Managing Your Nonprofit Board: A Complete Guide

Heading a nonprofit organization is an exalted duty, and it places many responsibilities on your shoulders. However,  among the many responsibilities, one tops them all — managing the nonprofit board. 

Failure to effectively manage your board can lead to bigger challenges, and that's the last thing you would want for your nonprofit. In the following text, we introduce tips and tricks on managing your board and the organization. We’ll help your nonprofit succeed in leaps and bounds.

Managing a nonprofit organization 

Managing nonprofit first demands that you understand the scope of its operations within the laws of the land, so you don't get into trouble with authorities. Here’s what you can do to ensure your management approach is effective.

1. Form a board because nonprofit organization management is scarcely a one-person operation. It also demands you fully grasp the board’s role and how it's supposed to function. 

2. Develop and review policies that will guide board function. Armed with an understanding of these, you start managing your organization and running a nonprofit board meeting effectively.

3. Incorporate non-profit board of director's best practices into your organization, and utilize a board portal for nonprofits effectively if you know the clearly defined roles of your position and how to relate with your board.

But how would you know this? For starters, you can inquire about the laws governing nonprofit organizations when registering with designated authorities.

Tips and tricks to managing a nonprofit organization 

Managing a non-profit organization requires a lot of patience, tips, and time. However, with the right practices and some of the tips below, it can be successful.

The following tips and tricks will prove to be valuable when you deploy them.

• Designate and document responsibilities for every team member. Assign roles and responsibilities to every member of the board, and document your actions to prove its authenticity and for reference purposes. Every other member of the nonprofit organization should also have documented and designated roles so that they can get acquainted with their boundaries and avoid encroaching on others. This creates the perfect organizational structure for the nonprofit organization to function effectively. Some nonprofit organizations regularly use volunteers and paid staff, there should be a written scope of work and roles for the two categories of workers.

• Display accountability and transparency. Managing nonprofit organizations entails displaying a high level of transparency and accountability. This is why everyone must see how the fundraising is progressing, how the resources generated are being deployed, and a breakdown of expenditures and income. The moment the board or sponsors start noticing a lack of synergy between finances and results, it will raise suspicion and trigger a probing internal investigation. On the other hand, transparency and accountability keep everyone in the loop and leave no room for suspicions which might cause sponsors to lose confidence in the board’s integrity and withdraw their financial support.

• Incorporate board management tools. The management of nonprofit organizations can be more seamless using board portals for a nonprofit organization where files can be stored and shared securely and easily. With board portals, the question of how to manage a nonprofit organization can be easier. It includes making board resolutions, monitoring their progress, and incorporating modern board practices. From scheduling meetings, creating board books online, scheduling tasks, and storing documents securely, nonprofit board portals can streamline an organization’s management.

• Plan for meetings in advance. Being effective in managing nonprofit organizations entails preparing beforehand when it comes to running nonprofit board meetings. Agendas, board books, and other necessary information should be prepared and ready at least four days before the meeting. This is to ensure that when things are in motion, there are no hiccups.

• Create a financial management team for fundraisers. Delegate the responsibility of managing fundraisers to members of the board and ensure that they display transparency throughout the process. This is to avoid placing a single person in charge of the most sensitive part of the organization, thus reducing the chances of embezzlement. However, this doesn’t mean that the rest of the board should get too comfortable and become complacent. Their role is to oversee functions and ensure that the task’s designated team is transparent and performing well. In most cases, management of nonprofit organizations requires external assistance, such as hiring a financial expert to spearhead the oversight of financial matters alongside the board.

• Regularly review policies. Nonprofit board management requires the development of policies. The most important and foremost is the code of conduct and professional ethics policy that sets standards and expectations for employee and third-party behavior. A whistleblower policy is also part of the policy to protect whistleblowers who are responsible enough to alert appropriate staff members when they witness any organizational misconduct, especially intentional financial mismanagement, but also to any other activities that violate conduct or ethics policies. In knowing how to manage a nonprofit, policies need to be reviewed from time to time. Sometimes the organization can outgrow an instituted policy that was relevant to the development of the organization at the time of its inauguration. However, as the nonprofit board expands and the organization grows, policies need to be reviewed to align with the dynamic nature of the organization. Part of the review policy also entails creating policies to address new challenges and developments.

Challenges in managing nonprofit organizations 

Nonprofit business management comes with challenges. Even while combining nonprofit boards' best practices, some challenges are just there. But all of these problems can be managed or solved entirely through knowing how to develop programs in nonprofit organizations that allow for implementing changes.

Some of the challenges include:

1. Money. Lack of funding is a major problem for nonprofit business management. Money runs the business, and where there's a lack of sufficient funding from sponsors, it cripples the entire organization. The nonprofit industry is constantly battling issues with fundraising, attracting donors, and increasing revenues.

2. Structure. The nonprofit management structure can pose a problem to its entire existence. Even when there are sufficient funds to run the organization, a poor structure will waste financial resources. The leadership of any organization hinges on its structure, and when the structure is faulty, it affects the rest of the entire hierarchy. The poor structure can be in the form of leadership arrangement, policies, or code of conduct that are not consistent with nonprofit board best practices.

3. Volunteers and staffing. This is another major challenge faced in nonprofit business management. Some volunteers are all fired up initially but lose motivation in the long run. Some staff are never motivated at all, or just downright lazy. Sometimes the nature of the job is stressful, and management is too busy to notice that the staff needs a break. With energy dampened, productivity drops even while there are enough resources around for them to function.

Conclusion 

Managing a nonprofit board involves a lot of hard work, time, and effort. Reading books on running a nonprofit organization may introduce some helpful strategies. First, you need to create a board for nonprofit organization, and with the right tips and tricks, you can manage your nonprofit board and the organization effectively with ease. Board portals for nonprofits can also help facilitate the non-profit management process.

Some effective tips for nonprofit organization management include periodically reviewing policies, incorporating board management tools, and displaying transparency and accountability.

FAQ 

How do you structure a nonprofit board? 

A nonprofit board needs to be structured in a way that will facilitate growth. This includes bringing together a diverse set of personalities, such as learned minds, and legal and financial experts. Build diversity around gender, race, cultural backgrounds, religion, and age. 

What makes an effective nonprofit board? 

An effective nonprofit board understands its roles and scope of operation in the organization. It's also one that has been duly structured with the right crop of individuals that are passionate about the organization, eager to serve, creative, hardworking, open to changes, and share similar ideals. The board should also have a policy or ethical code of conduct regulating operations. 

What should every nonprofit board member know? 

Every nonprofit board member should be well acquainted with the way the organization works and its operational guidelines, including organizational structure, legal framework, and work ethics. The board member should be passionate and committed to serving the organization. They should understand that being on a board means working as hard as possible and leaving no room for laxity. The board member should also have a proper understanding of their duty of care and loyalty.

What are the legal duties of a nonprofit board?

The legal duties of a nonprofit board are the duty of obedience, care, and loyalty.