Starting off on the right foot, or: 8 ideas for recruiting board members

The big federal grant writing season is over, and there is some time before the smaller winter season starts. Much of my time this month is actually taken with spending a grant award from a proposal I wrote for the Silver City based Wellness Coalition in 2009: The now extinct Compassion Capital Fund Program, which provides capacity building to nonprofit organizations through sub-awards, training and one-on-one technical assistance.

I am providing the one-on-one TA piece to four different nonprofits, and in particular their boards and executive directors this month. I am helping with amending by-laws, training new board members, putting together an application for 501(c)(3) status, coaching staff through a complex grant proposal, training the ED on board roles and responsibilities, tailoring sample policies, reviewing marketing materials, advising on an innovative fundraising campaign, and, with every one of these organizations, providing advice on board attendance, retention and recruitment.

On the latter subject, here’s the type of laments I keep hearing, over and over: How do we make them show up? Our board president has not been to four meetings in a row; our board has not had a quorum in several meetings; our board members are so old I don’t know if they are alive (someone really said this!); our board members won’t participate in any fundraising activities; the XYZ committee has not done a thing in a year; our board members have no clue about their legal duties; there are too many potential conflicts of interest bogging down out board; an organization similar to ours in California has 28 board members, and we can’t even get our five to attend meetings.

The last comment illustrates the particular struggle nonprofits in rural, low-income areas face, as described previously here. We lack the large pool of highly educated urban lawyers, educators, doctors and other professionals that typically serve on boards. The few that we do have are in high demand, and often feel compelled to serve on three or more boards.

I have come to the conclusion that most of our governance gaps are caused at the moment we recruit new board members.

As I am counseling clients on these issues, some patterns and strategies emerge. Some of these are at the idea stage, and have not been tested at a large scale, while some have been successfully tried in organizations I work with. All of them are based on the premise that an effective and engaged board originates with recruiting the right people, and that we need to go past the traditional recruitment strategies. And on the premise that if in a rural area, expertise is rare, go for enthusiasm.

1. Don’t talk your friends and family into joining your board.

They’ll join to do you a favor, not because they believe in the mission.

2. Recruit people who are users of your services.

They believe in your mission, and they can testify about the need for the services.

3. Recruit young people.

They bring enthusiasm, and the ability to learn, as well as innovative ideas. They’ll be motivated also by adding a civic engagement to their resume.

4. Recruit retirees as a potential source of expertise.

Just don’t make them your only type of board member.

5. Don’t downplay the board’s roles and responsibilities in the recruitment talk.

Be honest about what you expect. Educate about legal duties before someone joins. Talk the wavering candidate out of it.

6. Don’t beg.

Market serving on your board as an opportunity and a privilege.

7. Don’t accept candidates who serve on more than one other board.

A director can’t do justice to more than one or two organizations, both in terms of time and loyalty. Be careful about recruiting people who show any signs of over-commitment.

8. Train the new members.

Make new board member training mandatory, even if they say they have governance experience. In the training include your by-laws, the organization’s mission, history, financial status, and policies. Then have someone from outside the organization give them the “Basic Roles and Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards” training.

Clearly, in our community, the standard “1 banker, 1 public official and a few close friends” -type board of directors is not working. I’d be curious to hear from other rural nonprofit professionals about innovative board recruitment.

oh my board.....

The rural resource gap is mirrored in a number of other rural gaps, or divides. Rural nonprofits are much less savvy at creating or influencing policy (something Kellogg has been addressing now for several years),then there's the gap in the workforce (see my previous post), and the gap in access to academic research resources. However, the governance gap is the most obvious to me in my daily work. While non-rural nonprofit boards all over the country are seemingly much more on top of their responsibilities, in NM we seem to think that governance is insignificant to an organization’s health.

Over the last 18 months no less than three large nonprofit community organizations in Southwest New Mexico experienced a Board of Directors erupting into conflict over the departure of the executive staff person. While each of these conflicts had their own causes and characteristics, together they are a symptom of one ailment: Local nonprofit boards ill-prepared to fulfill their duties. Two organizations now have seemingly stabilized, but one lost all of its government contracts and is now defunct. These conflicts were not healthy processes leading to stronger organizations. They left deep scars on individual relationships, resulted in loss of staff, and left the community with a perception of incompetence and needless in-fighting.

And many of the other boards in the area are not exactly collecting laurels….some more observations from the last few months: a board going below the number of directors set in the by-laws, another board either ignoring or somehow missing the fact staff that have been committing Medicaid fraud for a number of years, (this organization is on its way out, too) and many other boards watching idly as their staff struggles with dramatically shrinking resources as a result of the recession.

And finally, despite a wealth of information available on the new IRS Form 990, and its implications for nonprofit governance, not one area board (that I know if) is gearing up for a thorough review of their organization’s 2008 Form 990, due for most organizations in November.

Oh,…let’s mention the other side of it too: Executives who are condoning and enabling weak boards. I understand the temptation here, and how it is more convenient to run the show without the directors breathing down your neck. It’ll bite you in the butt at some point though. Guaranteed. I also see executives with good intentions, but no understanding of what it means to work for a board. They, along with their directors, should attend the next “Basic Roles and Responsibilities of NP Boards” training in the area.

I also worry that the recent local board conflicts discourage our community members from serving on the boards of crucial community organizations. Serving on a board can be a fulfilling, educational and rewarding way to volunteer for your community. Especially younger people underestimate how much this service adds to their resume, and how much they can learn: from leadership to financial management, supervision and teamwork, fundraising and policy, all are important workplace skills.

So, how can erupting and dysfunctional boards be avoided? Directors serving on boards may ask themselves: Are we as individuals and as a group prepared to guide this organization through an executive transition? Do we have the knowledge and leadership skills to be guardians of the mission in such times? Are we ready to put loyalty to the organization before our own egos, ideas and interests? And are we engaged enough to work with the executive (whether incoming or outgoing), supporting and supervising him or her? Are we ready to put in the extra hours needed to revise the organizational budget and make the needed decisions to steer the organization through the recession?

In times of economic crisis we cannot afford community nonprofits to fail those most vulnerable residents who are depending on their services. People serving on boards must recognize their responsibility, hone their skills, or get off the board.