A board is a nonprofit’s backbone.
Your board is your nonprofit’s backbone, responsible for the strategic decisions and fiscal oversight that keep your organization running and your reputation with the public intact. Unfortunately, many nonprofits are always short a few board members and finding new ones is a never-ending quest.
Here are five steps to better board member recruiting:
- Step back and assess. Before you begin a search, determine what you have and what you don’t. Most boards benefit from financial, tax, insurance and legal knowledge, development experience, community influence and personal contacts with potential major donors. Your board’s demographic makeup matters, too. The group should represent a diversity of gender, race and age — depending on such factors as your nonprofit’s mission and location.
Take, for example, a community medical clinic providing prenatal and infant care to low-income families. In addition to financial, legal and fundraising expertise, the clinic’s board should include medical professionals and public health experts. - Spread the word. Ask current board members to recommend friends and colleagues. If they don’t know of anyone offhand, they can at least spread the word through their social and professional networks. Although word of mouth is often best, you also might want to advertise the opening in your nonprofit’s newsletter, on your website and through social media channels.
- Look local. Community movers and shakers are critical to your board’s success, so focus your search among local politicians, businesspeople and philanthropists. Because board members must be committed to your mission, do a little research into the outside interests of community leaders. An avid animal lover, for example, is ideal for a no-kill shelter’s board.
- Get to know them. After you identify prospective board members, invite them to your facilities for a tour. Provide an overview of your mission, challenges and objectives, and ascertain their interest. It’s important to remember that board members are your organization’s head cheerleaders; they have to be willing to go “all in.”
- Formalize the relationship. When you find a qualified and enthusiastic prospect, ask him or her to fill out an application. Be sure to quantify your expectations. How many meetings and events must board members attend? Are they expected to raise a certain amount of funds every year? With a full understanding of their responsibilities, new board members start off on the right foot and are less likely to drop out.
Finding board members is the biggest hurdle, but retaining them is also a challenge. So that your recruiting work doesn’t go to waste, provide new members with a thorough orientation, and then monitor their meeting attendance and participation — at least for the first year. Want more inforamtion or assistance? Contact Mike Klein, Partner-in-Charge of our Not-for-Profit Group. Call him at 216.831.7171 or email at mklein@cp-advisors.com.
You may also be interested in:
