Jennifer E Goldman, Nonprofit Consultant

Being on a nonprofit board of directors is a serious commitment. Many community members, even if they’ve been a volunteer for your organization for year, aren’t aware of what will be expected of them when they join your board. I hear many nonprofit staff lamenting over the lack of engagement from some (or even all) of their board members. Lack of engagement can stem from any number of reasons, but one of the most common I have found is simply that people weren’t told what would be expected of them until after they started their first term, and then they either find they can’t uphold all of the expectations and would have turned down the opportunity to serve if they’d had more information ahead of time or they resent no having been told and now they have a bad taste in their mouths. I’ve come to realize there’s a fear among organizations that if they reveal everything they expect of a board member, people will turn them down. If this applies to you, I say let them! If you tell prospec...

Board retreats are a fantastic way to create meaningful engagement between staff and board, board member to board member and to solidify the commitment your board has to your nonprofit organization. Unfortunately, sometimes after a retreat, board members go back to status quo and that’s not ideal. Typically, a board retreat is put together with the hopes that board members will be re-energized, re-connected and renewed in their zeal to help lift an organization to a higher level of success. Here's a list of things I’ve found to be helpful in creating a retreat that will have a positive, lasting impact on your organization and the people you count on for its success: Decide what challenges you want to work through at the retreat and what outcomes/goals/deliverables you’ll be working toward. Make it a full-day or 2-day retreat. Eight solid hours if it’s only one day, six hours each day for 2-days. The best times of year for 2-day retreats to get the highest level of attendance (appr...