Question for the day: what is THE most important nonprofit board committee?
I suggest that the Governance Committee is THE most important nonprofit board committee as it is responsible for the "care and feeding" of the board. But even this committee gives me pause as nonprofit boards tend to use their committees as vehicles for the rest of the board to avoid the hard work that should go in to ensuring an effective and efficient board. If the rest of the board leaves it to the Governance Committee alone to ensure every member understands their roles and responsibilities; knows and uses the by-laws effectively to serve the work of the board; isn't on the lookout for great future candidates; etc., then this committee too is not really helping the whole board to function at the optimal level. Bottom line: if committees serve as vehicles for avoiding individual responsibility, no committee is particularly important.