Healthy foundation boards continually renew themselves through a series of interconnected steps. Each stage helps ensure the board remains effective, engaged, and responsive to the foundation’s needs.
- Identify: Determine what your board needs, such as skills, expertise, perspectives, connections, or demographic diversity, and identify sources that can help you find potential trustees who meet those needs.
- Cultivate: Build an inclusive pool of prospective trustees. Introduce them to the foundation’s work and keep them informed about its progress and priorities.
- Recruit: When approaching potential trustees, clearly explain why the board is interested in them. Be transparent about expectations, responsibilities, and time commitments, and invite questions about the role.
- Orient: Provide new trustees with a strong foundation by introducing them to the organization’s history, bylaws, finances, grantmaking priorities, recent board discussions, and key staff, trustees, and advisors.
- Engage: Learn about trustees’ interests and availability, and involve them in committees, task forces, or projects. Encourage feedback, foster accountability, and recognize contributions.
- Educate: Provide ongoing learning opportunities about philanthropy and the foundation’s focus areas. Encourage discussion of emerging issues and challenges rather than avoiding difficult topics.
- Rotate: Instead of automatically reelecting trustees, periodically assess board needs and individual performance. Thoughtful rotation helps bring in fresh perspectives and cultivate future leadership.
- Evaluate: Regularly assess both board performance and individual contributions. Encourage collective reflection and individual self-assessment to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Celebrate: Acknowledge progress and accomplishments, large and small. Recognizing contributions helps sustain engagement and strengthens board culture.
This framework is adapted from The Board Building Cycle: Nine Steps to Finding, Recruiting, and Engaging Nonprofit Board Members by Sandra R. Hughes, Berit M. Lakey, and Marla J. Bobowick.
Want to learn more about effective boards?
The Trustee Handbook
Essentials for Effective Foundation Board Members
Designed specifically for trustees of foundations with few or no staff, this comprehensive guide offers practical advice on governance, grantmaking, and board leadership. Get it now »
Still have questions?
Members can access staff experts through our Q&A service by calling 202-580-6560, or post a question to the member community to hear form peers in the field.
Explore our Q&A archive