As your state nonprofit association, we are here to provide resources to strengthen your organization.
As your state nonprofit association, we are here to provide resources to strengthen your organization.
Often a nonprofit has few or no staff, requiring the board to perform work that implements the mission, not just provide oversight. When this occurs, it is essential that board members do not lose sight of their fiduciary responsibilities, including setting the strategic direction for the organization. While not every board, even those with staff, will be high performing all the time, it is helpful to aspire and work toward becoming and maintaining excellent performance as a team on behalf of mission.
Through research and proven practice over decades, we know the characteristics of a high-performing board as well as where the board can have the most impact in their time spent as mission stewards. While the board can do more, they should strive to not do less. To that end, most boards need training and support to reach these goals over time. Investing in the team at any stage of development is worth the time and effort.
The following checklists can be used to discern what is working well within the team, where to focus the board’s energy, or how to realign for more mission success.
Importantly, each of the items can be examined through facilitated discussion to determine how best to implement the idea within each team. No two teams will do the work exactly the same, as the culture and values of the organization are necessary ingredients to implementation.