Strategies to Keep Board Members on Track with their Commitments
Getting Board members to follow through on their commitments of time and money to the nonprofits they serve can be very challenging. Often, we let our emotions rule, getting frustrated and blaming the Board members for lack of engagement. This is misguided. We need to work harder to help Board members engage at higher levels.
Board member commitments usually fall into three wide-ranging categories: (1) minimum Board gifts; (2) attending Board and assigned committee meetings; and (3) promoting and supporting the mission and programs of the organization.
Keeping your Board members on track is not always easy, but senior management can and should be doing more to help Board members to meet their individual Board commitments. The twin keys for success are raising awareness and increasing communications.
The improvement process starts with raising Awareness. This can be achieved through proactive, timely monitoring of individual Board member engagement. Recognizing trends of slipping engagement early limits the damage and makes reversing the trend far easier than if you let the issue continue without active intervention.
The improvement process continues through stepped-up and thoughtful Communications with Board members to help them to feel more relevant and motivated to meet their commitments.
The finance department can take the communications lead and play an active role in this process. This is accomplished by adding the following two metrics to your monthly financial dashboard reports: (1) the status of minimum Board gifts; and (2) Board and committee meeting attendance. This is a highly visible tactic that can foster immediate improvement with little effort. Most nonprofits overlook this opportunity.
Picture on your financial dashboard a small box that shows, in some combination:
Minimum Board Gifts
Number of Board members
Number of Board members who have made a gift
Number of Board members who made a gift at the minimum level or greater
Additional options: percent for each of these numbers, average size in dollars of Board gifts, comparison to prior year or years and a target benchmark or goal for current year
Board and Committee Attendance
Number of Board meetings
Number of Board members attending each Board meeting
Number of Board members meeting minimum committee attendance thresholds
Additional options: providing the same information for key committees such as executive committee, finance committee, audit committee, development committee and other key committees, comparison to prior year or years and a target benchmark or goal for current year
Monitoring minimum Board gifts and meeting attendance as outlined above helps to keep the subject of Board member commitments in everyone’s consciousness and lays the groundwork for side discussions and timely interventions that can lead to better performance.
While the subject of Board member commitments to advance mission and programs is a more difficult issue that cannot be tracked as easily, monitoring minimum Board gifts and meeting attendance sends a strong message about the culture of the organization and the performance expectations for its Board members. This should make it easier to start conversations about whether Board members can be doing more to promote and support the organization’s mission and programs.
Planning Tip – Consider adding a standing agenda item to Board, finance committee, and especially executive committee meetings to discuss the status of Board member commitments. For the Board and finance committee meetings, limit the discussion to performance of the Board as a whole with no individual Board member information shared. If appropriate, individual Board member performance can be discussed at executive committee meetings.
Lastly, be mindful that during a crisis there are natural challenges that can lead to both declining performance and less follow-through on Board member commitments. Discuss upfront whether any special exceptions from minimum requirements can be made for a single year, if they are applied on an individual basis or for all Board members, and how Board members can get back on track in the future.
