ALT-26 Nonprofit Service Sector
Selecting effective board members depends on what type of nonprofit organization you have. In general, most nonprofit organizations are rather small and rely on their board to help them raise funds.
Your board members should be positive people with strong business sense, a great ability to work in your community, and have a powerful sense of the importance of giving back. You are hoping that your board will help the organization to build a good base of members, have strong guidelines to run within, and follow the set bylaws.
It is ideal to obtain board members that represent a good sampling of your community. I live in an area where my nonprofit organization reaches several areas in the upper part of the state of Wisconsin, so it is ideal for me to find people from each part of that larger area to be on my board. This enables the organization to have a larger reach and fully show how far our services effect people and, in our case, wild animals. It is also good to have a sampling of professions represented on your board. you will want to have people on the board that will have a basic understanding of insurance, finances, property laws, employee protocol, and many more items. The more areas of expertise that you can pull in, the more effective your board will be in helping to run a successful nonprofit organization.
Each board member should come in with many ideas for new and exciting ways to raise funds. They should also be able to help the executive director find large donors in the community and maybe be able to assist in the grant writing process. Board members will hopefully be active in the community and know a wide range of people. By showing their excitement about your organization, they will pull in more supporters to the organization, thereby ensuring a solid membership.
But it is most important that the board members feel strongly about the nonprofit organization. They have to feel a large part of the nonprofit and feel that they are contributing to the long term success of the organization. Once you have a board in place, you want to make sure they know they are appreciated, and use the expertise they bring to the table. The best way to lose a board member is for them to feel that they are unnecessary to the organization.
The executive director needs to be active in the community, participating in service groups and other nonprofit organizations. By being out in the community and visible, the director can find other individuals that may be willing to help.
Make sure your board members are positive people with a "can do" attitude and make sure you appreciate the work they do as volunteer board members!
