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Participate in a workshop - Connect
Find funding, resources, network and more - Tools
What you need to know - Projects
Community Partnerships- Cal Endowment - Building Healthy Communities
- Encore Fellows Program
Civic Ventures program matching highly experienced professionals with nonprofit organizations in the Sacramento & Sierra regions - Generosity Project
- Placer Collaborative Network
- Strengthen Our Community
A leveraged media campaign to educate, connect and resource the community in support of the region’s nonprofit sector. - Website Development Project
- Previous Projects
- About the Center
Guidelines for Recruiting New Board Members
Your board deserves highly skilled and participative board members
Don’t erode your goals and believe that you are lucky to get anyone at all. Carter McNamera offers these guidelines for finding great board members.
Board Recruitment
Wondering how to get new, better, richer, younger people on the board?
This Board Leadership Tool from Governance Matters offers excellent advice on how to recruit the board members you need.
Board Development
How to identify, recruit, and orient Your board members
The National Council of Nonprofits offers these tools to help you create a high functioning board. They have the following suggestions for the process of shaping your nonprofit’s board into an effective force for good governance. Get the details on their website.
1. Find the “right” board member.
2. Decide whose job it is to recruit new board members
3. It’s more than just a nominating committee.
4. Onboard with vigor.
Board Composition Matrix
A contrarian view
All About Boards of Directors
A toolkit for building and sustaining a nonprofit board
All About Boards offers tools, advice and counsel on all aspects of building and sustaining an effective board. Includes sample bylaws, board job descriptions and evaluation formats. If you are creating new to a board, or trying to revitalize an existing board you will find useful resources here.
Board Contracts
Help insure that your board members understand their responsibilities
Call it a contract or an agreement, it’s an excellent idea to have a written statement outlining your board members’ responsibilities and legal duties.
LinkedIn Board Connect for Nonprofits
Identify connections to potential board members
LinkedIn Board Connect is a new board member recruiting program that enables nonprofits to easily tap into LinkedIn’s 175+ million strong network of professionals.
Engaging Board Members in Fundraising
Help your board be the best fundraisers
Looking for ways to improve your board’s fundraising? Using the findings in this report, Engaging Board Members in Fundraising, you can recommend the most effective approaches to your board. This report summarizes data from research carried out by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, a coalition of nonprofits and companies that focus on fundraising and nonprofit research.
BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2012
Identifies trends in board composition, policies, and practices
BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2012. BoardSource has been conducting the Governance Index, the only national survey to gather information from both nonprofit chief executives and board chairs on their experiences in the boardroom, since 1994. The Index identifies trends in board composition, policies, and practices as well as provides a detailed view of the challenges nonprofit boards are facing as they conduct their work.
Executive Transitions
Resources for staff and board
Succession Planning for Nonprofits of All Sizes A quick overview from Blue Avacado
Executive Transition Monographs. The set of 6 booklets described below covers all aspects of leadership change in a nonprofit organization. All can be found at the Annie E. Casey Foundation Knowledge Center
Board Roles and Duties
Nonprofit Law Blog
Consent Agenda
A tool for energizing your board
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Conflict of interest demands more than just a policy
This excellent review is based on the experience of real nonprofits. It offers a clear definition of conflict of interest, four tests to use to help in complicated situations, basic conflict of interest guidelines and tips on how to manage conflicts that do arise.
Nonprofit Conflict of Interest
A 3-Dimensional View
This article by Jan Masaoka offers a nuanced view of conflict of interest issues.
Executive Compensation Policies
Why Have a Written Policy for the Compensation of Nonprofit Executives?
The National Council of Nonprofits tells you why you need a policy and offers sample policies and other resources.
What’s the Right Size for the Board?
from Board Cafe
Board Meetings
Agendas, minutes, parlimentary procedures, voting by email and other issues
One of the most effective ways to accomplish productive meetings — and strong governance — is to carefully design an agenda and then closely facilitate to that agenda. At All About Boards you’ll find valuable information and samples of agendas, minutes, consent agendas, meeting management and parliamentary procedure.
Follow this link to an excellent article on board meeting minutes.
Fast Facts About Boards
Unlike private businesses, nonprofit organizations are not “owned” by anyone. Instead they are “owned” by the community: chartered by the government to serve a public purpose. The board of directors represents the community’s interests. The board, acting as governors or trustees, is charged with protecting the nonprofit organization’s public purpose. Nonprofit boards and boards of private corporations are similar in that both are responsible for the organization’s success.
Websites, eNewsletters & Blogs
All About Boards of Directors A comprehensive set of links to articles and advice.
Board Cafe Archives With over 90 great issues in the archive, the Board Café answers the most frequently asked questions about nonprofit Board Governance.
BoardSource A national organization that provides publications, individualized consulting and training services to nonprofit boards.
Board Job Description Samples
Free Management Library: Sample Job Descriptions for Board Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Chair, Board Member, Secretary, Treasurer
Governance Matters: Job Description for Board Members
Bridgestar: Board Job Descriptions: Board Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer
Board/Staff Roles & Responsibilites
Who does what?
Are you wondering where the line is between staff and board responsibilities? Take this quiz and find out.
Term Limits for Nonprofit Boards
The debate on term limits has been waging for decades, if not centuries. So, there is no “settled” answer to this question. But my own answer is very firm: term limits—both for board members and officers—are a must. My reasons underlying this answer are simple, and take into account the arguments put forth by those on the side of no term limits.
Executive Director Evaluation Survey Form
In this excellent article Blue Avacado’s, Jan Masaoka, draws on discussion and review of dozens of evaluation instruments to offer an evaluation process and an evaluation form that you can adapt to your organization’s needs.
Evaluating the Board
Tools for self assessment
Board self-assessment aims to help a board do its job better by improving members’ understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Using these self assessment tools can help your board become a stronger team, improve their problem solving skills and increase their accountability. Tailor these samples to your organization’s needs.
The Board of an All Volunteer Organization
Many people work in groups in which nobody is paid, everyone is part-time, and everyone can leave any time they want.
Youth Board Members
Can minors serve on a nonprofit board?
Youths represent a growing volunteer population for nonprofits and for some, a potential pool of nonprofit board members.
Benefits Generations X and Y Offer Nonprofit Boards
If your board leans heavily to the baby boomer generation it’s time to explore the next generation. Read the BoardSource report Next Generation and Governance to see what other nonprofit leaders are saying and doing to ensure inclusivity and find new ideas, approaches, or questions to consider.
A Board Members Guide to Nonprofit Mergers
The M Word: A Board Member’s Guide to Nonprofit Mergers, a study from CompassPoint, provides a road map to a merger’s expectations, processes, and obstacles. Special sections depict seven organizations’ actual merger experiences, feature sample resolutions and worksheets, and highlight the key roles executive directors play in a merger. Also offers advice on how to close down an organization.
Hit the Ground Running – The President’s First 100 Days
A step-by-step guide for incoming board presidents
Taking the reins as president of a nonprofit organization can be an honor and an opportunity, but it can also pose distinct challenges. How can you build a successful team? What communication strategies and organizational structures will help you to be effective? What planning is necessary to achieve your goals?