Ten Responsibilities of a Board
1. Determine the Organization’s Mission and Purpose
The board is responsible for defining the mission and what it strives to accomplish. A commitment to the organization’s mission should drive the board’s sense of public accountability.
The mission and purpose should serve as a guide to planning, board and staff decision making, volunteer initiatives, and setting priorities among competing demands for scarce resources. The mission sets the stage for developing fundraising strategies and strategic planning as well as all the other board responsibilities.
Questions: What is our mission and purpose? How do we communicate our mission and purpose to others?
2. Know each board Member’s job duties
Every board Member and staff member has a job description and they should be very familiar with it and understand what their functions include. If there is clarity in job functions, there is a better understanding of how every member works together and what they bring to the table.
Questions: How do board and Executive Director responsibilities differ? What are our expectations of our ED? What are her expectations of the board? What kinds of skills and expertise do we need to better our position in the community?
3. Provide Financial Oversight
Boards traditionally exercise this responsibility by helping to develop and approve the annual budget. The board can only monitor the budget’s implementation if it is provided clear, intelligible, accurate, and timely financial reports. The should be an annual audit of the financial books by an outside auditor.
Questions: How closely do we monitor our financial activity compared with what was budgeted? What is our strategy to ensure the long-term financial health of the organization?
4. Ensure Adequate Resources
An organization can only be effective if it has enough resources to meet its purposes. Providing adequate resources is first and foremost a board responsibility. Many confuse the ED’s and board responsibilities, particularly when the staff is involved in fundraising. While it is appropriate to consider the ED as the chief fundraiser, the board should help to set fundraising goals.
Effective fundraising is one measure of the board’s capabilities, commitment, and influence. The board should guard against a natural tendency to behave as if its development or fundraising committee alone bears the responsibility for fundraising. It is a full board function, the appropriate committee is simply the agent to help oversee the work.
Questions: What is our policy on board member participation in fundraising? How can board members best help our organization’s fundraising efforts? Who do we know from our professional or personal lives that could be potential donors to this organization?
5. Ensure Legal and Ethical Integrity and Accountability
The board is ultimately responsible for ensuring adherence to legal standards and ethical norms. By being diligent in its responsibilities, the board can protect the organization from legal action, promote a safe and ethical working environment, and safeguard the organization’s integrity in pursuit of its mission. Solid personnel policies and procedures, grievance protocols, and especially clear understanding about the ED’s responsibility for hiring, developing, and releasing staff help to ensure proper diligence in this area. Other policies to have in place include conflict of interest policies, confidentiality, and current by-laws.
Questions: Is every board member familiar with the bylaws and are we adhering to them? Do we have clear and appropriate organizational policies? How do we keep up to date on laws and regulations affecting nonprofit organizations?
6. Ensure Effective Organizational Planning
The planning process enables the board and staff to translate the broad mission of the organization into objectives and goals that can be measured and accomplished. In our size organization it is the responsibility of the board to develop the strategic plan and to help set the procedures in achieving the goals established by the planning process. Most long-range or strategic plans will include some variation and combination of the following elements:
- Statement of mission and purposes
- Assumptions about the future
- Current programs and services
- New programs and services
- Membership development and retention strategies
- Staffing needs
- Financial projections
- Fundraising strategies
- Public relations strategies
Questions: How realistic are our projections? What goal should the organization strive to achieve for financial reserves? Are priorities clear and realistic? Which can or should be self-supporting and which should be operated at a loss?
7. Recruit and Orient New board Members and Assess Board Performance
All boards have a responsibility to articulate and make known their needs in terms of member experience, skills, influence, demographic, and other considerations that define a balanced board composition. There is also a need to properly orient new board members and to periodically and comprehensively assess the board’s effectiveness.
Questions: How can we improve orientation for new board members? What skills, expertise, and personal traits should we look for in new board members? When was the last time we conducted a self-assessment?
8. Enhance the Organization’s Public Standing
Board members serve not only as a link between the organization’s staff or volunteers and its members, but also as the organization’s ambassadors, advocates, and community representatives. But government leaders, the media, and current and potential funding sources call for an ambitious and effective public relations program to ensure a healthy and accurate public image for the organization.
Boards, however should guard against occasionally overzealous board members who may take inappropriate and unilateral initiatives without clearance. No board member should represent herself as speaking for the board or the organization unless specifically authorized to do so.
Questions: Who is our spokesperson? What needs to be considered before responding to media inquiries? What should board members do when contacted by the media? What is our communications strategy? What are the key messages we wish to communicate to the public?
9. Determine, Monitor and Strengthen the Organization’s Programs and Services
The board’s fundamental responsibility begins with the question of whether current and proposed programs and services are consistent with the stated mission and purpose. What we do for our members determines our significance as a social institution. Every board must find a sensible division of labor among its members to ensure that programs and services are consistent with the mission and purposes and are of high quality.
Questions: How can the board and staff monitor member satisfaction with current and future programs and services? What do we know about who participates in our programs and services? What proportion of the annual budget is devoted to programs and services as distinct from personnel costs and other expenditures?
10. Support One Another and Communicate Often and Effectively
We all need to be supportive of one another and offer continuous information and feedback. We need to agree with overall decisions, disagree with respect and respond to questions in a timely manner.
Questions: How do we normally communicate and could we do this better? How do we respond to conflict or stress? re we able to disagree and remain a strong working force?
Taken in part from boardSource, by Richard T. Ingram.