently seated “mentor-director” as my go-to person so I can get up to speed on things without slowing down meetings or looking “dumb”
- I wonder what they specifically are expecting of me in the coming year aside from attending all the meetings and making donations
- I wonder just how open this board is to authentic dialogue and honest disagreement?
- What specifically can I do to bring the most value to this organization over the next 3-6 months?
What other unspoken questions and thoughts do you think new directors bring onto the board?
Hello:
I really hope you can answer this question. In March, I advised my board that they needed to give to the organization as foundations will not give if the board is not committeed. They ALL refused and now they won’t attend board meetings (some have resigned). How do I dismissed them and start over?
Is there more to this? Have there been other problems/disagreements in the past that have brought things to a head? I say that because your request for their financial support is not out of line so you are on solid ground in that request. Certainly they would have known about this obligation all along. In fact, donating is one of the basic requirements and understandings of board service so I’d think you should not suffer any “blow-back” from your constituents and other partners by reminding them of this requirement. Do you have any allies on the board at all? Can you work with a small cadre of believers to reshape your board?
I’ll assume certain directors absolutely will not donate. I think I’d meet with them one on one to paint a picture of what the organization is going to look like if things continue as the are today…inadequate funding, a board that is not seeing to its legal fiduciary duties, helpless clients not being served, a nonprofit that will die off in due time. Is that what they want?
I also think I’d review your by-laws to see if they offer any options. Do they provide for removal of directors, and if so, do you have enough committed directors to hold a legal meeting to remove them?
There is a lot here but these are my initial thoughts. Hope they help-
Thank you and my apologies for not responding sooner. The Board Chair resigned. I am installing our new Board Chair this month. She was a Director and has accepted the position as Chair. The remaining board members are very happy. I have meet with them personally and they now pledge there support. The former Chair said board members had no fiduciary responsibility to the organization!).
Once again, thank you.
What do the acronyms mean? What do the various slang/vernacular terms mean?