How nonprofits can recruit and develop top-caliber board members

IN THE WAKE OF RECENT budget-draining natural disasters, congressional scrutiny of post-hurricane relief efforts, and media reports of fiduciary and ethical lapses in the nonprofit sector, nonprofit leaders are challenged more than ever to think outside the box while meeting regulatory requirements and operating in accordance with their mission and the public trust.

Part of the answer is a broad-based governing board that draws on the expense and perspective of volunteers from a variety of industries. Nonprofits, however, have found it difficult to retain committed board members who attend meetings regularly, participate in fundraising endeavors and, in general, actively contribute to the organization's efforts. On the other side of the coin, volunteer board members often voice dissatisfaction and frustration with their experience due, in part, to a limited understanding of the organization and the economic, social, and political context in which it operates, as well as governance practices that appear to hinder progress.

The challenge then is twofold: to provide a rewarding experience for professionals who volunteer for board service and, at the same time, increase their impact for the benefit of the organization. To accomplish this, nonprofits and board volunteers have to be willing to acknowledge the issue and operate differently.

"In the last 10 or 15 years, training for service on nonprofit boards has been limited to a review of basic roles and responsibilities," concedes attorney Michael G. Daigneault, senior governance consultant with BoardSource. "While this is an indispensable component, training cannot stop there. One of BoardSource's concerns is that everyone thinks they know what it means to sit on a board when, in reality, it might be a different experience than expected."

So, how can board service be taken to the next level?, Daigneault asks. One approach can be found in the publication, "The Source: Twelve Principles of Governance That Power Exceptional Boards." It outlines 12 core principles to which an exceptional board should aspire. A second is to work with a consultancy to create more effective governance practices and provide training for executives to maximize the value they bring to the table as board members of nonprofit organizations.

These for-profit executives really can make a difference. "The stability of nonprofit boards is greatly influenced by strong leadership from the business community," confirms Daniel J. Cardinali, president of Communities in Schools, the nation's largest dropout prevention network. Through 200 independent affiliates operating in 28 states, each with its own volunteer board, Communities in Schools mobilizes existing community resources, including some 56,000 volunteers a year, working in deep collaboration with local school systems for the benefit of about 1,000,000 children a year.

"We require that a majority of board members be from the private sector," notes Cardinali, "and the trend across our network is very clear: where we have strong boards composed of real leaders in their communities who actually take the time to get involved, we have strong local affiliates that substantially impact public education by lowering the dropout rate." Across the network, Communities In Schools has a two-percent dropout rate within student populations that are largely poor, ethnic minorities residing in urban or rural environments. This number becomes even more impressive when compared to the national dropout rate of six to 10% in similar populations cited by the National Center for Educational Statistics.

Cardinali sees two primary challenges in attracting high-quality business leaders to boards. "The first is that nonprofits compete for the strongest business leadership," he explains. "Particularly for new nonprofits, this can be a chicken-and-egg problem. In order to gain strength, the organization needs board members who can leverage relationships and resources on its behalf, but usually those executives want to see a strong organization before they lend their name and dedicate their time and resources. The second challenge is that, as a result of downsizing, rightsizing, and frequent business travel, executives are more and more tapped out for time. The higher one goes on the executive ladder, the more challenging it becomes to get the full and regular focus of an executive." Even with these challenges. Cardinali believes that it is a non-negotiable requirement to have corporate decisionmakers on nonprofit boards.

When executives find volunteer board service unrewarding, the reason usually is that they do not know how to engage. The first challenge is to help them understand that serving on a nonprofit board does have some differences from their usual corporate experiences. "Although experts in business, corporate executives might not be as knowledgeable about the world of nonprofits and the ways in which they might need to work differently within a nonprofit organization," Daigneault point out. He cites the classic example of the traditional decisionmaking structure within most corporations versus the more collaborative style in the nonprofit sector. "The concept of a nonprofit board demands a collaborative decisionmaking process," he declares.