Letter to the Editor from Andrew Eber, Petaluma
From the Marin Independent Journal, Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Nov. 22 Marin Voice column by Melissa Branch* and Linda Davis accurately described two of the primary failings of non-profit boards: poor orientation and training and incompetent leadership.
Thorough vetting of board recruits is essential. Requiring board candidates to serve a term on a board committee before they're formally seated allows the organization to screen out the micro-managers, unreliable participants and the self-promoters.
Board members who are not trained to understand the critical difference between their role in governance and the responsibilities of management for daily operations often find themselves engaged in financial or personnel decisions for which they are unprepared or ill-informed.
As the authors point out, this "can easily place an organization in jeopardy." These board members may be personally liable for the consequences of their poor decisions.
Board chairs who operate on the basis of personalities and selectively withholding information rather than sound governance principles encourage a board culture of private agendas, personal ambition or self-dealing, any of which can seriously undermine their organization's mission of service, no matter how meritorious.
The solution: Patient recruitment, thorough screening, sound training by organizations like the Center for Nonprofit and Volunteer Leadership and selection of board leaders with the humility and integrity to "know what they don't know."
*Note: Marin Voice Article contributed by Melissa Breach, Programs Director and Linda Davis, Executive Director at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin.
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