Table of Contents

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.20089
• Date: 01 January 2013
• Published date: 01 January 2013

Three common mistakes execs make with

their boards 2

Use your newsletter to educate your board 4

Use caution when socializing with board 8

January 2013 Vol. 29, No. 5 Editor: Jeff Stratton

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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Use dashboard to improve board

communication

Executive Director/CEO Ann Graff (Warsaw,

Mo.) said she uses a dashboard reporting tool de-

veloped in Excel not only for management purpos-

es, but to give her board a quick monthly update

about important nonprot performance indicators.

Here’s what they do:

Each month, Graff’s program directors input

the data for their program area. “A lot of this data

is kept for management purposes and some of the

data is shared each month with the board,” she

said.

At board meetings, Graff projects the dashboard

onto the wall and hands out hard copies to board

members. The information shared with board

members includes:

•  Financial data

1. Total assets by month for the past ve years.

2. A nancial summary: Liabilities, net worth,

income vs. expenses, net prot and loss, and de-

preciation. This information is also supported by

a detailed nancial report the CFO provides the

board, Graff said.

3. Actual percentage of funds by category:

Program, administration and development. The

key gure, from the board’s point of view, is that

the percentage of administration costs stay below

fteen percent, Graff said.

4. Assets to liabilities.

5. Debt to equity.

6. Number of months of cash reserve.

•  Program indicators

7. Enrollment as percentage of capacity.

8. Waiting list information.

9. Satisfaction survey results.

•  Human resources indicators

10. Staff vacancy rate.

11. The percentage of applicants offered posi-

tions who accept positions.

•  Department key indicators

12. A focus on results. “This is where we report

monthly department outcomes based on our out-

come measurement report,” Graff said.

Examples in this section of the dashboard in-

clude: the number of people with disabilities who

meet their stated goals and number of people with

disabilities who obtained competitive employment

at above minimum wage.

continued on page 4

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