Читать книгу Nonprofit Kit For Dummies - Stan Hutton, Beverly A. Browning - Страница 67

You don’t want just anybody to serve on your board. You want to choose the members of your community who believe in what you’re doing and who will attend all your meetings, advocate for your programs, provide honest and ethical oversight to the organization, make regular and generous donations, and sweep the floor on weekends.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, you won’t find many board members who fit this description. Even so, the following three traits are critical to the success of the organization:

 Believing in the mission

 Being a strong advocate on behalf of its programs

 Serving the organization as a careful and honest board member

Sure, having wealthy members who do the dirty work when needed is nice, but, most importantly, you must find board members who understand and believe deeply in your work. Showing up for board meetings is a nice habit, too.

Think seriously about the skills that board members bring to your organization. Do you need an accountant to set up financial systems? A public relations specialist to help with media campaigns? An attorney to help with legal matters? Yes, you probably do. But don’t expect the accountant to do your audit or the attorney to represent you in court. You need a disinterested professional to do that work.

Your board should reflect your organization’s character and mission. A community-organizing group dedicated to collective decision-making may want board members who work well together. A neighborhood development organization clearly wants board members from its neighborhood. A youth leadership organization may want to invest in future leadership by creating positions for youth members on its board. (Note: Before adding young people to your board, check whether your state laws allow minors to serve on nonprofit boards. If your state prohibits minors from serving, consider inviting them to serve on advisory committees instead.)

Although having a friend or two on the board is fine, be careful about overloading the board with golfing buddies and carpool partners. Boards need diverse opinions and honest feedback from members.