Picture this: you are asked to sit on the Board of a non-profit whose work you have supported for many years. They do good work in the community and you know the other board members are committed ardent supporters of the organization. You say yes – excited about the possibility of working with good people for a good cause. The first Board meeting has you second guessing yourself. The chair, a successful business person seems lost in how to run a meeting. The board spends an excessive amount micromanaging and there is clearly tension between the treasurer and the executive director, the only full time employee of the organization, who has served the organization for over 20 years. After the meeting you ask about any board policies – and find out that there aren’t any that anyone can find (there is speculation a former chair may have gotten part way through creating a policy book that was never approved).
Within your first year on the Board the tension you recognized between the treasurer and the ED have turned into a full out war creating schisms as the board and supporters take sides. Good people, with good intentions embroiled in a dispute and everyone, including the members and public served by your organization, suffers.
Sound familiar? Scenes like this regularly play out in nonprofit organizations who spend their limited resources and energy on their mandate, and not on their organizational well being. It’s understandable – but the harm to your organization when (not if) disputes happen can be significant and warrant more proactive attention.
Where to begin? For a start – do an audit of what the organization already has in place. Constitution, by-laws, registrations, audits, past minutes, policies, contracts. Do they need to be updated? Then make a list of what isn’t there but should be. What about governance policies? While there will always be differences of opinion, issues are less likely to arise or get out of control where the rules and roles are understood by everyone. It will be easier to create the contacts and policies you are missing before a problem arises.
Working on these issues now will make an organization stronger and more able to ride out the organization ups and downs that inevitably present themselves in the life of a non profit.
For help on these and other issues involving non profit governance and health contact Kim at [email protected]