http://www.nonprofituniversityblog.org/2008/02/yo-nonprofit-boards-get-your-heads-out-of-the-sand/ A blog for the business of nonprofits Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:39:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.nonprofituniversityblog.org/2008/02/yo-nonprofit-boards-get-your-heads-out-of-the-sand/comment-page-1/#comment-260 Laura Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:54:50 +0000 http://www.nonprofituniversityblog.org/?p=31#comment-260 I couldn't agree with more! If you asked nonprofits what was their number one challenge, I bet more than 75% of the time they would respond with fundraising/needing more money. But fundraising is so often not the real problem but a symptom of the real problem facing the nonprofit. The real problem is often the lack of a fully engaged board that truly understands, and is willing to execute, all of its responsibilities. And why is that? First, the vast majority of organizations do not apply strategic principles to the recruitment of new board members. They invite the people they know, all really good people, but not necessarily really good people for the board of that particular organization. They invite people to come do a job, but they don't provide the job description, and then wonder why board members aren't doing what they are supposed to do. Hard to do what you don't know/haven't been told is your job. Then they bring them to a board table where meetings are boring and inefficient, where operations rather than governance is the order of the day, and harrangue them to raise money without helping them to understand how to do that. Any wonder the ones we get don't stay?! I couldn’t agree with more! If you asked nonprofits what was their number one challenge, I bet more than 75% of the time they would respond with fundraising/needing more money. But fundraising is so often not the real problem but a symptom of the real problem facing the nonprofit. The real problem is often the lack of a fully engaged board that truly understands, and is willing to execute, all of its responsibilities. And why is that? First, the vast majority of organizations do not apply strategic principles to the recruitment of new board members. They invite the people they know, all really good people, but not necessarily really good people for the board of that particular organization. They invite people to come do a job, but they don’t provide the job description, and then wonder why board members aren’t doing what they are supposed to do. Hard to do what you don’t know/haven’t been told is your job. Then they bring them to a board table where meetings are boring and inefficient, where operations rather than governance is the order of the day, and harrangue them to raise money without helping them to understand how to do that. Any wonder the ones we get don’t stay?!

]]> http://www.nonprofituniversityblog.org/2008/02/yo-nonprofit-boards-get-your-heads-out-of-the-sand/comment-page-1/#comment-257 Janet Jackson-Gould Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:53:50 +0000 http://www.nonprofituniversityblog.org/?p=31#comment-257 Agree! But this is just one manifestation of the lack of competent, informed and active board members in the nonprofit world. Although most nonprofit people would cite fundraising as their number one issue, I believe board recruitment and training are really the root issue in many if not most nonprofits. Any ideas on board recruitment and retention? Agree! But this is just one manifestation of the lack of competent, informed and active board members in the nonprofit world. Although most nonprofit people would cite fundraising as their number one issue, I believe board recruitment and training are really the root issue in many if not most nonprofits. Any ideas on board recruitment and retention?

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