This is the Nonprofit Water Cooler, pulling open the kimono to the real nonprofit world.

Today’s Spill

• How to build an effective board of volunteers

• Dirty Laundry

• Billions from Canadian businessman

The Five Elements of Top Nonprofit Boards

I have sat with some very good boards in my work with nonprofits. I have also sat with some terrible boards.

With the good and the bad, I have boiled down a good board into five key elements. If you are pulling your hair out with your existing board, or looking to recruit for a new nonprofit (NP), these board qualities will show you a better path.

CEO of a nonprofit is already a tough job. Overworked. Understaffed. Outmanned and undergunned. Having a top notch board can relieve some strain. A bad one can keep pulling you under.

Let’s go to work.

1. The CVO (board chair), must be a bad A$$

The leader of the pack has to be an alpha. A no bullsh*t type. As the CEO, your CVO is your most coveted asset. If you cannot rely on this person to be your co-commander, you better pack a lunch.

This is your most trusted advisor, someone who will challenge you to become a better CEO, not a yes-man/woman. They need to help you manage the other personalities in that room. Kicking people into gear when something needs to get done. Calling for donations if the board is not hitting participation goals. Help you trim the fat of the weak members of the heard to make room for more key players to drive the NP forward.

This is the prerequisite for the remaining elements because everything starts at the top of the food chain.

If your CVO is a waffler, has inconsistent attendance, and can’t run an efficient board meeting, you will be left to fend for yourself. This person controls your compensation, job security, and the direction of your mission. If you aren’t with them lock step, you’ll be pushing that rock up the hill during the entire term.

Find your General Patton, and put them in this seat.

2. Keep the Group TIGHT

Nothing is worse than getting into a board meeting, and seeing thirty chairs. The CEO is responsible for every one of these personalities.

The reality is that board members are not created equal. Would you rather sprinkle your time among thirty half-a$$ members? Or lock in with a group of ten you can actually move the needle with.

Building bigger boards rarely leads to added opportunity (in the form of contributed dollars or additional access to wealth). The 80/20 rule is in effect here. 20% of the group will come up with 80% of the board influence and dollars raised. Why put yourself in a spot where you have to play nice with the other 80%? Make the 20% your 100%.

More heads also lead to more committees. There is no way to make decisions if your board count is that of an NFL in season roster. You will be forced to cut up the board into committees, which then can form sub committees, which can form task forces. And you as CEO attend each one of those. Next thing you know, a potential decision has been kicked around the committee black hole that the group forgets what was even discussed, and no decision is made.

A small group of volunteers is nimble. Able to make quick decisions. And if you develop your board the right way, it will be made up of some heavy hitters that are making you a better leader and your NP better in its mission delivery.

3. “Influence or Affluence”

I once asked the CEO of the best board I worked with, “how did you get such a great board?” He said “it’s simple, every board member you bring on has to have influence or affluence.”

Affluence is simple - deep pockets for big donations. So much time is spent trying to grind out small dollars from a large group of individuals rather than focusing on a small group and getting the big bucks (again 80/20 rule).

Influence is more nuanced. John Smith might not be able to open his wallet and give directly. But maybe he’s the superintendent of the school board you have been wanting to build a relationship with. Or they are deeply connected to a local power player you have had zero access to.

Either way - a board member must bring one of these pieces to the puzzle.

Something that can be controversial, but I believe is necessary, is a board giving requirement at a high dollar figure. This can mean giving direct dollars (affluence) or getting donations from your connections (influence). It will also create an opportunity to reduce the size of your board if you are out of line with element #2.

If you aren’t recruiting board members with these two qualities in mind, you are wasting your time.

4. Reduced Meeting Frequency

You have recently volunteered to join the board of directors for…let’s say a Boys and Girls Club chapter. As a child you grew up attending, have a passion for the org. CEO says, “it’s not a big commitment, just the board meetings and joining one committee.” Great! You commit to the organization and are off to your five year term on the board.

But unbeknownst to you, the board meets once a month. You opted to participate in the finance committee, which also meets once a month. You were suckered into becoming the finance chair, which made you an officer and now you are on the Executive Committee which meets…you guessed it…once a month.

The next thing you know, you are meeting every week for 1-2 hours at a time. Before work, after work, during lunch, name it. The organization you loved is now a time suck you resent.

Board fatigue is a real thing. Monthly meetings and sitting on multiple committees is a fast track to an early term exit.

Boards and committees should meet once a quarter. If there is an urgent matter, the Executive Committee is structured to step in as needed to act on the board’s behalf. Flow of information and updates can happen regularly (i.e. CEO updates, financial statements, etc.), and questions can be addressed via email. There just is not enough to discuss or take care of on a month to month basis.

Meeting less preserves your quality board members’ energy and passion for the mission. It keeps effort up, and as the CEO, makes your life easier.

5. Do Not Allow Your Board into Operational Decisions

You were put into the CEO seat by these volunteers. They hired you to move their NP forward. As a result, they need to support your vision.

Allowing the board to assist in decision making when it comes to operations - personnel changes/additions, vendor selection, program add-ons/deletions, etc. - is a massive mistake. As soon as you open this door, it will hit you in the face.

When you let them make decisions, you are now championing them as a Co-CEO. Next thing you know, the toxic fund development director you are trying to fire is a board member’s friend because they worked on a capital campaign committee together. Rather than proceeding with that operational decision, they are stonewalling you because you set the tone to include your board to help make choices alongside you.

To clarify, seeking advice about a decision is completely different. But this is what your CVO is for (element #1). They may challenge you for your reasoning and want to make sure you have everything well documented. They may even disagree. But it is still your choice.

Do not relinquish your decision making power to your volunteers, it is near impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.

Tea Time - Dirty Laundry

Each week, I will be giving an example or story to go with each of these letters - aka dishing tea.

This CEO STRUGGLED on the operational front. Not great with finances, made poor decisions, and had little to no follow through. The board lacked faith as a result, but the doors had been wide open for some time now in operational decision by committee (rather than decisions resting with the CEO).

The NP was forced by its county to come up with ways to save water consumption due to drought issues. Their solution was to eliminate laundry activities onsite, due to its high water usage. This was the only way the NP could get close to the mandated water restrictions.

This was in a finance meeting. Rather than the CEO stating “due to county requirements we are discontinuing our onsite laundering services,” it was more like “the county is making us reduce water consumption, and we are proposing that we take away onsite laundry services.”

That simple modification of a easy decision, to lending it to the group led to an absolute sh*t show. Everything deteriorated into a wildly heated debate over global warming, environmentalism, how this was going to reduce program participation…blah blah blah…for nearly an hour.

At one point, a member of the committee actually went after the CEO/COO about how they “were passing through the laundering cost to them as a participating member and disguising it as an environmental decision.”

PASSING THROUGH THE COST! TO WASH THEIR OWN DIRTY LAUNDRY!

The decision eventually “passed” but it was such a wasted meeting, and nothing else was covered on the agenda. This meant that another meeting was scheduled the following week to get to the remaining items…more time wasted.

What Else is Steepin’

I just finished “Never Enough” by Andrew Wilkinson. I have been following Andrew for some time now because of his regular appearances on my favorite podcast My First Million. Super smart, talented, and honest in all the content of his I’ve consumed.

It’s an eye opening memoir of a Canadian entrepreneur’s rise to billionaire status, and the challenges that come with lacking money and the pressure of having too much. All of this culminating in his ultimate decision to join the Giving Pledge.

Entertaining and fast read. And although not tied to the nonprofit space directly, tons of lessons/learnings to apply to any industry.

Keep Dishin’,

the NPdubC