Questions to Ask Prospective Board Members
Spend a few minutes ahead of time thinking about what to ask prospective board members to get a better idea if it’s a good match.
A coffee or lunch date is an easy way to meet with individuals who may be good candidates for your nonprofit board.
If you spend a few minutes ahead of time thinking about what to ask, you’ll end up having a much better idea of whether it’s a good match.
Frequently a first meeting with a prospective board member is set up as a lunch or coffee with a current board member and the executive director. It’s a good idea to state clearly at the beginning that this is a “get-to-know-you” meeting and that no decisions need to be made before the meeting ends. Say that you’ll follow up with a phone call to see if the individual is still interested and whether the board’s nominating committee is still interested. If so, there may be another step or the nomination may go to the full board for a vote.
An alternative process is to have profiles of several candidates brought to the board. Board members sort the list into three groups:
- Nominees that are well known to several board members and as a result, can be added immediately to the board by the nominating committee if the initial meeting goes well.
- Nominees with whom to explore board service. If the initial meeting leads to signs of mutual interest, the nominating committee can choose to explore further or to bring the nomination to the full board for approval
- Nominees who don’t seem to be the right fit, but depending on who accepts and declines from lists A and B, may be moved up to List B.
Questions to ask prospective board members
The most important area to explore is specific to what your organization is seeking someone to do (rather than seeking what someone is):
- One of the reasons we’re talking to you about possibly joining our board is because we think you can help us connect with other public school parents in the African American community. Are these connections you could help us make? (Don’t assume, for instance, that a gay person can connect your organization to the gay community.)
Other questions can help spark conversations:
- What interests you about our organization? Which aspect of our organization interests you most?
- What are some of your previous volunteer experiences or leadership roles?
- What appeals to you about board service as a volunteer activity?
- If you were to join our board, are there any experiences you’d like to have as a board member or people you’d like to meet?
- What skills, connections, resources, and expertise do have to offer and are willing to use on behalf of this organization?
- Do you have any worries about joining the board?
- Is there anything you think you would need from this organization to make this experience a successful one for you?
If fundraising is an important activity for board members, be sure to raise it now:
- We’re hoping that if you join our board, you’ll be a member of the fundraising committee. In fact, we hope that you will be able to ask five or ten of your friends for contributions of over $1,000 each. Is this something you think you could do?
Questions you should be prepared to answer, if the candidate asks:
- Why are you interested in me as a board member?
- What role do you see me playing on your board?
- What are your expectations and commitments?
- What is unique about your organization?
- What do you feel is unique about your board?
- Are there particular discussions this board has difficulty handling?
- What weaknesses are there in the way the board works together and with staff?
- What are the major issues this board is facing? How are you addressing them now?
- If I were to join this board, what would you want me to do during my first year?
- If I were to join this board, what could I reasonably expect to get out of the experience?
At the end of the get-acquainted meeting, you might want to suggest that each side think about the candidate’s joining the board. Let the nominee know you’ll be in touch within a week once you’ve had a chance to talk over the “fit” with others on the board. Encourage the candidate to think it over, call or e-mail you with any questions, and let you know within a week if he or she wants to take the next steps to joining the board.
Caution: An easy mistake to make is to allow someone who is “not quite right” to join the board. Maybe he doesn’t bring sufficient clout or expertise to the table, or maybe she seems like too short-tempered a person. It’s hard to say no especially if the nominee is a friend of a current board member. Keep in mind that the five horrible minutes of saying no now is not as bad as three horrible years of a not-up-to-par board member.
See also in Blue Avocado:
- A Different Approach to Board Terms
- A Board Member “Contract”
- Blue Ribbon Nominating Committee for Your Board
- A Fresh Look at Diversity and Boards
This article is adapted from a chapter in Best of the Board Cafe, which compiles dozens of articles from Blue Avocado about and for nonprofit boards. Available here.
You might also like:
- Nonprofit Photo Contest
- Insider Newsletters: An Easy Way to Keep Your Board in the Loop and Engaged
- Board Horror Stories: How to Reduce Board Resignations
- Link Arms to Elevate Your Nonprofit’s Impact
- Rebuilding Nonprofit Boards: When a New Board Can Be a Fresh Start
You made it to the end! Please share this article!
Let’s help other nonprofit leaders succeed! Consider sharing this article with your friends and colleagues via email or social media.
About the Author
Jan is a former editor of Blue Avocado, former executive director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and has sat in on dozens of budget discussions as a board member of several nonprofits. With Jeanne Bell and Steve Zimmerman, she co-authored Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability, which looks at nonprofit business models.
Articles on Blue Avocado do not provide legal representation or legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for advice or legal counsel. Blue Avocado provides space for the nonprofit sector to express new ideas. The opinions and views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect or imply the opinions or views of Blue Avocado, its publisher, or affiliated organizations. Blue Avocado, its publisher, and affiliated organizations are not liable for website visitors’ use of the content on Blue Avocado nor for visitors’ decisions about using the Blue Avocado website.
10 thoughts on “Questions to Ask Prospective Board Members”
Leave a Reply
Related Posts
Thought this was an excellent for nominating committees
Thought this was an excellent for nominating committees
I think this is a great post. However, I’d add another alternative for prospective board candidates – Would you like to serve on one of our board committees next year? Many of the most effective board members I’ve worked with learned about the organization and its board culture as committee members before they actually joined the board.
Rightly or wrongly, our organization (Symphony Orchestra Guild) has had great recruiting success by offering and sending informative emails about the organization's operations (by-laws, meeting structure, etc.), listing current board members, and listing expectations we have of new members. Paul Rosenberger, VP of Board Development
Rightly or wrongly, our organization (Symphony Orchestra Guild) has had great recruiting success by offering and sending informative emails about the organization's operations (by-laws, meeting structure, etc.), listing current board members, and listing expectations we have of new members. Paul Rosenberger, VP of Board Development
Every Board position needs to have a unique volunteer job description and you need to recruit to fill specific positions, i.e. finance, marketing, consumer of your service, experts in the field of whatever your mission is, personnel management, respected community leaders and successful business leaders.
As to Group A – Be wary of recruiting friends or colleagues of Board members.
Every Board position needs to have a unique volunteer job description and you need to recruit to fill specific positions, i.e. finance, marketing, consumer of your service, experts in the field of whatever your mission is, personnel management, respected community leaders and successful business leaders.
As to Group A – Be wary of recruiting friends or colleagues of Board members.