The complaint I hear more than any other from nonprofit execs and/or board chairs is this: Board members disappear between meetings. Poof! They’re gone. Most… Read More »When board members go AWOL between meetings, try this.
A recent issue of the Association of Theological School’s Colloquy online newsletter included advice gleaned from a nine-month long project focused on governance challenges at… Read More »Governance advice with a familiar ring
Governance seems a giant yawn to most folks, but if you’re looking for fun or fury, governance is the thing. Nothing brings out organizational fireworks… Read More »Oh, for grace for peaceful governance
“Leadership,” as James MacGregor Burns wrote back in 1978, “is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” But that hasn’t stopped… Read More »Minding the governance gap in leadership
We nonprofit types tend not to look in the direction of corporate governance for advice, which is terribly short-sighted on our part. As governance guru Richard Leblanc illustrates in a hot-off-the-printer white paper, despite obvious differences in the raison d’être of the sectors, there’s cross-over wisdom aplenty. Good board work is good board work – regardless the profit motivation.
Leblanc addresses wide-spread concern that company boards are too focused on compliance-related responsibilities and only inadequately addressing value creation and company performance, are thought to be not sufficiently independent from company management, and often lack industry knowledge and relevant experience.
Swap out “organization” for “company” and Leblanc’s summary of corporate governance woes mirrors short-comings I regularly encounter within the nonprofit sector.Read More »10 proposals for upping your board’s value-added quotient
All good things must come to an end, and so it is with my service on the board of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International. Six… Read More »Reflections as a newly former board chair
Number 1 Anticipation seated at the table, board members ready. Number 2 Motions caught in time, actions out of inaction. The pace of board (bored)… Read More »Governance haiku
When asked what boards of faith-based nonprofits should be doing in these tough economic times, I respond: What you should have been doing all along. In… Read More »Advice to boards: In bad economic times, keep on doing the same good things