I am very happy to welcome back Gayle Gifford to Step By Step Fundraising- (pictured at left).  If you missed Gayle’s post last month, click here to check it out!

Gayle brings over 30 years of experience to her work with nonprofits – from her personal activism for peace, disarmament, environmental, human and civil rights, to her professional work as a consultant and former director of development and senior nonprofit manager.

She is one of fewer than 100 individuals in the US who hold the advanced fundraising credential, ACFRE, issued by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Gayle learned her craft as Director of Development and Communications at PLAN USA, as Deputy Director/Director of Development and Marketing at Save The Bay, and as Director of Development at CityYear RI.

I urge you to read more from Gayle’s fantastic collection of articles and learn about her consulting services by visiting her site, Cause & Effect. I also would recommend that you check out the book Gayle wrote called “How am I Doing, the 1 hour guide to evaluating the performance of your nonprofit board” available through Contributions Magazine.

I want to sincerely thank Gayle for sharing her time and knowledge with our readers.  I hope we’ll see her many more times!

– Jim Berigan

Are you overwhelming board members with hidden expectations?

Posted by Gayle Gifford on April 10, 2011

Twice a year I’m part of nonprofit day for the clients of New Directions, The Life Portfolio Company that helps senior level executives navigate transitions.

I love participating in the day because each time I get a fresh business person’s perspective on the nonprofit sector.

This past Thursday, during a discussion about board roles and responsibilities, one of the participants asked if the following situation was typical:

“I went onto the board of a few nonprofits as part of the expectation of my job. It seems it wasn’t enough that I was attending board meetings, and bringing with me a pretty significant corporate gift and my own personal donation. In no short order, I started getting all kinds of additional requests from the staff … like attending events to requests to help open doors or solicit others. They acted like all of this was expected of me.

“I was overwhelmed by the hidden expectations of serving on a board. I had no idea what I was getting into.”

I’d say, unfortunately, that this was the norm, wouldn’t you? Obviously the organization failed to disclose to the board member when he was being recruited what they expected of him.  But even if they had, I’ll bet that he still would have received many more requests than he bargained for.

Why is it that once an individual joins a board that staff feel that the board member has made an open-ended commitment to their organization? “It’s their job to…” I hear staff say all the time.

While I love my board members to be thinking 24/7 how their daily contacts might also benefit my organization, realistically, I get it that my organization is likely 2nd or even 3rd on my directors’ priority list for their time, with family, work and maybe even play, ahead of me.

It’s time for our sector’s staff to stop acting like board members are indentured servants and remember them for the volunteers that they are. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter how much time they do put it, it’s never enough.

Take the board member who just did a full sprint on a project you gave them. I’m sure they’d like to take a deep breath before jumping into something else. If you immediately go after them for another time-consuming project, you’re very likely to make that board member feel that the time commitment is too much… and the risks of losing that board member are pretty high.

So what to do? Here’s a tip that the New Directions exec offered.

Instead of continuing throwing unexpected requests to your board members, sit down with each one and disclose the full list of  requests and tasks that you’d like that person to  take on that year. Then negotiate what your member is willing to commit to. Be realistic.

And once you’ve reached an agreement, stick to it. That way, your board member will feel successful, not overwhelmed. And you won’t be disappointed by what your board members can and cannot do.

Once this exec did that with his organization, he said that he felt much more in control, and much happier about his board service. Which is what we all wish for, right?

P.S. This board member also learned to limit his board service to no more than 2 boards at a time.

And of course, we’re here to help you right-size the expectations for your board.

Related posts:

Can mere mortals be successful board members?

Remember that your board members are volunteers too.

“How am I Doing, the 1 hour guide to evaluating the performance of your nonprofit board”

Photo by: lrargerich