Advocacy strategy: Board surveys, educates community

• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31138

4 Board & Administrator

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

continued from page 1

recommend a reminder to the board midway

through the time period,” Blumenstock said.

Blumenstock collected the completed survey

forms from board members, tabulated the re-

sults and presented a summary at the next board

meeting.

The board’s efforts were valuable—and motiva-

tional to its members. “They felt really good about

being board members when they heard positive

feedback,” Blumenstock said. “One of the direct

results of the survey was for us to increase our

publicity about the services for men we have avail-

able,” Blumenstock said.

“It was also interesting to hear the board’s reac-

tions to the responses they received from people we

talked with,” Blumenstock said. “Board members

were motivated, and more involved in the process of

increasing our visibility in the community.” ■

Advocacy strategy: Board surveys,

educates community

Most nonprofits expect that board members, as

part of their role, will serve as advocates for their

organization in the community, but it is an often-

neglected aspect of serving on a board.

The board at Yates Family Planning Services

Inc. (Penn Yan, New York) makes a strong commit-

ment to advocacy. The organization developed a

simple survey and asked each of its 12 members

to administer it to five acquaintances, to help de-

termine the organization’s reputation and visibility

in the community. The activity also provided board

members with the opportunity to educate people

about their agency’s services.

The 15-question survey allowed board mem-

bers to ask if respondents were aware of all of the

nonprofit’s locations and the full range of services

the nonprofit provides, and whether respondents

hear positive or negative comments about the

nonprofit.

Board members spent the four weeks in be-

tween regular board meetings conducting their

surveys and returned completed surveys to their

executive director. The administrator collated the

results and provided a recap to the board at its

next meeting.

The board’s efforts were valuable to the non-

profit—and motivational to its members. One

result was to increase the amount of publicity the

organization generates about a specific service

the nonprofit offers. Board members also enjoyed

hearing positive feedback from the community

about their organization. ■

Follow these 4 tips to better communication

Administrator Sonia Handforth-Kome (Seattle,

Washington) said an executive director can improve

communication with the board by doing the following:

1. Send out short, clear informational emails

about once per week. These should recap the

highlights of the week (remembering that this in-

formation is subject to public scrutiny, so keep it

factual, informational and neutral-to-positive, and

keep the Family Educational Rights and Privacy

Act and Health Insurance Portability and Ac-

countability Act firmly in mind). “Mention awards,

upcoming events (including testing, open houses,

art shows, student travel, etc.) and updates on

projects,” Handforth-Kome said.

2. Schedule one-on-one meetings with individ-

ual board members (by phone, Zoom or in person)

on a monthly basis just to check in and hear those

individual’s thoughts, ideas and concerns.

3. Include board members on school commit-

tees, and attend many of those committee meet-

ings as a participant (rather than as a leader of the

committee).

4. Plan a board retreat and/or training session

at least once per year. ■