EFFECTIVELY RECRUITING NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Let’s imagine that you are planning on increasing your board size. You know someone with the
ability to give who has attended a few of your organization’s events. How do you know if she
will be a good board member? Will the chemistry
be right—will this new person be a good fit? Will
he be willing to help with time as well as money? Can you count on her to recruit friends to events? Will he solicit their financial support?

Congratulations. You are on the right track by asking these questions, and those like them, before you offer anyone a position on your board.

All too often, organizations are disappointed with a new board member’s involvement and for good reason – they asked the person to join before determining the organization’s needs, the prospective board member’s strengths, and/or before creating roles and responsibilities to guide everyone through the process.

Where should you start? You may already have a nominating committee or a committee of trustees. But if you are like most organizations, that committee comes into being in an ad hoc way about eight weeks before the annual meeting, tries to fill a slate of officers and board members and then goes out of existence once it has rendered its report. Best practices indicate that your committee on trustees ought to be a standing committee of the board and function year-round.

The first task for this newly organized committee would be to develop a workplan to include the development of a position description for every officer and board member. At Mersky, Jaffe & Associates, we believe an agreement or covenant between the individual and the organization that outlines mutual expectations should also be created. Both of these documents should be reviewed with the existing board—in fact, tested to see if they make sense and if people are willing to “sign on.”

A reasonable set of responsibilities for individual board members—indeed, for the board as a whole, might be:

• determining mission and strategic direction,
• overseeing organizational resources and performance,
• being accountable to the community constituents—members and funders—who “own” the organization,
• building relationships which span the boundaries of the organization and promote its mission,
• fundraising and
• advocacy.

In other words, the Board is responsible to look out, watch over, reach out and engage.

Inventory of Current Board Profiles
Next, evaluate whom you currently have and whom you need. The easiest way to do this is to use a Board Profile Worksheet (Mersky, Jaffe & Associates has one that can be provided to clients and friends upon request). With such a form, you can examine your current and prospective board’s demographics, expertise and skills. Once you have completed this form, you will be clear as to what you need in terms of skills and experience--whether simply financial supporters or hands-on volunteers, advocates or solicitors of funds.

And, while we all search for those ideal candidates who can supply time, money, connections, creativity and business sensibility, remember that they are few and far between. Appreciate those who offer their willingness to give—whether it is time around the office or warm leads on contacts for you to follow up.

Expectations
Managing expectations is an integral part of any organization – profit or nonprofit.

Time and time again it has been proven that satisfaction is markedly higher – regardless of the results – if you can eliminate surprise from the equation. Translation: once your new board member has told you what you can expect from him/her – return the favor and let them know not only what he or she can expect from the organization but also what you will require. Provide a mission, value and vision statement, your most recent annual report, documents that detail the expected roles and responsibilities and any other documents that are necessary for someone to truly understand who you are and where you are headed. Your effective communications will also clearly state the importance you put in this person’s addition to your organization and that you value his/her time.

Roles and Responsibilities
Plan to play up individual strengths. Classify the Adamant Advocator, the Central Nonprofit Liaison, or Master Steward of Donors as what they are. Ask them to join committees that could benefit from their expertise without over-taxing their precious time.

Follow progress carefully – with your future needs in mind as well. Before long you will be looking for a new head for the development or finance committee and it will be nice to know who is prepared to take over.

The Ask
You have this fabulous person that has been involved in your organization and you have done your research well enough to know he/she will be a good fit. Now it’s time to ask. Pick up the phone and make an appointment to see the person. Seriously, stop reading and make the call. Your procrastination may allow this person to fill up their schedule with other commitments or feel under-appreciated. And on that note, we have a few calls to make of our own, so until next time…

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This article is from Resources: The MJA Newsletter.
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