As a board member, your key responsibilities include mitigating risk and ensuring sound organizational policy and practices. These 19 questions can help assess what practices are in place, and what you may need to get on the agenda for your next board meeting.
Does the Association:
- Provide an orientation for new board members?
- Have written board policies, give each board member a copy of the policies and follow/enforce those policies?
- Have job descriptions for the board and management?
- Educate board members that missing a meeting does not alleviate their responsibility for decisions that happen at that meeting?
- Keep good, succinct meeting minutes?
- Seek adequate information before making decisions?
- Provide Directors and Officers with liability insurance and explain what that covers?
- Evaluate the executive’s performance annually?
- Have a good grasp of the budget, financial statements, and audits?
- Know what the law expects of the board-care, loyalty and obedience?
- Have a policy on board member conflict of interest?
- Understand the need for confidentiality?
- Allow the executive director to manage staff and daily operations?
- Understand proper procedures for dismissing the executive director?
- Have a plan that demonstrates vision for the future of the organization?
- Assure itself that management is managing personnel appropriately?
- Have a board policy about sexual harassment that includes staff, management and board?
- Pay attention to litigation involving other organizations similar to ours?
- Avoid sitting in judgment on staff grievances?
While these questions are a great start, they are not a comprehensive list. We recommend reviewing these questions and others with your attorney, accountant, insurance provider or association management professional. They can help identify items that may be missing or are lacking. From there the board should develop a timeline for getting those items up-to-date.
Thanks to Bob Fitch, CEO, Nonprofit Leadership Solutions, for developing these questions around this important topic.
