The Importance of Your First Year of Board Service

Serving on a nonprofit organization’s Board can be a rewarding and often life-changing experience. The first year of Board service will set the stage for the remainder of your time on the Board and directly affect opportunities for engagement, impact, visibility, quality of experience, and advancement. Our 4-part New Board Member Planning and Preparation Series aims to help new Board members set basic goals and develop realistic expectations for success during this critical early stage of their Board tenure.

The first year of Board service will go by quickly. New Board members often step into their roles with few expectations and no established goals to guide them during their first year. This often leads new Board members to start slow and miss opportunities for engagement, which can result in negative impressions that are difficult to reverse later. However, with a little planning and preparation, you can avoid the appearance of just being “along for the ride.”

This series is designed to raise awareness and take advantage of the short windows of opportunity that will pass by and close quickly, and is divided into 4 chronological parts as follows:

• Part 1 of 4 – Three Steps to Get Your New Board Member Service Off to a Good Start

• Part 2 of 4 – Preparing for Your First Board Meeting as a New Board Member

• Part 3 of 4 – Planning for Your First Year of Board Service

• Part 4 of 4 – With Your First Year of Board Service Complete, What’s Next?

You can access all four parts of the series here.

You will find simple to follow planning considerations and preparation steps that will help optimize your first year of Board service and put you in a better position to fill the remaining years of your Board term as an impactful leader.

Planning Tip – Nonprofit organizations need to do a better job helping their new Board members to get acclimated and get off to a fast start. Organizations should not solely rely on the first Board meeting or new Board member orientation meeting to kickstart the relationship with new Board members. Senior management should reach out to new Board members early to show they appreciate their commitment to serve but also to discuss how to make their service time meaningful, worthwhile, and impactful. New Board members will remember this early contact and it will help energize them for the exciting road ahead.

This 4-part series will help new Board members to avoid sitting on the sidelines and get into the game quickly. As a new Board member you can be an amazing source of new ideas and talent, but only if you get “off the bench” and into the “starting lineup” as a knowledgeable, active, and visible leader.