The board or management committee of a non-profit organisation may not be involved in the day to day service provision of the organisation; however, as the people that set the strategic direction of the non-profit organisation, the skills, knowledge, experience, and abilities of the members of the board or management committee are directly involved in the success or failure of the organisation.
Traditionally board members have been stalwart members of the community group or non-profit organisation, but may not have a background in business, management, or law. Modern organisations are held accountable to standards similar to private and publicly listed corporations. While the stalwart member of the group still has a strong role to play in the management of community groups and non-profit organisations, an ideal board will be comprised of business people, lawyers, accountants, consumer representatives, and other appropriate advisors such as medical professionals for health organisations and coaches/players for sports organisations.
The Role of the Board or Management Committee
The role of the board or management committee is to oversee the strategic direction of the organisation, appoint and evaluate the performance of the Chief Executive Officer, and ensure that the mission and values of the organisation are upheld. The board holds the legal and financial accountability of most organisations (Our Community, 2011). Individual board members work as a group to ensure that the above points are met.
Composition of a Non-Profit Organisation Board or Management Committee
The ideal board composition will be dependent on the type of non-profit organisation; for example a health organisation may benefit from the input of consumer representatives which may not be necessary in a music group or non-profit theatre company. Generally however a ideal board composition will include:
- a lawyer or paralegal with experience in commercial law and non-profit organisations
- an accountant or auditor
- appropriate professionals – for example a cancer support group may ask an oncologist to sit on the board to provide advice to the other board members in relation to new research
- experienced business managers
- consumer representatives to provide input from the viewpoint of the users of the service
Overall it is important that the members of the board or management committee are able to work together as a cohesive group and promote action that will be in the best interests of the non-profit organisation.
The Role of Computer Representatives
Consumer representatives are predominately appointed to the boards of health related non-profit organisations. The Consumers Health Forum of Australia identifies that the role of the consumer representative is to participate in the decision-making of the organisation through voicing the view and advancing the interests of consumers. It is vital that the consumer representative be a person whose experience is solely as a consumer so that their opinions are not clouded by competing positions.
Recruiting Board or Management Committee Members
If the non-profit organisation does not have access to the ideal composition of the board or management committee, it may be necessary to recruit additional board or management committee members to undertake specialist roles. When recruiting board or management committee volunteers, a position description identifying the skills, abilities, experience, and qualifications required by the board member should be written. After obtaining expressions of interest from suitably qualified applicants, interviews can be held to determine which applicant is best suited to working with the current members of the board or management committee.
Board or Management Committee Training
An important area to consider is ongoing training needs of board or management committee members. This is particularly for organisations that are unable to access specialist board members such as lawyers or accountants. In this instance, training in understanding the legal and financial requirements of the organisation may be appropriate. It is also important that all new board members undergo induction to being a board member of the organisation.
Boards and management committees play an important role in the success or failure of a non-profit organisation. If possible a board should be comprised of a wide variety of community members including lawyers, accountants, appropriate other professionals, and consumer representatives.
References
Consumers Health Forum of Australia, 2011, “Consumer Representatives Program Policy” Accessed 7 February 2011
Our Community, 2011, “What Do Boards Do?”, Accessed 7 February 2011
Tracey Lloyd - Based in Australia, Tracey Lloyd is experienced in management & strategic development of community projects and non-profit ...
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