Some of what we learned, and what it made us think:

• We're pretty lukewarm about how good a job nonprofit boards do. Forty-two percent of us think that "most boards do a good job," but 52% said "most boards do a so-so job." Makes us think: But does this say more about actual performance, or about expectations? See next finding.
• Nonprofit board members felt the best about boards, closely followed by executive directors, giving "grades" of B to B-. Funders and consultants felt the worst, giving C grades. Makes us think: Maybe boards ARE doing a good job, but funders and consultants are convincing us we're not? Or are we unwittingly doing a weak job? Take this question to your board: how do we think we're doing, how does our ED think we're doing, and how do our funders and clients think we're doing?
• What do we think our own boards do best? Readers answered: finance oversight, "making the big decisions," and advising the executive director. Reminder: let's not forget about being a safety net for the organization (but unless someone falls, who thinks about how good a job the safety net is doing?).
• We also rank our own boards poorly on fundraising, with only 13% saying their boards were effective.

About Board Café readers and how you use the Board Cafe

• The overwhelming majority (80%) of Board Café readers are board members, of whom half have no paid connection to any nonprofit. This important finding will help us make sure the Board Café is responsive to our mainly volunteer subscribers!
• Most of us are on only one board of directors, and 54% of us are board officers (we're a committed bunch). Fifteen hundred of us are on boards of all-volunteer organizations, and 600 of us are on boards of organizations with 50 or more employees. (Sample comment: "Try to think more about those of us where nobody is getting paid; there's paid staff in our national office but we're the ones who need more guidance and motivation.") Our organizations are in human services, health, education, animals, environment, performing arts, civil rights, and sports. Seven percent are with organizations in communities of color, and eight percent are women's organizations. In short: we're everywhere (including New Zealand, Nepal, UK, Bolivia, and a great many in Canada)!
• A third (36%) of us are nonprofit executive directors. ("I write as an ED who has three very good board members who hold me accountable but don't let me get jerked around by the others." )
• The Board Café gets put to good use: 55% of you visit the Board Café website monthly, and you pass each issue on to an average of 8 folks! ("We have a lot of arguments on our board, usually solved by bringing a Board Café issue to the next meeting.")
• LOTS of "thumbs up" a few "thumbs down" comments: THANK YOU. In particular we get the message that you want the extremes: extremely practical or exceptionally thought-provoking.
• And how do we take our coffee (this is the Board Café, after all!)? 28% black; 21% with cream, 20% with cream and sugar; 4% with sugar only, 24% claim not to drink coffee, and 3% checked "with cream, sugar, and a shot of a whisky." Loved this comment: "Coffee is so 20th Century. Tea is the new coffee."

For more information about board meetings, see the following archived issues of the Board Café, and these and other articles in The Best of the Board Café, available at http://www.compasspoint.org/bookstore (or for $8 more at amazon.com)

Related articles from the Board Café, archived free at www.boardcafe.org. Click on “Board Café Archives.”

The Board Should Raise Money: True or False

Raising Money in 30 Days

Accepting Responsibility for the Board

Critical Path for the Board

Dashboard for Nonprofits

Self-Assessment for the Board

CORRECTION TO LAST ISSUE
When discussing ways for nonprofits to be legally involved with elections, we made a mistake. We suggested asking candidates to pledge to support certain types of legislation, and attorney Rosemary Fei of Silk, Adler & Colvin has noted that the IRS has issued a precedental guidance saying that asking for such pledges is not allowable for 501(c)(3) organizations. Thanks, Rosemary! What you CAN do is to ask all candidates the same question(s), and publish their answers.

Next issue:  What Should We Know that We Don’t Know We Don’t Know?