Ensuring Board Members Have the Knowledge They Need

As I was catching up on my reading, one author commented that she has frequently heard executive directors lament that they are often the ones that attend professional development programs on board governance rather than members of their board of directors. This puts the responsibility on the executive director to interpret and provide leadership in board governance for their boards rather than it being an activity of the board. In thinking about this, it occurs to me that continuing education and professional development activities are frequently assumed to be for staff members only. With this in mind, should continuing education and professional development activities of the board be identified as strategies in continuing to grow an organization's capacity to meet its mission? Should these activities appear in the strategic plan? Should one of the committees of the board be charged with planning its own professional development activities? If so, what are some of the policies in practice?

Some recommendations include an annual board retreat, semi-annual board development learning opportunity and budget for certain board positions to participate in specific continuing education activities. So, who’s attending the next NorthSky workshop discussing the new Form 990 and its deeper focus on board governance? Have members of the board attended the Board Governance workshop and gained a keener understanding of their role and responsibilities? The nonprofit sector is like every other sector, it continues to grow and change. How is the leadership of the organization keeping current in an ever-changing world and assuring new board members have the same understanding of their role and responsibilities as existing board members? Looking forward to your thoughts. . .

Enjoy the week,

Debbie McKeon
Executive Director
NorthSky Nonprofit Network

Check out this article about ongoing Board Education:
http://www.help4nonprofits.com/NPLibrary/NP_Bd_OngoingBoardEducation_Art.htm