Chapter Board Development

Jan 01, 2000

What is a Board? For some, the image conjured up by the term Board of Directors is that of a bunch of old white men sitting in high-backed leather chairs, sipping port and smoking cigars while debating arcane points of policy. People who are expecting this kind of experience when they serve on a GLSEN chapter’s board are in for a rude surprise...

Chapter boards are the heart and soul of GLSEN. They do the on-the-ground work that makes local groups go and are the essential driving force of our work. Instead of the old-white-men-in-a-smoke-filled-room image, a better analogy for GLSEN chapter boards is that of a team of horses. Working together as a team, they pull along the chapter and lead it to new and exciting places. Like all work horses, they are often taken for granted and even treated harshly by the passengers in the chapter coach. Much of what they do is not glamorous, but is instead sweaty and difficult. Unless the board team works like Clydesdales, however, the chapter will go nowhere.

What does the Board do? In different kinds of organizations, boards do different things, so there is no hard-and-fast rule on this. But a chapter board has three basic responsibilities:

• Determining programming that will help accomplish GLSEN’s mission in their community;
• Devising plans to execute such programming;
• Obtaining the financial and human resources necessary to support such programming.

Who does what? In order to fulfill these obligations, a Board needs to have many skills. The old adage is that a Board member must bring at least one of the Three W’s: wisdom, wealth, and work. Wisdom means a set of skills or abilities that are particularly useful to the organization (an accountant, perhaps, or a graphic designer would be a good example). Wealth means the ability or willingness to deliver financial resources the board needs to support programming (which does not necessarily mean personal giving one can be willing to write grants or coordinate a fundraising event, which is just as valuable as giving one’s own money). Work is really simple: it means the person has the time and inclination to do what needs to be done to see programming happen, whether that means stuffing envelopes or going by the bakery at 6 a.m. on the morning of your conference to pick up the bagels. Obviously, people who bring all three are ideal, but you must bring at least one if you want to play a meaningful role on the board.

What are the responsibilities of a board member? First off, all board members should sign a contract that makes clear the responsibilities of being a general board member. At the very least, the National Center for Non-Profit Boards recommends that it include the following commitments:

• preparing for and attending all board meetings;
• serving on a board committee or holding a specific post/job;
• making a personal giving commitment as a well as a commitment to raise funds (note: some groups set the giving commitment as at least 1% of the individuals pre-tax annual income);
• representing the organization to the general public through professional, personal, and social network;
• assisting in membership, volunteer, and board member recruitment efforts.

Other organizations add particular requirements that speak to their needs. My favorites are two from the Pride Foundation in Seattle: support the organization’s commitment to valuing diversity; and endeavor to maintain a sense of humor and have fun! It is essential that each board have a document which potential board members can review and sign which outlines these responsibilities, not only to make expectations clear but also to set a common set of standards to which all board members must adhere.

What formal jobs are there? In addition to these responsibilities which all board members must uphold, there are also several formal roles have to be filled by the board. These include:

Chair/Co-Chairs: the official leaders of the chapter, the holder(s) of this position fulfill several roles: determining agendas for meetings; conducting meetings; serving as the key liaison between national and local levels of GLSEN; and bearing ultimate responsibility for the direction, execution, and consequences of programming.

Treasurer: keeps the books for the chapter and supplies regular reports on the chapter finances to the board.

Secretary: keeps all records of chapter board meetings and maintains an archive of any printed or other materials related to the chapter.

What do folks who don’t hold these offices do? Whoa! The officers are not the Board! Each board member should commit to a particular job, as well as adhering to the general responsibilities of board members. A sample of jobs that might be assigned are:

• Fundraising Chair
• Publicity/Press Relations Chair
• Programming Chair
• Newsletter Editor
• Community Outreach Chair
• Legal Counsel
• Publications Coordinator
• Nominating Chair (coordinates outreach to new board members)

These are just a few of the jobs that must be done. It is important that the Board make clear what jobs need doing, and assign specific responsibility for them to individual board members. If the board members don’t do the work, it won’t get done!

How do we find these people? Like everything else in life, building a board comes down to personal connections. The personal networks of a chapter’s founders or the existing board will be the richest ground for recruiting board members. As stated above, it is the responsibility of each board member to help with recruiting new members, and everyone should be on the lookout for individuals who can bring some of those crucial 'W’s' (work, wisdom, and wealth) to the group.

How do we bring people on to the board? This is where a formal structure must be put into place. There are two major systems: election and appointment.

The advantage to elections is that (ideally) the chapter members feel invested in their leaders and are thus more likely to follow them. The disadvantage should be clear to anyone who has taught or attended high school and remembers the student council elections. Often the most popular boy or girl wins, and they don’t really have the skills needed for the job. On a board which has some very specific needs, elections have limited usefulness in building an effective working group.

An appointive system has the advantage of allowing the board to make a more thoughtful approach to building your board. Basically, board members need to approach their work on the board as if it is a job (because it is!), and thus the board needs to have a system of evaluating potential members similar to that of a school or business uses when selecting a new employee. While at first this might be very informal ("Hey, John, would you be on our Board?:), it is best to try to move to a more standardized system of recruiting and evaluating potential members as soon as possible. The procedure described below is an ideal one, which may not become reality for your chapter for many years: but it is important to see where you’re trying to go!

The first step is to set up the nominating committee or at least a nominating chair person. This individual should coordinate an assessment of what skills are needed by the board, convey those to board members for review, and ask for referrals for potential members who can meet those needs. (We recommend that referrals use the evaluative worksheet in Appendix B to assess the qualifications of candidates). Once this is done, the nominating chair should approach candidates and set up times to discuss potential membership with them. Before the meeting, the candidate should receive a packet of important orientation materials such as the board member contract, brochures, a newsletter, press clippings, and other materials so that he or she is aware of what the chapter does and what type of commitment being on the board involves. The meeting offers the opportunity to explore what the candidate can bring to the board and to answer any questions the candidate may have about the chapter’s work. It’s best for the chair to bring along at least one other board member to this meeting to insure that diverse perspectives are heard and that more than one person is evaluating the candidate. If the meeting seems to indicate a good fit, the chair should then ask the candidate to submit a formal one-page letter indicating interest and explaining why the candidate would want to serve on the board and what he or she could contribute. Finally, the chair presents candidates to the board, having shared before the meeting the letters and resumes submitted by candidates, and makes a recommendation. The final decision rests with the board, who should vote on each candidate. Once votes have been taken, tell the candidates the results, get those contracts signed, and put ‘em to work!

Note: It’s important also consider person characteristics during this process. After all, the board has to work as a team, and a fabulously wealthy individual might at first seem like a great candidate until his sociopathic tendencies surface and you’re no longer able to conduct a board meeting because of his disruptive behavior. Among qualities you might want to consider are: ability to work with people; knowledge of K-12 education and gay/lesbian issues; ability to take responsibility for a project and see it through to completion; personal integrity; the extent to which the individual broadens the diversity of the existing board; sense of humor; and so forth. Remember: this person will be representing GLSEN and, by extension, representing you, so think if they are the kind of representative you want! How do we know if we’re doing a good job? In short, by how healthy your chapter is. You should, however, institute an evaluation system that will help you assess the effectiveness of your board and its members so that whether or not you’re doing a good job is something you think about systematically rather than impressionistically.

For the full board, it’s important to set goals at the start of each year and evaluate your progress toward them at the end of each year. Your chapter’s Programming Plan can be the basis of this, and putting it together should be thoughtful exercise, as this document articulates your vision and strategies for the year. At the end of the year, a special meeting devoted to discussing how this year went (and beginning planning for the next) is invaluable. The information gleaned will also be useful in pinpointing where the board needs to do better and thus whom you need to recruit in the coming year to be a more effective body.

This meeting should also be the time to wrap up a process of individual self-evaluation. Each board member should also be setting goals for him or herself during the year, and should conduct a written self-assessment of a few paragraphs in which s/he analyzes how the year went. These should be forwarded to the Board co-chairs as well as the chair of the Nominating Committee, and should indicate at that time whether or not the individual wishes to continue on the Board for the next year. This will allow the co-chairs to make a determination about how to move forward with board recruitment and retention.

It’s important to institute regular review processes like these, as they help focus the board on its primary mission and how well it is being accomplished. Having one year, renewable terms also is useful, as these build in a time for renewal and review and avoid arteriosclerosis setting in on your board.

A note in closing An effective chapter board is the single most important determinant of whether your chapter thrives or perishes. The above steps are recommended as ways to think about what the roles and responsibilities of the board are, how you can find the right people to meet those needs, and how you can keep the board moving along smoothly. Building and managing an effective board is a time-consuming task, but the alternative is an ineffective chapter. So just do it!

Dowload the Adobe Acrobat version of this document for valuable appendices to this resource.