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Think Smart When Volunteering As A Board Member

Guest post by: Betty Penny

Article Overview: Today with everyone’s busy schedule, charities are finding it difficult to attract good leaders as board members to sit on their boards or committees. Good volunteers with skills that can help a not for profit organization are difficult to find. Outlined below are some of fact finding items that I look for in a not for profit organization that I would like to see before making any initial commitment to participate on a board.

Think Smart When Volunteering As A Board Member

Today with everyone’s busy schedule, charities are finding it difficult to attract good leaders as board members to sit on their boards or committees. Good volunteers with skills that can help a not for profit organization are difficult to find.

One can look back to the days when there was a waiting list just to get on a board that could benefit both yourself and the charity as a good means of networking and building up one’s contact list.

In today’s reality, often there is not even a quorum at some board meetings and some people sitting on boards who have their own agenda, will make it difficult for the board to make decisions.

During my many years of participating on various types of boards, both as a paid and a volunteer member, I have found that the more organized a board is with administrative support and prepared agendas with outlines of the time commitment, the more easier it is to attract members.

Outlined below are some of fact finding items that I look for in a not for profit organization that I would like to see before making any initial commitment to participate on a board.

1) Time commitment – How much time is going to be involved on a monthly basis and an annual basis? Determine what your role should be with governance and if you will be involved with management issues. Depending on the size of the organization, the board’s role should be governance and not management.

2) Board of Directors – Limited liability. If you are going to get involved, determine if an Errors and Omissions Policy insurance is in place to cover the Directors. The last thing that you want to happen is to be on the hook for government remittances that were not filed by the organization.

3) Policies and Procedures – Examine the Policies and Procedures and By-laws. Are there organizational policies in place? Are they up to date with current government legislation?

4) Financial Statements – Look at the current Financial Statement. Is the organization financially viable? Are financial statements accessible and up to date? Are these reviewed independently on an annually basis and is there a report prepared for management.

5) Important Documents – Where are the important documents such as Minutes, Management Reports, Bylaws, Corporate Charter, Revenue Canada Charitable Returns? Are they kept in a safe place of holding and not in someone’s basement? Are copies of these contained in my orientation package?

6) Background Checks – Are background or reference checks done on board members and key staff or volunteers who have access to financial information? Is there a policy in place for this.

These are a few items that I have come across through my experience with charities and not for profits. When aligning yourself with a not for profit organization, it is important to know what your role is within the board and that they are not expecting you to be a staff member due to a lack of funding resources, unless that is what you have committed to.

When scandals happen, it is the responsibility of the Board to deal with them and also your reputation as a member of the board. Ensure there is a due diligence process from the bottom up and that principles and philosophies are aligned with yours.

Too often due to lack of resources and time, what starts off as a volunteer role, turns out to be much more time consuming than originally anticipated as many small not for profits, although they have good intentions, just aren’t really that organized and sometimes unrealistic expectations fall upon a volunteers shoulders.

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Article Tags: board member, charities, volunteers



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