Board Members Discovering Their Role

It is amazing how often I meet individuals who are board members of various size nonprofit organizations and who share with me the fact that they don't know what they are suppose to be doing as a board member. "Am I there to yes the CEO?" They ask me. If you are a board member, do you know what your role is in the process of governance? Do you understand what your fiduciary responsibilities are? Do you understand their origin under your state's laws? If not, it's time to educate yourself. While you could always read my book, I also recommend that you read Governance as Leadership by Richard P. Chait et al, published by Wiley. Two other authors that I recommend are Cyrus O. Houle and John Carver. The former wrote Governing Boards, published by Jossey-Bass, and the latter wrote a number of books on governance. I recommend his Reinventing Your Board, also published by Jossey-Bass. An educated board member works on strengthening his or her governance skills through out the year, by ateending workshops, conferences, and reading pertinent material. One last recommendation: read the summer 2007 issue of The Nonprofit Quarterly, which is devoted to nonprofit governance. Go to www.nonprofitquarterly.org. This is an excellent periodical devoted to the nonprofit sector.