Category Archives for Role of Trustees

A Few Tips on More Effective Board Meetings

Published September 25, 2015

We found this helpful article at the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  Of course any discussion about how charity boards work too often assumes that they are all alike, and that they should all operate in a similar manner.  The truth of the matter is much more complicated.  Some smaller nonprofit organizations struggle to secure adequate staffing […]

Build A More Effective Board

Published March 5, 2014

Board Development Techniques It is undeniable that a nonprofit organization’s success in fundraising is affected by the way it goes about selecting and recruiting its board members.  Success is also influenced by the way new board members are introduced to the organization and how they become involved in the operational and organizational life of the […]

Forming a new Committee on Governance

Published March 5, 2014

An organization stands to gain a definite edge if it does a better job of enlisting, training and involving its board members, and managing the board, than its competitors do.  One way to do this is to replace the standard nominating committee with a committee on governance.  The committee should include the current board chair, […]

Focus on Board Participation or Board Leadership?

Published February 27, 2014

Which will your board choose? In today’s competitive fundraising environment it now seems universally recognized that successful organizations strive to attain 100 percent gift participation from their board members. We have observed that many organizations and development officers seem overly fixated on achieving this significant goal of participation. But, is this focus correctly targeted? We […]

On Second Thought: Board of Directors -or- Board of Trustees, does it matter?

Published March 5, 2014

Is there a changing preference for the name of your nonprofit governing board?  In our experience it’s hard to say that there is a clear industry standard.  As we observe the practices of our clients, there are actually some that have both a governing board of trustees and a supporting board of directors. When I […]