Month: January 2022

Sample Board Application Form

Sample Board Application Form

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Return to Recruiting
and Orienting New Board Members

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Guidelines to Form an Advisory Group

Guidelines to Form an Advisory Group

Vast majority of content in this topic applies to for-profits and nonprofits. This book also covers this topic.

Developing, Operating and Restoring Your Nonprofit Board - Book Cover

Sections Include the Following

Overall Purpose and Benefit of an Advisory Group
What is an Advisory Group?
When Should an Advisory Group Be Formed?
How Should an Advisory Group Be Organized/Defined?

Also consider
Related Library Topics

Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Boards and Advisory Groups

In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which have posts related to Boards and Advisory Groups. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.

Overall Benefit of an Advisory Group

Driving forces such as increased global telecommunications, public consciousness and diverse values are causing rapid change among organizations like never before. Consequently, the overall role of board governance becomes very critical in guiding these organizations during rapid change. Thus, an advisory group can be a tremendous complement to the effectiveness of the official, or formal, board of directors as it works to carry out a specific, complex, major role (eg, financial analysis) or initiative (eg, construct a building).

What is an Advisory Group?

An advisory group is a collection of individuals who bring unique knowledge and skills which complement the knowledge and skills of the formal board members in order to more effectively govern the organization.

Advisory groups are sometimes used, too, to provide membership which gives status to people, for example, retired CEOs, board chairs or major contributors.

The advisory group does not have formal authority to govern the organization, that is, the advisory cannot issue directives which must be followed. Rather, the advisory group serves to make recommendations and/or provide key information and materials to the formal board of directors.

The advisory group can be standing (or ongoing) or ad hoc (one-time) in nature.

When Should an Advisory Group Be Formed?

Consider establishing an advisory group when it’s apparent that a major, current issue/challenge or complex program/product/service is too complex and/or numerous to be handled by the formal board of directors.

It’s best if the advisory group is formed to address a need that is usually outside the usual, ongoing roles and responsibilities of a formal board. (See Typical Types of Committees.) Otherwise, it may be more prudent to more fully equip and develop the formal board of directors.

How Should the Advisory Group Be Defined/Organized?

For ongoing, major activities (for example, that will last longer than a year) establish a standing advisory group. For short-term activities (for example, one to nine months), establish an ad hoc advisory group.

Carefully define the role of the advisory group in the formal board of directors’ by-laws.

In the by-laws, specify the advisory group’s purpose, duration, guidelines for membership, how it contributes knowledge and skills, and any structures/policies from which the advisory group interacts with the formal board of directors and organization members.

Advisory group, like formal boards of directors, should have a chair who drives organization and development of the advisory group. The advisory group chair should be the point of contact between the advisory group and the formal board of directors.

See the Free Complete Toolkit for Boards

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Board Models
Board Development (Types Issues, Approaches to Improve, Policy
Governance)

Board Models and Board Development

A-development-team-working-immensely-in-an-office.

Advanced Topics — Board Models and Board Development

Sections of This Topic Include

Also consider
Related Library Topics

Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to This Topic

Library’s
Boards of Directors Blog
Library’s
Nonprofit Capacity Building Blog

Board Models

As mentioned above, Board members often adopt a model or way
of working together. Many times, the model is not intentionally
or explicitly selected by Board members. They just ended up working
together in the same way. There are several types of Board models
and others are emerging; however, the research is not conclusive
about which models are best to use and when. Perhaps the most
valuable result for Board members from reading about models is
first learning the many ways that members can work together and
then by reflecting on their own Board operations.

Some New Nonprofit Board Models
Board Structure
Carver
Governance Model (Policy Governance) (more on this topic below)
Governing for What Matters: A Model for Community-Driven
Governance
Is
a Working Board an “Immature” Board?
Some
Unique Nonprofit Board Models (Part 1 of 2)
Some Unique Nonprofit Board Models (Part 2 of 2)

Board Development (Types Issues, Approaches to Improve, Policy
Governance)

It might help the reader to understand the concept of Board
development by comparing it to Board orientation and Board training.
Here’s one interpretation. Board orientation is orienting Board
members about the unique aspects of the organization, for example,
its history, products and services, other Board members, etc.
Board training is training members about the standard roles and
responsibilities of members of any governing Board. In contrast,
Board development is raising the quality of Board operations up
another level, including, for example, by using a Board pre-assessment,
Board orientation, Board training, coaching of Board members,
and closing with a Board post-assessment to measure any improvement
from the Board development. The following links provide a range
of advice about improving the quality of Board operations. HOWEVER,
reading guidelines about fixing Boards, without knowing the basic
parts and best practices of Boards, is like reading about fixing
a car, but without knowing the basic parts of a car. Therefore,
the reader is strongly encouraged to at least scan through the
list of topics in the table at the top this page before reading
many of the links about struggling Boards and how to “fix”
Boards.

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

General Resources Focused on Boards
of Nonprofits
General Resources Focused on Boards
of For-Profits

Boards of Directors Additional Online Resources

Men-working-together looking at the screen

Additional Online Resources

Sections of This Topic Include

Also consider
Related Library Topics

Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to This Topic

Library’s
Boards of Directors Blog
Library’s
Nonprofit Capacity Building Blog

General Resources Focused on Boards
of Nonprofits

National Study of Good Governance Practices in
the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector in Canada
Jane Kendall’s “What it takes to be a good
Board member”
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits “Principles
and Practices”
Help4Nonprofits
Great Boards

General Resources Focused on Boards
of For-Profits

Founder’s
Syndrome — How Corporations Suffer — and Can Recover
Global Corporate
Governance Forum
International Corporate
Governance Network
Twenty Five Years of Corporate Governance
Cut your losses or run with them? – a dilemma
How to explain corporate governance shortcomings

›Return to All About Boards of Directors

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Library’s Boards
of Directors Blog
Library’s
Nonprofit Capacity Building Blog

Ideas to Generate Participation in Committees

Ideas to Generate
Participation in Committees

Vast majority of content
in this topic applies to for-profits and nonprofits. This book also covers this topic.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Participation in Committees

In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which
have posts related to Organizational Design. Scan down the blog’s page to see
various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar
of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.

To Increase Attendance and/or Participation in Committees

Ensure committee chairs understand and can convey the role of the committee
to members, and that the chair and members have up-to-date job descriptions.
Ensure adequate orientation that describes the organization and its unique
services, and how the committee contributes to this mission.
Remember that the organization and its committees deserve strong attendance
and participation. Don’t fall prey to the perspective that “we’re lucky
just get anyone.” Set a standard for the best.
Have ground rules that support participation and attendance. Revisit the
ground rules every other meeting and post them on the bottom of agendas.
Let go of “dead wood.” It often help to decrease the number of
committee members rather than increase them.
Consider using subcommittees to increase individual responsibilities and
focus on goals.
Conduct yearly committee evaluations that includes a clear evaluation process
and where each committee member evaluates the other members, and each member
receives a written report about their strengths and how they can improve their
contributions.
Attempt to provide individual assignments to the committee members.
Have at least one staff member participate in each committee to help with
administrative support and providing information.
Monitor quorum requirements for the entire board (as set forth usually
in ByLaws), or the minimum number of board members who must be present for
the board to officially enact business. This quorum, when not met, will serve
as a clear indicator, or signal, that the board is in trouble.
Develop a committee attendance policy that specifies the number of times
a member can be absent in consecutive meetings and in total meetings per time
period.
Generate minutes for each committee meeting to get closure on items and
help members comprehend the progress made by the committee.
In committee meeting reports, include noting who is present and who is
absent.
Consider having low-attendance members involved in some other form of service
to the organization, e.g., a “friends of the organization,” or something
like that, who attends to special events rather than ongoing activities.
Have a “summit meeting” with committee members to discuss the
low attendance problem, and use a round-table approach so each person must
speak up with their opinions.
Rotate in new members every year.

Return to All About Boards of Directors

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.