Role for our purposes is not your position as president or committee chair; rather, it is how you choose to behave to match the needs of a situation. Everyone holds multiple roles, adopting them almost without thinking. For example, parents play an impressive list of roles in situations with their children: confidante, disciplinarian, advocate, chauffeur.... Read More
A board retreat can be an excellent way to spend time on an issue too significant or time intensive to be handled properly within a normal meeting agenda. Many foundations hold board retreats on occasion (ranging from every year to every few years) to ensure that the board addresses important topics, such as the foundation’s... Read More
The National Center on Family Philanthropy (NCFP) finds that most donors don’t begin to think about succession in the earliest days of the foundation. Even donors with adult children at the time of start-up tend to delay thinking about the children’s involvement until a much later time. In both cases, the delay can be a... Read More
Whether your board meets once a year or monthly, your meetings will be more effective with a good agenda. A good agenda organizes the meeting so it flows logically, keeps discussions on target, and keeps the meeting on time. A good agenda also makes it easy to create your meeting minutes. Terms to know Agenda—An... Read More
All foundations rely on trustees for leadership, oversight, and planning. Many small foundations also rely on trustees for a considerable amount of the labor needed to run a foundation. To acknowledge the crucial role that trustees play in governance and operations, some foundations compensate for routine board service, such as attending meetings, reviewing proposals, and... Read More
If your board becomes geographically dispersed, don’t let it daunt you. With the challenges come opportunities to fine-tune your foundation and address the dispersion in creative ways. Strategy 1: Revisit your foundation’s mission Geographic dispersion is a much bigger challenge than just keeping trustees in touch. It often calls into question the future of your... Read More