From the Urbana Citizen I found an article by the Ohio Attorney General that describes the fiduciary duties of nonprofit boards and their members and added the following advice to those who would be nonprofit board members:
Before agreeing to serve on a board, you should ask how the board operates, whether job descriptions are available and what you will be expected to do. Examine past board meeting minutes, financial reports, by-laws and policies. Find out whether the charity carries liability insurance for its directors and board members. Ask to see the organization’s annual filings with the IRS and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The contents of these documents — or the lack of documentation — could signal potential problems or indicate how much work must be undertaken to properly establish and operate a governance structure for the organization.
While I appreciate the advice I must say it is both the rare candidate and the rare board that shares all of these items in the recruitment stage and dare I say, oftentimes, during the onboarding staged. In my experience, most members, once accepted, are left to their own devices to acquire, review, understand and use many of these tools. Of course I don't mean to slight the nonprofits who have indeed embraced tell-all and show-all recruiting/orientation and onboarding process but let's be serious, the majority - I think not. And alas, I fear that having an Attorney General's office reinforce what should be is heartening but there is little if any way to enforce these practices. Bottom line, caveat emptor!