Rebecca Reynolds is a writer, speaker and guide to leaders. Under the auspices of her firm, RRC, Reynolds has supported the development and transformation of leaders toward advanced business function. Reynolds recently published her manual for nonprofit leaders, Nonprofit-KnowHow, nominated for the 2012 Terry McAdam Book Award. This comprehensive two-volume manual integrates the theory and practice of nonprofit management subjects such as board governance, strategic planning, finance, and fundraising, based on Reynolds' proven work with hundreds of nonprofit organizations. Contact Rebecca Reynolds at info@Nonprofit-KnowHow.com or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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...
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.
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
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
