I’m a board member as well as a consultant and I have the opportunity to see things from both sides. I know very well that staff are often disappointed with their board’s commitment and performance. I also know that board members sometimes wonder what in the world staff want from them. I’ve been in both places.
But I think the most disheartening path that I have seen many boards go down is the path of disinterest. Sure, board members attend board meetings, but do they really know what the organization does? And more importantly, do they really care?
My experience is that no board member starts out their term hoping to review minutes, financials, and fundraising results. They don’t whip out their rolodex or their checkbooks after a report from the operations committee. But yet, this is so much of what we ask them to do. When do they get to do the fun staff?
Here’s the thing. In the concentric circles that surround the core of your organization, board members are the next ring out, but they are a constituent, just like your donors, foundation funders, and hands-on volunteers. And maybe in some start up ventures some board members ARE doing the work, but once there is staff, the board is an audience that has to be cultivated, just as much as any other.
So, just as your organization should have plans for building the relationships of each of your major funders, so should it have a plan for relationship building for each board member. Do you know what turns them on about your organization’s work? Do you know why they joined the board? Do you know that skills, hopes, and dreams they bring to the table? How can you bring each board member closer to the work of the organization? What kind of board work excites them the most?
Indeed, policy and governance are very important, but I can’t help wondering if some of the nonprofit community’s focus on these aspects of board service has sucked the life out of the experience. A board member volunteers her hard-won free time to fuel a passion, not a process.
So, when I came across this video made by consultant Gail Perry about putting the excitement back in a board, I was hooked. (She also has a book called Fired-Up Fundraising – Turn Board Passion into Action). I’m going to try some of the seven steps she recommends at my next board meeting to kindle some of that fire that every board member should feel. How about you? Will you let me know if any of these steps work for your board?
Click here to watch the video: Seven Steps to Fire Up Your Board
