Leyna on Nonprofit Leadership

We have all heard someone say they joined a board because “I was told I just had to show up to meetings, and I wouldn’t have to do much.” I facilitated a retreat last week where 3 board members said this exact thing. I’m amazed I didn’t have a catatonic fit.

It isn’t easy to find good board members, and it shouldn’t be. Board recruitment is not taking anyone who is vertical and can fog a mirror. Board recruitment is executive search.  You are selecting members of a collective that is legally and ethically responsible for ensuring your organization fulfills its public benefit purpose. Approach the recruitment process very seriously, have very high standards, and have multiple people vying for each slot.

You have to do a lot of upfront work before you can actually start recruiting. You need to understand where your organization is in its life cycle; what the main priorities are for the board in the next few years; have a strong sense of your board’s culture (or the culture you’re trying to create); know where your gaps are; and create specific profiles for each of the board slots you’re trying to fill.

The good news is, if you’ve done the pre-work well, other people are going to find your board members for you. Your job is to identify candidate sources, provide them with a very clear picture of who you’re looking for, and a strong case for joining your board. Believe me, lots of well connected people who care about you or your organization will help you find board members. They will be incredibly relieved that you’re not asking them to join your board.

Here’s how it works:

• Ask your current and former board members to come up with 5 contacts each who know about your organization and have a strong likelihood of knowing someone who fits your candidate profile. Ask staff members and key volunteers to do the same.

• Each of these contacts is taken to lunch or coffee, called or emailed (based on how well you know them) and asked to recommend a candidate.

• Repeat this mantra to anyone with whom you speak about your search for board members: It is an honor and a privilege to serve on your board. You take recruitment very seriously, you are very selective in bringing people on your board, and your board is a fantastic group of people with a compelling focus for the next few years.

• Once you’ve identified a small pool of strong candidates, you begin your interview process. Remember: You are looking for candidates, not board members. No one is ever asked to join your board in the first conversation.

Board recruitment is an ongoing, year-round process. You may bring new members on just once a year (a practice I recommend), but you are looking for strong candidates all the time. Board recruitment should always be a top priority for your board.  Yes, this approach takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s worth it. It is hard work to build an effective nonprofit board — and you need the right people on the bus to do it.

Last week I attended a panel discussion on board governance at CompassPoint’s annual nonprofit conference. Speaking about interviewing prospective board members, Destiny Arts Center board President Erica Webber said: “We screen for character first.”

It turns out that she meant “we screen for fit with our mission, values and culture”. Not quite the same as character, but a really good idea. So what else should you be looking for in evaluating a perspective board member?

Many of us have enthusiastically voted on a new board member based on her profession and connections — a lawyer! a banker! an heiress! — only to discover that our new colleague doesn’t play well with others. I advise you to throw out the crayon box theory of board recruitment (one red, one blue, one lawyer, one techie…) and focus instead on what it takes to be an effective board member.

Screen for successful past participation in consensus-based groups. Look for skill as a listener. Search for the dual abilities of questioning the status quo and maintaining solidarity outside the board room. Seek out deep commitment to and passion for your mission. A pauper who has missionary zeal for your work is often a better fundraiser than the millionaire who only wants to write her own check (unless it is an awfully big check….)

When you bring on a new board member, you also get their contacts, networks, Faceboook “friends”, etc. Be sure that you are recruiting for divergent streams of contacts, rather than bringing on people whose outside lives mirror those of other board members. Board members should be constantly expanding your circle of admirers, not circulating your story to the same pool.

Recruiting new board members is high-level search.  Think of it as “hiring” members of an elite group that, collectively, are legally responsible for holding the organization in trust for the people you serve. Therefore, you should spend at least as much time screening and reference-checking potential board members as you do on hiring line staff, right?

Next blog: How do you find great board candidates?