The idea of term limits for executive staff leaders in nonprofit organizations came up in a LinkedIn group recently. It’s a provocative concept, one that incited a range of comments and got me thinking. For the most part, nonprofits take for granted that board governance should specify term limits for its members and officers. It’s a good thing, too. There’s more than ample evidence that organizations...
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Someone the other day said to me, "I've served on advisory and regular boards, and I'm familiar with both." But as she continued, I realized the difference between the two was muddled in her mind. It occurred to me this might be a common predicament since, well, a board is a board is a board, or so it may seem... ...
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Picking up where we left off with advisory boards, we'll continue our discussion of what the nonprofit needs to consider before bringing on any members. To reiterate, all the decisions the nonprofit makes with regard to the role and function of an advisory board should be concisely articulated in the chartering document. The charter creates internal clarity and also ...
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Nonprofit organizations, like any group working together for a common purpose, carve out certain activities in order to delegate them. For example, the board works on strategic planning, the development staff works on grant writing, the accountant sets up and monitors the financials and so on. This makes good sense--certainly everyone can't (and shouldn't) be involved with everything. That's obvious....
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