Commentary: Putting the “Public” in Public‐Serving Associations: A Board Imperative

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12287
• Date: 01 November 2014
• Published date: 01 November 2014

Putting the “Public” in Public-Serving Associations: A Board Imperative 747

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 74, Iss. 6, pp. 747–748. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12287.

Commentary

William Shields is executive director

of the American Society for Public

Administration and adjunct professor

at American University. He has more

than 15 years of nonprof‌i t executive

management experience with both

public- and private-serving membership

associations.

E-mail: wpshieldsjr@aspanet.org

success is def‌i ned in large part by f‌i nancial perfor-

mance. In our case, not necessarily: our measure of

success is how well we achieve our core mission, which

is focused on collective action and the public good.

Although anecdotal, this example shows us the reali-

ties and practicalities with which boards of nonprof‌i t,

mission-driven organizations must deal: growing an

endowment, constantly searching for creative fund-

ing sources, addressing internal management chal-

lenges that inevitably rise to their level, fulf‌i lling their

Several years ago, the board of a professional

association with which I was af‌f‌i liated asked a

facilitator to lead a strategic planning exercise.

 e objective was to identify the goals that the orga-

nization should undertake on behalf of its members,

most of whom serve the public.  e assigned reading

for the session? Good to Great, penned by manage-

ment guru Jim Collins, whose lessons the facilitator

undoubtedly believed would be well replicated by our

nonprof‌i t organization.  e problem? For Collins,

“organization” is synonymous with “company,” where

Putting the “Public” in Public-Serving Associations:

A Board Imperative

William Shields

American Society for Public Administration