Absentee Board Members -- Love 'em or Leave 'em?

In keeping with our Center's commitment to the critical issue of Governance, let's make sure we understand how to handle the role of the absentee board member.

In most Non-Profit Organizations, the executive director is the stable and guiding factor. Board members come and they go; board chairs come and they go. In my experience, good board members are hard to find and excellent board members are even more rare.

Any way you want to look at it, the relationship between a board member and an executive director is complex. The two may be friends; the two may not even like one another; the two may find themselves at loggerheads on a lot of issues or very few issues. As with most everything, the relationship is what it is all about.

It would be curious to know with certainty how many Non-Profit Organizations have functioning boards. What is the attendance rating of the board members? Do they assist with fundraising? Are they available to the executive director and other staff members? Do they seem prepared when they arrive at the board meetings?

Rule #1 is straight-forward but very hard for organizations to address: the board member must attend the board meetings. If the board member is not attending, it is impossible for them to be performing their role in a responsible manner.

Now what?

If a board member is not attending meetings, then somebody -- hopefully the board chair -- will demonstrate leadership, call the board member, discuss the issue, and come to a mutually agreeable decision. Asking a board member to resign from a board should not be as difficult as we tend to make it.

Even if board attendance was not a prerequisite for excellent non-profit governance, many Grantors are now requiring a minimum attendance percentage as a prerequisite for funding consideration.

So, don't be afraid to expect the best from your board members and don't hesitate to discuss board member performance.

The future of your organization can only be as good as your board.