Artsjournal.com had a link to an interesting article on boards today because it deals with some misunderstanding and misconceptions about serving on a non-profit board.
The article from the Tacoma, WA News Tribune is pretty interesting just as a story about how boards of trustees have and have not been instrumental in the closing of area arts organizations.
But as I mentioned, the even bigger value is in first hand perceptions and actions of board members who came to realize the job was more involved than they expected or had been lead to believe. At the same time, the story is a testament to the dedication of board members. One board member took six month leave from her law office to work full time on reviving Seattle’s ACT Theatre.
There is also a fairly broad feeling about how much fundraising board members should do.
When TAG closed, board president Mike Jones said he’d seen fund raising as chiefly a staff job. He said it was a matter of principle – that requiring members to give or raise a fixed amount would amount to ‘buy(ing) their position on a board’ – unfairly limiting membership to the elite.
TAM’s board, like many, uses a sliding scale, said vice president Judith Nilan. Each donor is expected to raise or give a certain amount. The museum calculates these in advance, and can afford to admit only a certain number of members at lower levels so the board can meet its annual group donation of $100,000.
“Most boards have a give-or-get policy, and if they don’t, they should,” Donnelly said. “What are you there for, your good looks’ I’m serious. You bring your skills and talents to a board, but the organization needs resources.”
The old phrase is “give, get or get off,” and trustees’ best donations are connections, said Clare Dowdall, an award-winning fund-raiser who was development director at the Cleveland Playhouse, Alley Theatre in Houston and the American Lung Association in the Southwest.
Unfortunately, the most idealistic view is attributed to the person associated with a failed organization. There are plenty of fairly successful organizations with that same philosophy. Most organizations have to place practicality before idealism though.
I also like the article for the way it mentions the pitfalls of an unbalanced staff-board relationship- the uninvolved board vs. the micromanagers, the immovable fixtures vs. the constantly changing members with no institutional memory.
Probably the moral of the entire article is for boards not to be afraid to ask questions and really dig into the financial/managerial health of an organization.
I have discussed board resources in the past one of the best online resources is BoardSource.org. The value of their FAQ section isn’t so much in the questions it answers, but in the issues it gets you thinking (and asking more questions) about.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Democracy
I’m on the board of the Amazing Things Arts Center in Massachusetts, and we decided in our formation process that the only way to begin to answer those questions of balancing money and contacts versus effort and representation, or stability versus fresh talent, or anything else, was to have our board elected by the membership.
A few community arts centers we researched elsewhere in the state also had elected boards of directors. I’d be interested in knowing how common this is in your broader experience and what you think of it.
Thanks.
Elected Board or Board of the Elect?
Benjamin Melancon asks an interesting question in the comments section of a recent entry. He asks in my broader experience, how common are arts organizations with elected boards rather than recruited board members. His particular organization, Amazing …