Tips From The Trenches

• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31145

August 2020 • Volume 36, Number 12 7

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

Tips From The Trenches

Make the board mentor program

effective

Three suggestions for improving your board

mentor program:

1. Pair by mutual interest. Two board mem-

bers who share an interest in planning, for exam-

ple, will offer a better pairing than one who finds

finance fascinating and one who is interested in

programs.

2. Attend a function together. A veteran

board member can make things more comfort-

able by making introductions to staff, clients and

stakeholders.

3. Have the mentor impart a sense of his-

tory. Some new board members think the or-

ganization’s history began with their election. A

veteran mentor should always offer perspective on

the nonprofit’s history with the issues it faces. ■

Personalize mailings to boost results

If your board members write appeals or thank-

you notes for gifts received, suggest they personal-

ize their writing.

Consultant Jerold Panas suggests strategies like

these can personalize mailings:

• Refer to last year’s gift.

• Talk about connection to the organization.

“If possible, talk about the prospect’s days on the

football team or in the marching band,” Panas

said.

“In every situation, tell how much you know

about the probable donor,” Panas wrote. “It binds

him or her to the institution.

For more information, email icg@instituteforgiving.

org. ■

5 characteristics of effective board

teams

1. Effective boards evaluate their performance

annually.

2. Effective boards spend time replenishing their

talent pool. Board recruitment is a board priority.

3. Effective boards value education. The board

budgets for board training, subscriptions to

publications about board service and travel to

educational conferences.

4. Effective boards understand what needs to

be done. When the board commits to a course,

assignments are made and board members meet

their deadlines.

5. Effective boards enjoy their time together.

Decision-making is cordial and relaxed, and char-

acterized by full participation.

How does your board team measure up? ■

Test your knowledge of open

meetings

Certain types of nonprofit boards, like govern-

ment entities, hold their meetings in public, with

citizens attending.

Greg McKenzie, leadership director of the Or-

egon School Boards Association, educates board

members on how to conduct effective open meet-

ings. He administers the following pop quiz, which

you should take to measure your understanding of

open meetings issues:

• Three members of a five-member board ap-

pear simultaneously at an awards banquet for the

high school volleyball team and sit at the same

table. Is this a board meeting?

Answer: No, unless the board members gath-

ered at the table are discussing board business.

“You need to check your own state’s statutes,

but this is probably not a meeting unless you

are discussing business that should be on the

board’s meeting agenda,” McKenzie said.

For example, if the three board members

discuss firing an employee, that’s likely to be

considered a board meeting, because a quorum

of the board is present and discussing the orga-

nization’s business.

McKenzie said to prevent conflict with open

meetings law, board members should always

be careful about where they gather with board

colleagues, citing the example of board mem-

bers sitting next to one another at a high

school football game. That may be innocent,

but “In the court of public opinion, however,

the public sees you as a board sitting together,”

McKenzie said. ■