I firmly believe that the Chair of a nonprofit board can make or break the board (making it meaningful or meaningless). The James Irvine Foundation (CA) has a quarterly e-newsletter and this month, they interviewed the Board Chair. There were some helpful thoughts offered.
About being a Board Chair:
Part of my challenge as board chair is to make sure we have thoughtful, engaging conversations and to keep that going..... I want to make sure at every meeting that we're using it to maximum effect and that we do as good a job as possible. Ultimately, when our term is done we need to be able to look ourselves in the mirror and say we've contributed in a meaningful way.
About the role of the Board:
The role of a board member is to bring perspective – from whatever field in which that person is currently working or where they have experience – to bear on these discussions and to engage with the Foundation's staff. That's in addition, of course, to the fiduciary responsibility we have to make sure the monies are appropriately managed so that future generations can continue to benefit from Mr. Irvine's generosity.
Another role of a board member is to push staff to ask questions and to make sure that they're leveraging off the other talent on the staff. Nobody can be an expert in everything. Much of the success that we're going to have will come from engaging with a bunch of other smart colleagues inside and outside the Foundation who have expertise in different areas and learning from that. I think we do a better job of that now than we ever have.
Good stuff! Thanks Peter Taylor and Irvine!