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Three Steps to Effective Board Oversight of Insurance
As a board member, it is your responsibility to understand your group’s insurance needs and help make sure you have the right coverage. Here are guidelines for board members who want to make sure their community nonprofit has appropriate insurance cove …
Closing Down the Right Way
In the last Board Cafe column, we discussed how to think about the possibility of closing down a nonprofit, including alternatives to closure. But sometimes closure is the best choice of the possible options. In recent weeks we’ve had a chance to see s …
Nonprofit Retirement: Part 1 of 3
This issue we begin a three-part series on nonprofit retirement, written by Blue Avocado columnist Steve Zimmerman. You’ve read about how organizations should prepare for people retiring, but not much about how you can prepare. In our trademark f …
Is It Time for an Audit?
Blue Avocado reader Bill Mitchell writes: “As a board member of both a small ($400k/year) and a much larger ($1.8m/year) nonprofit, what are the criteria to determine whether or not to conduct a formal outside audit? I have worked on staffs, sat on boa …
Should the Board Hold Executive Sessions?
Nonprofit boards are often criticized for a lack of vigor, being subservient to their executive directors, and for weak evaluation of their chief executive. The need for frank and informal discussion about staff performance, and the importa …
Boards of All-Volunteer Organizations
Volunteerism is an enormous economic force, yet it is never mentioned in business school or in economics departments. –Walter Hoadley, former Chief Economist for the Bank of America All-volunteer organizations (AVOs) are a major social …
Board Meetings by Phone: Legal? A Good Idea?
With gas prices rising and everyone getting busier, more and more board members want to participate in board meetings by telephone. The advantage: more people participate. The disadvantage: there's a lot lost in human interaction for both the board …
Just Tell Me: What’s the Best Way to Raise Money? Choosing a Revenue Strategy
It's aggravating to have someone say (at a board meeting, for example), "Look at how they over there raise money! That's better than what we're doing . . . we should do that!" Or for a funder to tell you what they think is the bes …
What Should Boards Know About Insurance Brokers?
Considering how insurance costs typically constitute a sizable chunk of a nonprofit budget, this significant cost is remarkably un-examined. A key part to getting the lowest costs, the best coverage, and the best service is getting the right insurance …
Abolish Board Committees?
A fresh and radical idea: consider eliminating all (or most) of your board committees. Too many boards are bogged down by committees that are inactive or maybe even semi-fictitious. And board members can feel compelled to be on three or four committees …
