Board Café

The Electronic Newsletter Exclusively for Members of Nonprofit Boards of Directors

A menu of ideas, information, opinion, news, and resources to help board members give and get the most out of board service. Thank you to the James Irvine Foundation and others for making the Board Café free to its 4,000 and growing subscribers.
Executive Chef / Editor: Jan Masaoka. January 12, 1999. Vol. 3, No. 1

When my kids were small I was lucky enough to be on the board of a great organization called SLUG: the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (unofficial motto: "with a name like SLUG you can't be pretentious"). Helping out in community gardens and staffing SLUG's booth at the local garden show were both activities we could all do together, and it helped make my volunteer work real to my daughters. Later on, being a PTA Treasurer was a good way to connect my family life and my "volunteer career. " This holiday season reminded me of the value of an integrated life and how volunteering on a board is the perfect way to contribute to the community and to learn new skills and lessons. Here's to a peaceful and prosperous new year for all of us, AND for the organizations on whose boards we serve . . . Jan Masaoka

WHEN BOARD WORK IS A WORK OF ART

"The Art of Serving on a Performing Arts Board" is a new and terrific resource for board members of nonprofit theaters, chorales, dance groups, drill teams, and other arts organizations. Published by Theatre Bay Area, through a grant from the Packard Foundation. Cost: $14 for non-members (plus $2 shipping and handling). 20% discount for purchase of 5 or more. For more info or to order, call (415) 957-1557. Mail order with check to 657 Mission Street, Suite 402, San Francisco, CA 94105. Or go to http://www.theatrebayarea.org.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THE BOARD MINUTES?

Two schools of thought . . . either works. On some boards, the Secretary takes the minutes and gives them to staff for distribution. On other boards a staffperson writes up the minutes which are then reviewed by the Secretary or President prior to distribution. Whichever way your board does it, mark the minutes as "draft" until they are approved by the board at its next meeting. (I'm reminded of John Kenneth Galbraith's strategy for serving on government commissions: let everyone else talk and talk and then, at the end of the meeting, volunteer to write up the meeting notes. If you can control the commission report, it may not be necessary to control the commission!)

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH: Y2K and NONPROFITS

It's hard to tell if all the hair-raising stories about the Year 2000 problem in computers are just hype or whether the sky really is falling. There's a series of practical answers to common questions on the issue as it relates to nonprofits, along with links to other Y2K sites: go to http://www.genie.org then in the Answers section of the page click on "Year 2000" and "open sesame. "

This Issue's "Main Course at the Board Café: "

Should boards have committees, and if so, which ones?

Much of the decision-making work of many nonprofit boards is managed through committees. Committees can also serve as an important mechanism for actively involving all board members in the agency's work, and for board leadership to emerge. One long-time nonprofit CEO commented, "When a board member remarks to me that the board isn't engaging substantive enough issues, that's a sign to me that he or she hasn't been involved enough by their board committee. "

Do all boards need committees?

Most boards have committees because smaller groups can work more efficiently and less formally. (The number of committees should be limited so that individual workloads can be kept manageable¾ if board members sit on two or three committees, their time is spread too thin for the committees to be effective.) Committees can play a helpful role in building teamwork among larger boards. While they require more administrative management from the staff and board president, they also divvy up tasks and expertise efficiently.

Increasingly, some boards are choosing not to have any committees at all. In some cases, work can be more efficiently performed by individual board members working directly with staff (such as the treasurer working directly with staff on financial affairs). In other cases, an ad hoc committee or task force is formed to complete a particular task within a few months. Many board members feel more comfortable signing on to a temporary, ad hoc committee than to a permanent standing committee. In addition, assigning responsibilities to individuals rather than to committees may result in fewer meetings and more efficient work.

What is a board committee supposed to do?

The role of a board committee can be to prepare recommendations for the board, to decide that a matter doesn't need to be addressed by the full board, to advise staff and/or in some cases, to take on a significant project. For example, a detailed review of the cash flow situation may take place on the Finance Committee, which then recommends to the board that a line of credit be established. Although the full board is responsible for the decision they make, board members rely on the diligence and thoughtfulness of the Finance Committee in making the recommendation. In another example, the fundraising committee will develop a fundraising strategy which is brought to the board for approval. Anyone on the board can object, and the board can still reject the plan or ask the committee to revise it. Over time, committees gain the confidence of the board by doing their work well.

Can people other than board members serve on committees?

In some organizations, board committees are comprised only of board members. In other organizations, committees have both board members and non-board members. For example, a Latino organization may have a site relocation committee comprised equally of board members (who are all Latino) and non-board members (some of whom are Latino and some of whom are not). Having non-board members on committees invites specialized expertise, from people who may not have time to serve on the board, or individuals who may be inappropriate for full board membership.

Next issue: Job descriptions for the most common committees, including fundraising, finance, and board development

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