Recruiting and Using Finance Volunteers in Governance Roles

Finance should always have a seat at the leadership table within a nonprofit organization. There is an embedded financial impact in all Board and management decisions. To ensure the delicate balancing act of mission vs. financial health is kept front and center, make thoughtful positioning of volunteers with financial experience a priority when finding and seating your Board of Directors and various committees.

Nonprofits generally do not have enough volunteers with financial backgrounds (such as CPAs, CFOs, Directors of Finance, Financial Advisors, MBAs, Staff Accountants, etc.). Most nonprofits struggle to find, attract, and retain volunteers who have financial experience. This occurs largely because nonprofits are not focused on the important role that financial professionals play in assembling a high-performing volunteer governance team.

Be proactive, strategic, and thoughtful. These are the three critical drivers that will help ensure maximum benefit is realized and sustained for your organization from having more volunteer leadership with financial experience.

1. Be Proactive

Always be in recruiting mode, constantly searching for talent with financial experience that will fill important knowledge gaps in your volunteer governance team. Most governance teams are over-weighted towards mission and fundraising expertise. Finance, legal and administrative experts are often treated as an afterthought when searching for new volunteer leadership. Consider these three skill-sets when evaluating Board and committee composition. By raising awareness about these important operational roles, higher performing and more impactful governance teams will evolve over time, which will directly enhance organizational continuity and sustainability.

Finance expertise is often hard to find. Widen the search umbrella. Look to nontraditional sources such as manufacturing industries, banking and finance, real estate, and academia to find new pools of potential talent. Years of financial experience is more important than specific nonprofit knowledge. Talented people with a financial background will quickly pick up on the nuances of nonprofit finances.

2. Be Strategic

For strategic purposes, consider where finance-oriented volunteers could add new insight, perspective, and tactical problem-solving skills alongside more mission-driven Board and committee members. Think beyond the finance committee where most finance volunteers are parked. All planning and problem-solving has some level of financial impact. Program and membership committees, fundraising (development) committees, and event planning, community relations, and diversity task forces all benefit from having the perspective of a financial professional. Having financial expertise on committees and task forces will ensure financial impact and resource utilization is considered at a more grassroots level.

3. Be Thoughtful

Bring proactive and strategic together through thoughtful advance planning. Consider adding an assistant treasurer or a co-chair position to the finance committee. This helps by spreading the workload over multiple volunteers. An assistant treasurer could solve the learning curve problem for the treasurer position, which comes with a lot of compliance, history, and financial content to absorb and understand.

Consider adding a formal nominations committee. A nominations committee will help to establish guidelines to address volunteer expertise, diversity, and needed skill sets. This allows for more thoughtful recruiting processes and advance planning to improve future Board and committee composition and performance.

If your organization already has a nominations committee, take a close look at past guidelines and practices, and consider changes that will help identify, locate, and acquire future Board talent that has been missing in the past. Value-added enhancements to consider include beginning the recruiting process earlier, adding comprehensive nominee application forms to enhance screening, and bolstering efforts to recruit for committees in addition to Board and officer positions. Also consider adding an initiative to attract young talent (even students) that can feed into more traditional recruitment pathways by providing a “farm-team” of future leaders.

Planning Tip – Do not make the mistake of assuming that a single volunteer treasurer can handle all the financial needs of your organization. The scope and time demands are often too much for one individual. Volunteer fatigue is a real problem and a leading cause of dissatisfaction, early departure, and non-renewal of terms. Adding an assistant treasurer position will help lighten the workload, as will assigning other finance-oriented volunteers to chair the investment committee, audit committee, budget committee, and other committees that are often chaired by the treasurer.

Finance volunteers need to have a presence at a variety of levels within your organization’s governance structure. They will add perspective and enhance sustainability. Finance volunteers are often hard to find, so put extra effort into searching for and recruiting this valuable resource.