Episode 75: Nonprofit Governance - How to Engage or Reinvigorate Your Board
What is an engaged board? Board members are ambassadors for the organization. But if they don't attend activities or programs then they won't be able to describe the organization's impact from first-hand experience. If they're too busy to even attend board meetings then they don't have a grasp of organization's inner workings. Learn how to reinvigorate your board and establish accountability.
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Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learned to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding impact and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident, Philanthrepreneur, Amber Wynn.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning fam. It's your girl and we are back on air with Amber Wynn. We are wrapping up our series on nonprofit governance, which is the nonprofit board of directors, and today's episode is how to engage or reinvigorate your board. If you are one of those founders or executive directors who has a sucky board, meaning they don't fundraise, they don't really support you, it's hard for you to even get them to meet, and when you do meet, what happens at the board meeting is you reporting out. You are telling them what fundraisers you're going to have and what you need to do. If you are driving everything, then this episode is for you. It is important not only for the health of the organization but for your personal health as a nonprofit executive director and founder that your board carries its weight. This should be a 50/50 relationship and that relationship for the board is to support you as the executive director. The IRS has stipulated the roles and the responsibilities of a nonprofit board, and if they are not fulfilling those responsibilities, today we're going to talk about how you can get them engaged or reinvigorate your board who's just used to just showing up and doing nothing. But before we do that, we're going to pause for a quick commercial, but when we come back, how to engage or reinvigorate your board
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Calling or texting all small business owners and nonprofits. Did you know 95% of text messages are read and responded to within three minutes of being received? Nothing is more direct or immediate, and that's just one reason to add SMS capability to any constant contact plan. Another, it's smart marketing, really smart with all of your digital marketing tools in one place. Constant contact makes sure you are connecting with the right people at the right time in the channels they prefer so you can reach, engage, and keep more customers. Whether you're promoting a sale, announcing an event, or encouraging donations, adding SMS to your digital marketing strategy just makes sense
Speaker 4 (02:58):
And a lot of dollars too.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Constant contact.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Welcome back to On Air with Amber. Today we are talking about nonprofit governance. It's the last episode in our series, and the topic today is how to engage or reinvigorate your board. If you have a lazy board, that's what I call 'em. If you have a lazy board and they don't do anything but show up and sometimes they don't even show up, this is the episode for you. Listen, the board of directors in a nonprofit organization is supposed to do more than just show up. They are supposed to be more than just the three signatures you needed to start your organization. The responsibility of the board is to guide the organization, so they're supposed to be really bringing your mission and vision of the organization into fruition. They're supposed to be fundraising so that you as the executive director can take that money and really just operationalize the mission of the organization.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So if that is the case, if I were to ask you, Hey, what about your board? And you said to me, oh, my board don't do anything or I can't get my board to even meet or any of that, this is what I'm going to recommend to you. The first thing I'm going to recommend is that you get a nonprofit consultant to come in. You don't want to be the bad guy. You want somebody with years of experience to come in and say, Hey, this is what the IRS says, you are supposed to be doing X, Y, and Z. Here are your responsibilities. This is the role of the nonprofit. You don't get to redefine that. That shows up in things like on grants.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
When you say to your board, I need for you to contribute, I need for you to pay dues because on grants, funders ask How much of your board is contributing to your budget? That's because it is the responsibility of your board to fundraise. And if you're asking me as a funder to give, when the entity that has been designed to fundraise isn't giving, then why am I going to give? People say, oh, well, they don't give financially, but they really do give their time and no, no, no. Even if it's $500 a year, your board needs to contribute financially because that is what they are charged to do. And if they're not doing it, then it's time for you to make some hard decisions and the decision is to rotate them off the board. But I digress. So you bring in this nonprofit consultant and people say, oh, I've done that before. I've had board training. They're still not doing what they're supposed to do. They told them they needed to this. Then the problem is you, I'm saying that lovingly because who is making sure that whatever this nonprofit consultant said that they're doing, I'm going to tell you how to shift the culture. We talked about the culture last episode. So if you didn't have an opportunity to listen to it, make sure you go back and listen to building a culture on your nonprofit board.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
The first thing you want to do is to do an assessment of your board, right? You want to say, okay, so everybody has been on the board for how long and they've given how much and they've contributed in what ways, right? And you let them know, Hey, in order for us to go to the next level, we're doing an assessment not only of the organization meaning the day-to-day, but the board because the board is responsible for. And if you've had a consultant come in and tell them what they're responsible for, you can say, remember the consultant said you guys are supposed to be doing X, Y, and Z, and you can just say to them, listen, this is a heavy lift. I can't keep doing it. So if this is something that you're not passionate about, if this is something you're not interested in doing, I am so grateful for what you've given so far, but we're going to start recruiting other board members who can help me carry this load.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And you tell them in the next 90 days, here are five things that I need you to do. Because one of the biggest reasons why board members don't do anything is because they don't know what to do. There's not a culture. There's not expectations for you to say, I need you guys to fundraise. That's ineffective. That's like saying to an executive director, I need you to take care of yourself. That's ineffective. I would tell an executive director, I need you to carve out two hours a week for self-care, and then I might even suggest some things. Go for a walk, go swimming, go get your nails and hair done. Very specific. You need to do the same thing for your board. Listen, I need for you guys to fundraise. The first thing we're going to do is identify at least 10 streams of revenue. Get a whiteboard, get an easel, and write down at least 10 potential streams of revenue.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
How can we generate money? Then after that, you say, okay, great. Now let's create a timeline. We have these 10 streams of revenue. I'm not trying to burn you guys out. Let's create a timeline. First of all, what is most important that we need to fund? Nine times out of 10 is going to be salaries. So you put that this is our primary goal for the next year or two is to fund salaries. How much is that? And let me tell you, don't come in with part-time salaries. We're trying to increase your capacity. Full-time, salaries. Make sure you add in those payroll benefits because that's an additional 30% that you're not used to put all of that, and you give them that number and then you say, alright, so for the next six months, we're going to fundraise for 30% of this amount, and then the next year we're going to fundraise for the next 50% of that amount.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So now you have a goal. So now the board can't say, oh, well, we don't know what you need. We are fundraising for salaries. You've identified those 10 streams of revenue. The next thing I need you to do is to say, okay, we've got 10 potential funding strategies. Who wants to take the lead on one of them or two of them? And it's not going to be you do not volunteer to take the lead on any of those fundraising strategies. You are running the organization, you're doing the day-to-day, and nine times out of 10 you're writing grants. Keep that. That's all that you're committing to. So you've got these 10 streams of revenue, you've got your board who is going to take the lead and you tell them you're taking the lead. That doesn't mean you're doing it by yourself. Create a committee. And if it's not enough board members, then you say, if you take the lead, then I will help you recruit volunteers to help you with this committee.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Okay, so now you've got the lead, you've got whatever it is you're going to fundraise for. You've got the timeline, we're going to fundraise for this for the next six months, or we're going to fundraise for this for the next year, whatever that is. And then finally, after you've gotten someone to commit to being the lead, you want to make sure that your president is the one following up with these people, not you. That is not your responsibility. This is how you're going to engage or reinvigorate your board. You're going to create a structure. You're going to say, for the next 90 days, we are going to make sure that we're going to restart, jumpstart this board. And for 90 days, if you see no effort, then you make the announcement, Hey, we put structure in place. You guys knew what it was. You were supposed to be doing three corporate sponsorships in the next 90 days.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
We wanted somebody to sign us up for employee giving. Whatever those streams of revenue were, that's what they're supposed to be working on. And whoever took the lead every time you meet, that's what they're supposed to be reporting out on. It shouldn't be you showing up to the board meetings reporting out. It should be primarily you give your report as executive director, but the rest of that meeting is whoever is in that lead that they're reporting out on what their fundraising efforts are, and you are not to drive that. That is your president's role. If you have a weak president, if they don't know what they're doing, they don't feel comfortable, then the first thing you need to do is identify a strong president who can drive this board. This is going to help you reengage, reinvigorate your board because now they understand what they're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Now they have clear goals. What fundraising for? Now they know how much they're fundraising for. Now you have people designated to drive those fundraising strategies and you have a president that's going to say every board meeting, okay, Jane, what are you reporting out on? Okay, Janae, what are you reporting out on? Okay, Jim, what are you reporting out on? And they are driving it. You are just there in support of this is going to help reengage your board because as I said before, a lot of my founders have no idea what a board's supposed to do. They're just like, well, they don't fundraise. Did you give them the structure? If you did not give them the structure? Now is the time. Here's the structure, and here is a timeline for it and you guys need to report out on it, and that is not your responsibility, that is your president's.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
So I have used this formula time and time again and my board trainings and two things have happened. One, the board got on fire and they were excited. They understood what their roles were supposed to be. They had clear goals, they had clear timelines and they jumped in. They just needed some structure or two. They were like, I didn't come here to work. I'm not doing all of this work. And they continued to not do anything. But what that did is it gave the executive director the opportunity to see who was committed to the organization. You don't want people on the board who are just benefiting by saying, they're on your board. You want people to work, you want them to give up their time, give up their finances, and to participate in the running of the organization. If they are no longer committed to it, you thank them for their service and you rotate them off.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
These are the two things that usually happen when you create this type of structure on your board. Your board gets engaged, reengaged, or reinvigorated because now they have the structure that they need. So think about that. Also, I have a tool that will help you do exactly what I outlined. It's called the fund development plan. I'm going to drop the link in my bio, but it does exactly what I told you. It's a one page resource tool and it walks you through dropping in your budget, your accurate budget, not your real budget, the budget that you would use to fully fund your organization. You drop in the budget, then you drop in how much each one of those line items are. Then you prioritize, and after that you determine which fundraising strategy is going to cover that budget line item. And then after that you assign or they volunteer to take the lead. So check out the fund development plan. If you're not sure what that looks like, it is going to walk you through that. And this is the tool that I use to either engage or reinvigorate my boards when I'm doing my board training. Alright, so that's that for our last episode on nonprofit governance. We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, it's your turn to ask Amber.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
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Speaker 2 (16:29):
Welcome back to On Air with Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur. We are wrapping up our series on nonprofit governance. Today's topic is how to engage or reinvigorate your board, and now it's time for your questions with Ask Amber. Today's question comes from Charles. Charles is from Linwood, and his question is, I want to help some of these kids who aren't interested in going to college. College isn't for everyone, but people need to make a living to take care of their families and they can do it if they work hard. I own a trucking business and I'm interested in turning my trucking business into a nonprofit. How do I go about that? Charles, thank you so much for your question. I get this often, and the short answer is you don't turn a business into another type of business. When you incorporate in your state, you tell the state, this is the type of business I am forming and that is the business that it will be until you dissolve it.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So if you want a nonprofit, you would have to start a different type of entity because a public charity specifically gets certain tax benefits, and so those benefits is if you are tax exempt, you don't have to pay taxes on that. But if you are a trucking business and you incorporate it in your state as a trucking business, it comes with taxes. So you can't just change it, right? You have to dissolve it, which I don't recommend you do. This is what I recommend, Charles. If you have a trucking business and you want to support young adults in identifying a potential career, thank you. Here's what you do. You reach out to nonprofits who are focused on career training, career development, and you partner with them. You say, Hey, you guys are teaching soft skills and you're helping these young adults to identify potential careers.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Let me partner with you. What happens is when they write their grants, they write you in. They write you in as a vendor, as a partner, and so you will get cut a check for doing what you do, which is after they train them on how to do interviews and soft skills, teamwork and all of the things that career development programs teach them, then they move them into actual jobs. That's when they come to you. They say, okay, well, you can learn how to do podcasting. You can work the board engineer. You can dah, dah, dah, or you can learn how to do truck driving. You can do local or you can do interstate or you can do whatever, or you can do medical billing. So they have all of these options. You would be one of the options, Charles, and you would still maintain your for-profit status.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
They would just cut you a check as a vendor and then you get to do what you want to do, which is to help these young children to explore new career opportunities. But you don't have to create another business because a nonprofit is a business and if you've listened to these episodes, it requires a lot of work. You've got to create a board and nurture the board and you've got to fundraise. You have to have 10 streams of revenue just to keep the organization going. You've got to hire staff. It is a business and it is a lot of work. You already have a business, so keep your business and partner with other nonprofits. How do you do that? There's this platform out there called Alignable and you would just type in nonprofits. You get on there and you say, Hey, if there are any nonprofits out there who specialize in workforce development and you're in my region, right?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Because Alignable is across the country, you're in my region. I would be interested in partnering with you to help your participants explore a career in truck driving. And you can do that on LinkedIn. You can do that on Alignable, you can do that on Eventbrite. You can do that on your social media. I am looking to partner with nonprofit organizations who focus on workforce development, career development, non-traditional careers and let them come to you. You could also reach out to your elected officials, say, Hey, I really want to give back to my community. If you know any nonprofits who are focused on workforce development, career development, can you connect them to me because I would love to partner with them on getting their participants into truck driving elected officials love making those types of connections, and if you say that to the elected official, this is what may happen.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
They may get a grant and they may pay you directly. That's what I do. I don't get paid from the nonprofits. I get paid from the funder. It's so much better when you get paid from the funder. So those are opportunities. I'm going to encourage you. I tell you guys all the time, we don't need another nonprofit. You can strengthen the nonprofit by providing them with that non-traditional career opportunity, and you can maintain your for-profit status. You don't have to start a whole nother nonprofit and you guys can partner, and that's how you can strengthen that other nonprofit. So anybody thinking about starting a nonprofit, that's what I want you to do. First, I want you to think about how you can identify multiple nonprofits that you can work with. You can serve as their vendor or their subcontractor. Let them write the grant, write you into it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Boom. You get your money, you get your service back to your community, and we haven't created any more unnecessary nonprofits. That's just from Amber. Y'all know I'm going to always tell you the truth. All right, so now we're going to shift into, I think the most important part of the episode is when I get to highlight you, my amazing nonprofits in what I call the nonprofit spotlight. In this episode, we are going to spotlight the Los Angeles Clean Tech incubator, commonly referred to as Lacey. Lacey is creating an inclusive green economy for the people of Los Angeles. Since 2011, Lacey has helped build a regional innovation ecosystem that supports the discovery and commercialization of clean technologies and the creation of green jobs, Lacey's transportation and Energy Nexus Innovation program, 10 x will challenge emerging hardware startups that are ready to deliver integrated solar storage and charging solutions. Let's take a look at Lacey,
Speaker 6 (23:26):
The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. Lacey is creating an inclusive green economy for the people of Los Angeles. Lacey's a catalytic leader of innovation throughout the region. We bring residents from under-resourced communities, entrepreneurs, corporate organizations, and government entities together to drive the adoption of Cleantech solutions in zero transportation, clean energy, and sustainable cities. Lacey offers coaching business development services, access to capital and support, launching new technology pilots with an intentional focus on serving women, BIPOC, LGBTQ plus, and other historically underrepresented individuals. Lacey also works with entrepreneurs to deploy community needs driven projects in frontline neighborhoods, burdened with poor air quality. With SBA stage one funding, Lacey and the California Energy Commission will convene leaders in industry and the public sector along with dynamic startups. Together we will develop a roadmap to outline resilient and equitable energy solutions to transition to a 100% zero carbon grid with corporate utility and public partners who are electrifying our buildings, serving frontline communities and creating grid edge technologies. Lacey's new clean energy partnership will increase pilot customer access and mentorship opportunities for startups and help bring their solutions to market. We'll also identify underserved communities for clean energy tech deployment and strengthen Southern California's entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
If you're interested in supporting or just finding out more about Lacey, you can reach them at www.laincubator.org, laincubator.org. Thank you, Lacey, for all the work that you're doing in the community. And now it's time for our wrap up. It's called Mindset Minute, and that's when I share with you just a minute of what I'm thinking about today. I want to be very direct with you. We're wrapping up our nonprofit governance series today. I just want to just specifically say to my founders,
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Do the work to get the work done. I know firsthand that you're doing everything. I know firsthand how much work that is. I know that it is a lot, and I also know if you keep doing the same things, you're going to get the same results. Show. Stop going along with the okey-doke. Stop saying, oh, my board doesn't do anything. Here's the thing. You create the culture, you create the expectations because you are the founder. If you are the executive director, then what I'm going to encourage you to do is to partner with your president and say, Hey, it's time for us to make a difference. If this organization is going to scale, then this needs to be a 50/50 partnership and this is how we're going to do it. You need to get a board that understands it is their responsibility to fundraise.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
That may not be something that happens overnight but carve out two hours a month to do the research to identify potential board members who understand that. And if you do that two hours a month in 90 days, you can find you a new board. You can reach out to corporations, associations. You can look on your competitor’s website, see who their board members are. Typically, high powered people will sit on two or three boards, reach out to them on LinkedIn. LinkedIn even has a program for you to help identify board members. Make this your priority. Make finding seasoned board members who's going to help move your organization forward a priority, do the work to get the work done. If you continue to sit back and complain that your board isn't doing anything, then your board will do nothing. Bring in a nonprofit consultant who can help you to create the structure, who can help you to guide your board into being active and engaged.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
But if you continue just to sit back and do everything and become a martyr, then nothing is going to get done. So do the work that it takes to get the work done. Alright, so that's it for today's episode, and that's it for our series on nonprofit governance. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for being here and listening. If you like what you heard, be sure to like, subscribe and share this episode and in previous episodes with people in your network, with people who are struggling to get their nonprofit up and functioning. Listen, I am here to support you. I'm here to give you valuable information If you want to lie, don't come here, but if you want the truth, I got you. All right, so until next week, be sure to take care of yourself, like you take care of your community. See you next time.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
