The New Board

by Milena McCartney

Board management is a constant discussion point in nonprofit organizational management. How do I keep my board motivated and productive? I receive this question way too often. Do I have the answer? Yes and no. My experience shows that there isn’t a secret recipe that can help with this problem.

I am not saying this to discourage you, but to make the point that you are not alone in this struggle and that the solution is unique for each organization.

The Board of Directors is this group of passionate supporters of the cause who provide the strategic direction, the governance of the organization. They are all part of the Board, because they believe in the organization's mission and vision. They all want to contribute to its success, they all have the genuine desire to help.

When the Board engagement goes down it is important to do two things: find out what is the reason and assess the personalities of your board members.
Overwhelmed Board
Are your board members overwhelmed with tasks? Are they your go to people when it comes to running the operations, the programs and fundraising? If yes, they may be overwhelmed. You may need to have more board members to alleviate the workload or think of hiring staff.  The Board should be mainly concerned with governance and fundraising, but not with the day to day operations of the organization. 
Type of Personalities and their Roles
Assess your board member personalities. What roles are they most comfortable with? Use the high- energy, a-type personalities to run the fundraisers and bring donors; those that are more comfortable behind the scenes would feel more motivated to draft a strategic plan and work on developing new programs or identifying collaborations. Find out what role and tasks best matches their personality and expertise, and make the needed adjustments.
Offer Hybrid Board Meetings 
Zoom meetings are here to stay. Offering hybrid board meetings , on zoom and in-person may help with getting your board members together and ease scheduling.
Digital Apps to Support the Board
There are a number of digital applications available to provide support in board management. From scheduling of board meetings, note and minutes taking, document sharing. The most used applications are Boardable and BoardDirector.

Read our next post for more details on these and other applications.