Beware of visiting board members!

No, not the ones from other nonprofits or businesses. I'm talking about your board members.

Some nonprofits tend to attract board members that don't participate in the nonprofit. Some may  technically show up often enough to fulfill the attendance policies, but they aren't really there other than physically. Others show up once or twice a year, but aren't true participants.  This can even result in having to postpone voting due to lack of a quorum.

A visiting board member isn't fully engaged in planning and implementing the success of your nonprofit. If you seem to have one or more members that show up so sporadically that they have to be briefed on months of history during the meeting, you have a visitor problem. If so, how do you fix it?

 Develop attendance policies

It goes almost without saying that you should have an attendance policy for board members. After all, it's hardly fair to vote them out for nonattendance if they have never been told how often they have to attend board meetings. Once you have that policy however, you must enforce it. Like standard employee attendance policies, it should include some sort of warning or review before taking  final action (perhaps there is a valid reason for the absence), but  noncompliance after that should result in removal.

The less often the board meets, the more important attendance becomes. Missing one or even two out of twelve meetings a year might not be an impediment to the organization. Missing even one semiannual or quarterly meeting definitely could be a problem unless there is a valid reason, such as a health issue.

Qualify new members

There will always be a certain number of people that join boards for all the wrong reasons. Some seem to see it as a social club, while others may find they are not comfortable with the legal aspects of being a board member. They may find that they aren't really compatible with the organization or the management, but don't know how to exit gracefully. Some people are serial joiners. They want to contribute but their time is so over-committed that they aren't able to attend meetings.

You should have a process for inviting and qualifying new members that includes some sort of review of their previous board participation. If they have recently served or are serving on many boards, that could be a red flag. If you have or develop that process and follow it faithfully, you can eliminate a lot of candidates that will be visitors.

Involve and develop all members

Even good board members can turn into visitors if they feel irrelevant. If possible, they should have a defined responsibility. Perhaps they can sit on a committee or attend functions as an official organization representative. At the very least, they should be encouraged to participate in the meeting. You presumably recruited them because they have a strength to offer your organization, so give them a chance to contribute.

Have a board development plan. No one is born knowing how to be a good board member. There are even grants available for just that purpose. Part of moving your organization forward is strengthening your board's ability to function cohesively and effectively as an asset to your nonprofit.

©2014 Rebecca L. Baisch

 

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