4th Annual Nonprofit Business Summit, May 3rd 201: Part I

Effective Board Development and Assessment
Patricia Lewis, ACFRE
Sr. Professional-in-Residence
ASU Lodestar Center for Philosophy and Nonprofit Innovation

Having an engaged, motivated Board of Directors is the key to running a successful, sustainable nonprofit organization.  This workshop describes the entrepreneurial perspective of an organization, and the Board’s role in fund raising and leadership. The Board’s role in annual fund programs including special event fundraising, major gifts, board/staff solicitations, sponsorships, and in-kind goods/services will be covered in this workshop.

Ms. Lewis provided a copy of the PowerPoint for this breakout session for those that left business cards for her. I definitely took advantage. It's a 42-paged document that will make a good reference guide.

A few things I learned:

The core responsibilities of a board are:
~ Vision/Mission
~ Policy
~ Strategic Planning
~ Fiduciary
~ Resources
~ Board Development
~ Community Liason
~ Government Relations
~ Employer of Chief Staff Person
~ Leadership

Engaged Board Members ACT:
~ Regular attendance
~ Prepared to discuss, make decisions, contribute
~ With knowledge of organization, programs/services, customers
~ Are out in the community promoting organization
~ To keep current on related issues: journals, conferences, etc.

Advocacy and Lobbying - Can nonprofits do it? Apparently they can, but walking a fine line in doing so.
~ A policy-led activity
~ Furthers the mission
~ Intensity increases as needed: public education, gov't relations, advocacy, lobbying
~ No restrictions until lobbying activity
501(c)(3)s - IRS allows $1 million, by gradation, based upon total expenditures
501(c)(4)s and (6)s do not have same restrictions

To be honest, I'm not real a political person. I consider myself Switzerland. At this point, I'm going to say that TWZ will not be dipping its toes in political ponds and the board will have to sign something to that effect. They can be asses, elephants or Switzerland in their personal lives. But if they're representing TWZ, they're going to be Switzerland.

Board's Role in FUNdraising:
~ Leadership
~ Ethics
~ Planning
~ Contacts
~ Passion
~ Contacts
~ Involvement
~ Creativity
~ Business acumen
~ Risk
~ Change
~ Evaluation
~ Fun

There were a lot of questions from the audience about board members balking at the idea of fundraising. The overall consensus is that it has to be done, but board members should know upfront if it's expected of them. Hildy Gotlieb, co-founder of Creating the Future, was a guest speaker at the Summit. On her site, she has an article about boards and fundraising.

On the other hand, Tom Suddes of the Suddes Group (love this guy), says that the board is NOT responsible for fundraising.

Overall, it's been interesting to hear about the different sides regarding this hot button of an issue. What I like is that whether it's a "should" or a "should not", there is information to back-up each claim. Tom says no and here's why. Hildy says yes, but here's a better way to do it so it's not so icky.

I love the idea that I'm learning this from scratch and can create my own options by using--and piecing together--techniques that will work for my own organization.