Organizational power and voice must be authorized by those impacted by the organization’s work. The individual leaders who compose nonprofit boards reflect an organization’s values and beliefs about who should be empowered and entrusted with its most important decisions.
Key Findings
Boards are disconnected from the communities and people they serve.
Almost half (49%) of all chief executives said that they did not have the right board members to "establish trust with the communities they serve." Only a third of boards (32%) place a high priority on "knowledge of the community served," and even fewer (28%_ place a high priority on "membership within the community served."
Board that prioritize fundraising above all else when it comes the the board's role do so at the expense of organizational strategy, relevance, and impact.
Executives that reported placing the highest level of importance on fundraising have lower ratings in several key areas of performance as compared to those what do not place such high importance on fundraising.
Boards and executives should reflect on what is prioritized in terms of board expectations and how time is spent.
When asked to rate how much time is spent on each board area, executives reported that not enough time was spent in three areas:
But, when asked about how important these areas are, executives placed them very low on the list in terms of their expectations for the board. If we use desired "time spent" as a proxy for level of priority, it is interesting to reflect on this dissonance and how that should impact the board's priorities and where it spends its time.
The board chair's leadership in ensuring that there are clear expectations of board service seems to matter most when it comes to the board's overall culture.
When executives rated their chairs higher in terms of the board chair's performance in all categories, but especially in ensuring clear expectations, the executive was more likely to rate the board higher than the average across all areas of board culture/ While we cannot determine causation or even directionality, it may be helpful for board that are having culture challenges to consider the ways in which changes in board chair engagement could make a difference.
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