September 2008 E-bulletin
FEATURE
ARTICLE
Board Orientation - The Essentials
RELATED
RESOURCES
What Your Board Members Need to Know
TIPS
& TOOLS
Board Recruitment - Partnering With the For-Profit Sector
SPECIAL
EVENTS
Funders Forum
Non-profit Staff Supervision Training - Needs Assessment
ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Resources to help you organize your own Volunteer Recruitment Fair
No Cuts to the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering & Participating
FEATURE
ARTICLE
Board Orientation - The Essentials
By Tracy Douglass, Community Outreach Coordinator
The fall is usually the time to welcome new members to your Board of Directors. To help them become familiar with the organization and the issues you need to do some orientation. Orientation also will minimize conflict between members since they will have a better understanding of how your board works.
What information do you need to include in your orientation to make sure your new board members know enough to contribute but don’t become overwhelmed?
The orientation can be a combination of reading, in-person discussion, and ongoing mentorship. The more ways and the timelier you can present the material, the better the new member will be able to retain the information. Spend time thinking about whether the new member needs to know certain information before the first meeting or if it can be staggered. Some organizations do orientation in 15-minute sessions over 6 months right before each board meeting.
The topics that should be included in your board manual and covered in your orientation include:
1. General information including the organization’s mission, goals, services & programs, organizational/board structure, list of board members, their contact information, the latest annual report, and the strategic plan.
2. Roles & Responsibilities including job description, liabilities, terms of reference for the committees, and the articles of incorporation and bylaws.
3. Board policies including conflict of interest, confidentiality, expense remuneration, harassment, discipline, financial, insurance, and public relations policies.
4. Financial information including latest audited financial statements, current budget, and list of current funders and/or large donors.
5. Operational information including previous board meeting minutes, organization promotional material/brochures, and board calendar.
Many organizations use our Board Development Series of workshops to train new board members. Another popular option is to have one of the workshops brought to your organization to develop the entire Board. Our workshops cover board roles & responsibilities, how to run effective and enjoyable meetings, strategic board governance, and financial responsibilities of the board. To learn more about these workshops click here…
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RELATED
RESOURCES
What Your Board Members Need to Know
Resources from Volunteer Manitoba's
Resource Library:
(to borrow any of these resources contact our Resource Coordinator, Jody, 477-5180, vmresource@mts.net)
Board Building: Recruiting & developing effective board members for not-for-profit organizations – Takes you through the board development cycle including recruitment, orientation, training & evaluation.
Doing Good Better! How to be an effective board member of a nonprofit organization (Edgar Stoesz & Chester Raber) –Introduces each key responsibility of the board and describes how board members can be most effective in fulfilling that responsibility.
Not-for-Profit Organizations in Manitoba: Director’s Liabilities (Community Legal Education Association) – Outlines the law regarding directors’ liability in Manitoba and the possible ways of avoiding such liability is discussed.
Orientation for Boards (Suzanne Christie) – Spells out everything you need to develop an effective orientation process for new board members – what should be included, who should be involved, how to organize the materials, and when to introduce the information.
The Roles, Responsibilities and Functions of a Board (Manitoba Family Services & Volunteer Manitoba) – Provides a comprehensive outline of the responsibilities of a governing board. Includes Questionnaires, self-analysis worksheets and checklists.
Websites:
Mentoring Canada - The Fundamentals of Effective Board Involvement is an online course designed by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. It explores the roles, responsibilities and liabilities associated with being a Board member.
Dalhousie University Non-Profit Leadership - The Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program (University of Dalhousie) provides some of their program's resource materials as well as selected links to other websites that also offer useful information on governance and board development topics
Wild Rose Foundation - Resource materials, both print and web-based, that focus on board governance issues of concern and relevance to not-for-profit boards.
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TIPS
& TOOLS
Board Recruitment - Partnering With the For-Profit Sector
Excerpts from 2008 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey “Skills-based volunteerism: An unexpected tool for training and development”
Is it possible to work with for-profit HR managers to recruit new board members? A recent study suggests that leadership (skills-based) volunteering makes good business sense.
“Human resource professionals are facing intense pressure to develop more cost-effective, high impact training and development programs that quickly prepare the next generation of business leaders. New research from Deloitte suggests that corporations may find a solution in an unlikely place – their corporate volunteer program.
HR professionals see significant business value in offering skills-based volunteering as part of their training and development programs, yet most corporations do not offer a comprehensive program and are missing the opportunity to boost learning in a way that offers substantial benefits.” (Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey, 2008)
This creates a tremendous opportunity for non-profits to do some strategic board recruitment. But how?
1. Believe that joining your board will be beneficial to the individual and organization they work for.
2. Realize that this will be a partnership between you and the corporation and that means both of you have needs that must be met to make it work.
3. The for-profit sector needs new leaders and you must show how volunteering on your board helps develop leadership skills. Identify the leadership skills that will be gained by joining your board. Ask your present board members what leadership skills they are using.
Some leadership qualities that are developed include:
- adaptable to change
- able to take risk
- objective decision making
- focuses on the future
- grasps the big picture
- positive, effective communication
- promotes effective discussion (open mind, shares ideas)
- team player
4. Another benefit to promote is that not only does being on a board develop leadership skills, but it also allows the person to practice these skills and apply them to real-world problems.
5. Approach businesses that you already have a relationship with. It’s easier to develop a current relationship than start a new one. Have you had a business fund a program or sponsor an event in the past? Where do you current volunteers, board members work?
6. Be clear about your needs – how much time do you need from your board members? When are the busy times for your board? What specific skills are you seeking to complement your present board?
7. Make the pitch with confidence – remember – you have something to offer! Who do you pitch to? HR managers and people responsible for training staff are a good start. Also, speak with the person responsible for the corporate volunteer program.
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SPECIAL
EVENTS
Funders
Forum
Tuesday,
September 16, 2008
Marlborough Hotel
8:30am - 12:00pm
Mark
this event on your calendar because you won't want
to miss it!
This
year's Forum will feature a keynote address from Sue Hemphill, titled: "Partnerships & Collaborations - Sound Simple But Are They?" The following funders will be providing an outline of their funding criteria and processes: Assiniboine Credit Union, Neighborhoods Alive, Royal Bank of Canada, MB Labour & Immigration, MB Law Foundation, RCMP Foundation.
To download the registration form - click
here.
Non-Profit Staff Supervision Training - Needs Assessment
Volunteer Manitoba is creating a new course covering basic non-profit staff supervision. If you are a new or aspiring manager please tell us what you think this course should cover by completing this quick, 6 question survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=EjvbnC7eRucxabbvaODxPw_3d_3d
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Resources to help you organize your own Volunteer Recruitment Fair
Volunteer Manitoba has added more practical tools to their website to help communities across the province organize their own Volunteer Recruitment Fair. Checklists, suggestions, forms, etc have all been added for easy access. To view these resources click here...
Arts & Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba (ACI MB) offering Human Resource Series
ACI MB has the following choices of workshops for Managers and Supervisors:
- "Cultural Human Resource Best Practices for Managers" - hands-on workshops held afternoons from September to March. For more information, click here...
- "Humans for Breakfast" - basic Human Resource Management held mornings from Sepetember to March. For more information, click here...
No Cuts to the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering & Participating
The latest budget provided some relief for the sector in what wasn't included. Last summer the members of the non-profit sector were advised that the Canada Survey of Giving Volunteering and Participating was included in a budgetary expenditure review and, therefore, at risk of being eliminated. Through vigorous campaigning, this is no longer the case. To read more click here...
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