EFFECTIVE BOARDS: Nonprofit Leadership and Governance
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Transcript of EFFECTIVE BOARDS: Nonprofit Leadership and Governance
The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at UMKC
EFFECTIVE BOARDS: Nonprofit Leadership and
Governance
A Partner in Leadership for Sustainability
Presentation by Scott T. Helm, Ph.D.Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at
UMKC
Sponsored by:
Board Activities Fiduciary
Strategic
Generative
The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at UMKC
The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at UMKC
The Legal Duties of The Board Duty of Care Duty of Loyalty Duty of Obedience
The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at UMKC
Governance and Policy
Govern Is to guide, control, and or direct
Governance Is the process by which community interests
and values are translated into policies and actions
Policy Is a guiding principle; a guide for action that
is adopted by organization’s leadership to guide their own and others’ decisions and actions
What areas do policies cover? Board roles and responsibilities Staff roles and responsibilities Operating budgets Revenue and expenditures Reserves Capital improvements Debt management Investments Procurements Risk management Human resources Accounting, internal/external audit/ reporting
Fundamental Dimensions of Policies Formal v. informal Accountability v. flexibility Policy v. Procedures Actionable v. Philosophical
Creating Financial Policies – Conventional Approach Define the problem Research policy alternatives Create draft policy Recommend to management Review by board
The Carver Policy Governance Model Four Types of Policy Areas under Carver:
Ends: Describes the goals of the board and mission of the organization.
Means: Describes the means by which staff may achieve the ends of the board.
Board-Staff Relationship: Board deals with CEO and delegates complete control to the CEO within limits.
Process of Governance: Board determines how it will operate to accomplish the group’s work.
Differences from conventional method Board creates policy independent
of staff Policies are very broadly stated Policies are not focused on
departmental or functional levels but rather on public purpose and mission success measures
CEO is given wide discretion within executive limitations
Boards are focused on governance, oversight and community leadership
Differences from conventional method Boards should be focused to accomplish high
value strategic visioning, goal-setting, and leadership
Financial policies under Carver: Define acceptable financial standards for
management What behavior is not acceptable and what is Streamlines oversight Deals with ethics and prudence rather than micro
review of results Board establishes general policies and goals and
leave staff to determine how to achieve goals Carver works best with a council-manager
form of government and less well with a mayor-council form where the mayor is CEO.
Models 2 Rules:
No perfect model Model should meet your governance
goals
Models help us effectively engage our board
Board of the Whole
BOD TaskForce
TaskForce
Board of the Whole Strengths:
Small size- 3 to 12 No committees, all task forces Most nimble & quick for decisions Usually a start-up structure Volunteer driven, minimal staff
needed Tight teamwork Founders influence No executive committee
Board of the Whole Weaknesses:
Over works members Lacks diversity and talent One person can dominate Lacks perspective Volunteer dominated Too quick and bias Task forces hard to staff
Two CommitteeBoard BOD
CommitteeX
CommitteeY
TaskForce (s)
TaskForce (s)
Two Committee Board Strengths:
Size-10 to 30 CEO can staff both No executive committee Clear assignments possible Two Vice Chair system Staff support good Nimble and TF approach
Two Committee Board Weaknesses:
Committees too autonomous CEO or CVO can dominate Task forces hard to staff May have too many task forces Roles and responsibilities may get
confused
Entrepreneurial BoardBODExecutive
CommitteeEndowmentCommittee
Operations Assessment Governance
Vice ChairMembersTask Forces
Vice ChairMembersTask Forces
Vice ChairMembersTask Forces
Entrepreneurial Board Strengths:
Size- 9 to 21 BOD talents evenly divided Weak executive committee 4 vice chair system Work load evenly divided Multi-tasked committees Small enough to add outside talent Task forces used as needed CVO-CEO balance is required
Entrepreneurial Board Weaknesses:
Requires a engaged board Assignments/responsibilities
sometimes confusing Committee must communicate with
each other Multi-task Committee is harder to
learn Harder to staff Everyone as a fund raiser is hard to
achieve
Traditional Board
BOD
ExecutiveCommittee
Finance Programs Membership Fund Raising
Nominating Audit StrategicPlanning
Marketing
Traditional Board
Strengths: Size- 15 to 100 Clear Committee areas Knowledgeable officers Can accommodate more members Members are not over worked More fund raising positions Most understood structure by volunteers Can match specific member skills to committees
Traditional Board
Weaknesses: Strong executive committee Underworked non-officer members Too narrow assignments for committees Not everyone as a fund raiser Too big Lack of member ownership CEO/Staff can dominate 1/3 of the board is a ‘no show’
The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at UMKC
The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership
Building Healthier Communities Through Nonprofit Leadership
Bloch School of Business and Public Administration University of Missouri – Kansas
City
1-800-474-1170www.mcnl.org