Is there any hope for a problematic board?

March 15, 2016 5:41 AM

Since I joined a nonprofit that I deeply care about as the Executive Director, we've had a clear turnaround - everyone, including the board, agrees that we're both much more financially stable and successful with our mission than when we started. However, there are a series of serious issues regarding funding and real estate that, if not resolved in the next couple of years, will spell the end of the nonprofit, and these are issues I can't tackle alone. The board are dragging their feet - primarily, it seems, out of confusion and lack of desire to become engaged. I've tried several approaches to raise these issues and get the board activated. What are all my options?
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (3 answers total)

The board are dragging their feet - primarily, it seems, out of confusion and lack of desire to become engaged. I've tried several approaches to raise these issues and get the board activated. What are all my options?

Are there any Board members who are more willing to deal with the issues? If so, perhaps the Board could delegate authority to a Committee to address the problem (or study it and report back, but the more actual authority the Committee has to take action the better). People who are confused and lazy might see appointing such a Committee and giving it some authority as a way to feel like they've done something.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 5:59 AM on March 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Here are a few options (which you may have already tried):

- Hire outside help to work with you on resolving these issues. Identify who you would need and how much it would cost; bring your proposal to the board. If they balk, remind them that it's impossible to solve these issues by yourself, and you either need board support or outside support.

- Come up with an outline with concrete steps that you need to take for each issue and/or roles that you need filled, and tell the board you need each board member to commit to working on at least one of those steps or roles. (or need n board members to commit to helping you with all of them, or small groups to take on a subset, or whatever)

- Spell out for the board how these issues will lead to the end of the nonprofit, and ask them to take a vote on either: starting to winding down the nonprofit, or forming a committee to resolve these issues.

- Approach a few board members individually. Tell them your concerns and ask them for suggestions.

- Talk to other EDs who have faced these same issues and ask what they would suggest.
posted by chickenmagazine at 6:29 AM on March 15, 2016

Are your stakeholders aware of these issues? Should they be (I think this depends on the org)? If it's appropriate do you have any particularly active/motivated/powerful stakeholders who you could lean on to lean on the board?

Other people have suggested a committee - could you get people from outside the board to be on the committee?
posted by mskyle at 6:54 AM on March 15, 2016