15 Key Questions to Evaluate Your Nonprofit’s Board of Directors

Perhaps you haven’t caught the recent news about NPX Advisors. In a world where disruption is now a big yawn because it happens so often, the company has introduced to Wall Street something called “shock values.” Ted Williams and Catarina Schwab said in a Forbes article (news link at the bottom of this article) about the nonprofit sector,

“Unfortunately, the nonprofit sector lacks creative destruction. Mediocre and weak organizations continue to attract funding and the best organizations are not getting the funding they need to make a real impact. The only way to get to a stronger, more efficient nonprofit marketplace is to reward the good organizations and penalize the bad ones. This will only happen when there are economic consequences linked to the impact.”

Schwab continued: “The nonprofit capital market is opaque and inefficient. It’s a trillion dollar industry and money is being wasted. And it’s being wasted at the expense of human lives and the environment.”

In this world of philanthrocapitalism where Wall Street is taking on the philanthropic sector as well as social enterprises, impact securities will be issued by non-profit organizations and investment funds will only go to those organizations that demonstrate a measurable result or impact. . The philanthropic guarantor will provide benefits for investors.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s quite attractive to major donors because they don’t have to waste money on programs and initiatives that aren’t going to work.

Leadership is the Holy Grail

I think some nonprofit executives and board members are reading this article and saying to themselves: That will never happen. Impact values ​​will not gain traction. The impact values ​​will not affect my donors or my organization.

Think again.

It may have taken time, but much of what nonprofits in New York have faced for decades with Wall Street bankers driving the metrics and the impact has rippled throughout the nonprofit sector. Today, even small $10 donors are not in the mood to give to organizations that are not demonstrating an impact or in some way showing they are making a substantial difference.

So where would you start?

The answer is simple: leadership.

The success of any organization has only one path, and that is through leadership.

Key questions for your annual board meeting

Look at your annual meeting as an opportunity to clean house if board members who served their purpose at one point no longer do so. One of the easiest ways to find out where your board members are and suggest where they should be is to conduct an annual board survey. It’s an opportunity for your leadership to speak up and take responsibility, which sets the tone.

The following are some key questions you can use for an annual survey to encourage board members to begin looking at their role within your nonprofit.

1. Do you understand and support the organization’s mission?
2. Do you feel well-informed enough to be able to communicate the work done by the organization to others (eg, individuals, corporations, foundations, the media) who are not familiar with the group or its work?
3. Do you attend regular board meetings?
4. Do you understand the financial statements provided to you by the organization, including annual reports, audited financial statements, 990s, etc.?
5. What do you think about your previous fundraiser or your efforts to help the group raise the financial resources it needs?
6. Evaluate your effectiveness by talking to others outside of the organization and have you been able to raise money or do you need additional support? that is how?
7. What do you think about your ability to raise funds or make a significant donation for the new fiscal year?
8. Please list the areas where you can use your skills most effectively to help raise money, and describe how you can be helpful in these areas (eg, grant proposals, government fundraising, corporate contacts).
9. What areas of fundraising are you willing to spend your time on (eg, grants, special events, government fundraising, individual requests, etc.).
10. Do you have a good working relationship with the CEO of the organization?
11. Do you have a good working relationship with other board members?
12. Do you serve on a board committee? If so, which one? If not, would you be willing to help and if so, which committee would you like to join?
13. Do you find your service on the organization’s board of directors rewarding? As?
14. Do you know of potential board members that you would like to recommend to potentially serve?
15. What do you recommend, if anything, to improve the performance of the entire board of directors?

Once you begin to shine a light on your board members, you may consider removing board members in a face-saving way or recruiting board members who better serve your organization in these times. I don’t know if shock values ​​will gain traction, but I feel like when Wall Street is involved, it stands a good chance. The best nonprofit leaders are those who understand that their role is to stay ahead, and in this environment, it all starts with a look in the mirror and all leadership.

Forbes article : New ‘shock security’ could revolutionize philanthropy