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Board Governance
If you're on the board of a nonprofit or thinking about becoming a member of a nonprofit board, this is your resource page. From what you should know before you join, to how to help build the most effective board, this page links you to resources from all over the web. From board roles and responsibilities to fiduciary accountability, you will find it all here.
The Evolution of Your Board and Your Nonprofit
Source: Lexian Management Associates Rick Szilagyi of Lexian Management Associates describes how a nonprofit board evolves alongside the organization using the nonprofit lifecycle model.
Posted on: July 11, 2019
Topics: Board | Board Development | Board Roles & Responsibilities How Committees Can Help Prevent Volunteer Burnout
Source: Lexian Management Associates Rick Szilagyi and Lauriane Lebrun of Lexian Management Associates share their framework for volunteer committees that work well without burning out.
Posted on: July 10, 2019
Topics: Board | Leadership | Sustainability | Volunteer Management BoardSource
Discounts on membership and board self-assessments
Center members can save 15% on organizational membership or $200 on BoardSource's board self-assessment service. BoardSource members get complimentary access to BoardSource's collection of white papers, webinars, and more. They also get member discounts on their print or digital copies of their books, such as Board Fundamentals: Understanding Roles in Nonprofit Governance and The Source: Twelve Principles of Governance That Power Exceptional Boards.
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Posted on: January 29, 2018
Topics: Featured Nonprofit Quarterly’s Executive Transition Webinar Series
Source: Nonprofit Quarterly Nonprofit Quarterly's 4-part webinar series on executive transitions is a great resource for all nonprofits that want to ensure they remain stable and sustainable during a leadership transition.
Posted on: June 29, 2015
Topics: Board | Board Roles & Responsibilities | Executive | Executive Transition | Human Resources | Leadership | Planning | Sustainability A 2-Step Exercise for Designing Your Best Board
Source: PhilanTopic Andy Robinson, a Vermont-based nonprofit consultant and author, shares a simple board self-evaluation exercise to help you clarify your boards strengths and weaknesses.
Posted on: March 12, 2015
Topics: Board | Board Development | Evaluation Leading with Intent: A National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices
Source: BoardSource Who serves on today’s nonprofit boards? What matters most when it comes to the board’s roles and responsibilities? What impact are they having on organizational performance? How do boards conduct their work? How well are they fulfilling their many important roles and responsibilities? How are boards composed and organized? Leading with Intent: BoardSource Index of Nonprofit Board Practices answers these questions as the latest in BoardSource’s series of studies tracking and analyzing trends in nonprofit board leadership since 1994.
Posted on: January 27, 2015
Topics: Best Practice | Board | Data & Research | Leadership When in Crisis, What Should Boards Do?
Source: Nonprofit Quarterly In recent weeks and months, there have been a series of crises in organizations ranging from data breaches at Target, Michaels, and Chase to the sexual abuse scandals at Penn State and domestic violence in the NFL. In many of these cases, although the boards of directors were not blamed directly, they often came under fire for not having paid close enough attention to see the crises coming or for reacting too slowly. It is no surprise, then, articles have begun to appear addressing how a board should act before, during and after a crisis.
Posted on: October 9, 2014
Topics: Board | Board Roles & Responsibilities | Leadership A Board Member's Guide to Nonprofit Overhead
Source: Blue Avocado Calculating overhead rates and managing overhead expense are important staff roles. Board members are not required to know how do staff accounting work, but we do need to bring an informed perspective to our oversight.
Posted on: October 1, 2014
Topics: Board | Operations Preventing Fraud: From Fiduciary Duty to Practical Strategies
This article, which appeared in the New Hampshire Bar Journal, will help both nonprofit and for-profit organizations identify the possibilities for fraud and embezzlement in their organizations and understand the steps they need to take to prevent these behaviors. The article emphasizes the need for boards of directors to take the lead in engaging their officers and employees in crafting policies and procedures to minimize the possibility for fraud and embezzlement.
Read the article
Posted on: April 10, 2014
Topics: Board | Finance Board Chairs – Good, Bad and Mediocre
Source: Nonprofit Quarterly Simone Joyaux looks at how to elevate your mediocre board chair to a great one in an article for the Nonprofit Quarterly.
Posted on: February 3, 2014
Topics: Board | Board Development Here We Go Again: The Cyclical Nature of Board Behavior
Source: Nonprofit Quarterly An examination of the cyclical nature of board behavior, it's various stages, and what they mean for the organization.
Posted on: October 7, 2013
Topics: Board | Leadership Board Member Contract Template
Source: CompassPoint A Sample Board Member Contract that can be a starting point for developing your own contract so that all board members clearly understand and agree to uphold their responsibilities.
Get your copy from CompassPoint.
Posted on: May 2, 2013
Topics: Board | Board Roles & Responsibilities Sarbanes-Oxley and Nonprofits: Bogeyman in the Boardroom?
Source: Blue Avocado This article from Blue Avocado outlines the limited ways that Sarbanes-Oxley is applicable to nonprofits.
Read the article from Blue Avocado.
Posted on: May 2, 2013
Topics: Board Want Your New Executive Director to Succeed?
Source: Blue Avocado We've all heard about the coming leadership deficit. It is time to stop focusing on the departures and start focusing on ensuring the success of new executive directors. This article from Blue Avocado shares 12 easy and important ways for board members to help a new executive get started fast and on the right foot.
Read the article from Blue Avocado.
Posted on: May 1, 2013
Topics: Board | Executive | Executive Transition Daring to Lead: The Board Paradox
This third Daring to Lead brief examines the paradoxical nature of board and executive director relationships. Key findings include:
- While executive directors tended to give boards relatively high marks when asked about overall performance, their responses to specific questions often contradicted that assessment and suggest that boards are neglecting critical governance responsibilities.
- Despite these board performance challenges, most executive directors are not spending a significant percentage of their time working with and supporting their boards.
- Executive directors who spend more time working with their boards demonstrate higher satisfcation with board performance.
Posted on: May 1, 2013
Topics: Board | Leadership The Governance / Support Model for Nonprofit Boards
Source: Blue Avocado Much of the confusion about board responsibilities is confusion between what the board does as a body and what individual board members should do. This article looks at the two fundamentally different types of nonprofit board responsibility: governance and support.
Read the article from Blue Avocado.
Posted on: May 1, 2013
Topics: Board | Board Roles & Responsibilities The Inclusive Nonprofit Boardroom
Source: Nonprofit Quarterly A look at how the reasoning behind board diversity can impact an organization, and a model for inclusiveness that nonprofits should strive for.
Read the full article from Nonprofit Quarterly.
Posted on: May 1, 2013
Topics: Board Recruitment | Board | Best Practice Organizing the Board to Support the Revenue Strategy
Source: Blue Avocado Instead of focusing only on how board members can raise individual donations (or not!), think more broadly (and effectively) about how board members can support the key aspects of your organization's business / revenue strategy.
Read the article from Blue Avocado.
Posted on: May 1, 2013
Topics: Board | Finance | Fundraising Help Desk
The Help Desk is designed to help provide the resources and direction you need to answer nonprofit management or governance questions. We will do our best to provide helpful resources and referrals within 2 or 3 business days, but please note that the Help Desk is not staffed full time.
Members of NH Center for Nonprofits have unlimited access to Help Desk services. Organizations that are not members of the Center are limited to one question per year.
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Posted on: March 1, 2013
Topics: Featured | Services Board Self-Assessment Tool
The Board Self-Assessment Questionnaire helps New Hampshire nonprofit boards identify how the board might be strengthened and assists boards in identifying priorities for board development activities. The tool now includes the option of online administration and tabulation of the results.
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Posted on: February 28, 2013
Topics: Board | Board Development | Evaluation Pages
Looking for tools you can use in the board room? Get samples of board agendas, CEO evaluations and so much more.
Visit NonprofitNext today for more board resources.
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