The success of a nonprofit organization is dependent on the management of its board. In addition to ensuring the overall mission the board must ensure that it carries out its fiduciary responsibilities and abides by ethical and legal standards in the way it governs and manages the organization. To help ensure these duties, the board should follow the best practices in all areas.
Management of donors and fundraising are two areas of particular concern. The board should concentrate on encouraging creativity and innovative ideas from its members to help these efforts. It should also take the charge of attracting and keeping new members. This means providing a clear definition of the job, and describing what exactly they’re getting into. This will avoid mistakes and confusion, and also assist in the process of securing a job.
Another important area is ensuring the management of revenue is well. Nonprofits are tax-exempt to fulfill a public need and the board should be vigilant in protecting this by ensuring that all expenditures are justifiable. The board should be sure that the CEO’s spending is accountable and that the company is not spending more than they can afford.
Board members can easily become absorbed in the honor of serving the community, and forget that they are there to run the organization. This can be seen in the most significant issues, such as the selection of an executive director to the smallest things like weighing in on pricing of a particular service. To avoid this, it’s helpful for the board to conduct a regular evaluation of its performance and make the necessary changes.
boardroomusa.org/how-to-create-a-budget-for-a-nonprofit-organizations/
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