Nonprofit Leaders Answer: How Do You Foster Collaboration Between Staff, Board, and Volunteers?

Transforming Structure and Culture Through Shared Ownership

At the Ag & Food Lab, collaboration isn’t a value statement. It’s built into our structure, starting with how decisions get made.

Each of our four program areas has at least one council serving as a standing feedback loop, so input from staff, board, volunteers, and community directly informs decision-making at every level.

And we’re going further: We’re exploring a worker-driven board model that reframes the relationship between board and staff from oversight to shared ownership.

Around that structural core, we deliberately cross role boundaries. Our recently hired volunteer coordinator invites board members and staff to participate in volunteer events, so the people making decisions are also working alongside the community.

Relationships built side by side make formal collaboration much easier. We treat shared learning as collaboration, too.

Our monthly “lunch and learns” bring together partners, community members, and government representatives to share their stories and experiences intersecting with the local food system. Storytelling is so rich.

Hearing someone’s lived experience first hand builds understanding across staff, board, and volunteers in a way no memo ever could. Regular surveys keep that feedback loop continuous.

Even accountability is collaborative. We build an accountability partner into our project budgets, a third party whose role is to hold the Ag & Food Lab to its vision, mission, and values.

That keeps us honest with each other and with the community we serve.

— Eileen O’Rourke from Ag & Food Lab

Reconnecting Board Members to the Mission via Volunteer Perspectives

Our program hosts quarterly roundtables for our active volunteer advocates. For the summer one, we invited the board members to join the conversation.

It was very impactful because board members were able to hear directly from the advocates about the struggles and successes they experience as they advocate for children in foster care.

The board members walked away with a newfound appreciation of the advocates and a renewed purpose to their role. It was a reminder of their “why.”

— Christine Aucoin from CASA of Terrebonne, Inc.

Cultivating Shared Expectations and Mutual Trust Through Transparent Communication

I foster collaboration between staff, board members, and volunteers by creating a shared understanding of expectations, roles, and communication practices.

When collaborative practice has lapsed over time or needs to be strengthened, I begin with clear written communication that explains the desired change, why it matters, and how each group contributes to success.

I then follow up with in-person conversations with each group so people can hear the expectations alongside their peers, ask questions, and raise concerns in a comfortable setting.

After gathering input from staff, board, and volunteers, I bring the groups together to discuss common themes, address concerns, and reinforce best practices.

This approach helps ensure that everyone hears the same message, understands the expected behaviors, and has an opportunity to contribute to the solution.

The goal is to build a stronger team with a shared definition of collaboration, clear roles for each contributor, and mutual trust in how we work together.

— Shari Wooldridge from East Oakland Community Project

Matching Board Strengths to Active Projects for Collaborative Success

Using board strengths to match them to active projects, encourages completion of the project and collaborative efforts with other staff, board, and volunteers.

This is supported with monthly check-ins from our newsletter/blog/social media team that requires a public-facing update for everyone at one time.

This engages each group to actively hit timelines while supporting the hardworking efforts and growth of the program, as well as important value-adding by highlighting team players within the projects.

Each team is pushing another team to work as collaboratively as possible to show the public their accomplishments and to receive confidence, strength, and support from each other — celebrating each team member in the process!

— Terri Miskiv from Gliding Stars of Central Florida

Utilizing Outdoor Retreats and Interactive Learning to Unite Staff and Board

We use a variety of methods to foster collaboration. With staff, it is monthly staff meetings, that include opening questions that everyone answers.

It has been a great way to get to know each other. We have a twice-a-year staff retreat, often outdoors.

Last June, we spent a day on the river. We have a river scavenger hunt identifying flora and fauna in the riparian corridor and working in teams to do so.

For the board, we offer “lunch and learn” sessions once a month to update them on our programs, as well as quarterly staff reports and work days with the staff.

For our robust volunteers program, we have an active website engagement, monthly river cleanup programs with staff and volunteers, a monthly newsletter with stories about volunteers, volunteer T-shirts, and a yearly holiday dinner.

— Susan Ryan from Russian Riverkeeper

Leveraging Expertise and Judgment-Free Listening to Maximize Talents

Creating space and time to listen without judgement, align around relationship and team expectations of each other, and learning about each others expertise and preferences.

This allows me to leverage those talents in different circumstances and situations. So if someone is good in a crisis, the become integral in crisis scenario plans.

— Judie Caribeaux from Mission + Strategy

Note: The opinions and product/service recommendations expressed above are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of Blue Avocado. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity.