Best of the Board Café
By Jan Masaoka; 232 pages; published by the Amherst
H. Wilder Foundation and CompassPoint
The board of directors holds what, perhaps, is the most important position
in any nonprofit organization: to oversee and govern its operations. It's
a major responsibility and one that requires skill, patience, and dedication.
For years, thousands of board members and other nonprofit professionals have
benefitted from the sage advice is a popular monthly e-newsletter called
Board Café, which features ideas, opinions, news, and resources
to help board members "give and get the most out of board service." Now the
creator of that newsletter, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, has gathered
the best of Board Café into one informative and highly useful
collection.
Veterans and new board members alike will be able to take advantage of articles
that touch on the most pressing issues facing nonprofit boards, including:
the board/executive director relationship; board management and self-assessment,
board recruitment, how to conduct effective meetings, and much more. Each
article is formatted for use as a handout and the publishers encourage readers
to make copies for distribution among board members. Much like the newsletter
itself, each piece in this collection gets straight to the point, offers lots
of helpful advice, and is "short enough to read over a cup of coffee." The
author also included samples of some of the documents most commonly used by
boards, such as a board member contract, performance assessment forms, a conflict
of interest policy, a contract for financial accountability, job descriptions,
and interview questions for prospective board members.
Surprisingly, the chapter dealing with board fundraising is the shortest in
the book, despite the fact that many organizations cite this as an area where
they would like their boards to improve. As well, some of the content is geared
specifically toward boards in the United States, particularly information
related to tax filing and other government and legal requirements. Nevertheless,
there is no question that this should be required reading for anyone who serves
on a board.
Buy the book:
Canada: buy through Amazon.ca: CDN$35.46
International: buy through Amazon.com: US$34.95
