Building A Better Board

With the start of a new year I thought I would address what every nonprofit executive director secretly wishes for – building a better board of directors.

Here’s what my wishes would be for the perfect board of directors:

• Attends majority of board meetings
• Willingly participates in fund development activity
• Willingly donates time, treasure or talent to the organization
• Attends seminars such as Chuck Loring’s Board Development program to better understand role of board member
• Understands that role is strategic focus and fund development.  Does not get into the weeds of tactics
• Asks the right questions of staff and at board meetings
• Does not fall prey to “glamour” ad campaigns that are not affordable and not focused on what the nonprofit truly needs
• Agrees to work with other board members and put personal feelings assign for the good of the organization
• Recommends others to become board of director members who support the organization, the role of being a board member, and fill in the various positions that all boards need

Would love to hear what you think are important elements that make a great board member.  There are so few great boards at local nonprofits.  I’m not sure why but I join every nonprofit executive director in the wish for building a better board in 2012.

The next big idea

A friend steered me to an article about the next big idea. It’s currently in design phase but the purpose is to connect individuals and organizations in the areas of philanthropy, volunteerism and social networking. It is being designed by Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook, who left the company to design the social media network site my.barackobama.com that revolutionized presidential campaigning.

Why am I excited about Jumo.com without really knowing what it will do?  Chris Hughes has a great track record. And I see the possibilities that this will have for the Millennial generation’s involvement in the nonprofit area. They are already the generation that is more socially aware, more digitally linked, and more concerned about others than any other generation in American history.

So check it out. Wish I had invented it!

Money tight but volunteering up

According to Fast Company Magazine volunteers to nonprofits were up in 2009 to 63.4 million Americans. That’s a significant rise from ’07 (60.8 million) and ’08 (61.8 million). Could it be that there are more volunteers because people don’t have money to give or have time on their hands due to unemployment?

Female volunteers continue to grow to a whopping 30.1% of the American female population. Male volunteerism remains stagnant at the 23.3% of male population mark.

What types of organizations benefit from volunteers? Respondents said that 34% are for religious groups, 26.1% for education/youth services, 13.9% for social or community services and 8.5% for health related groups.