Written by Allison Howe

I am back from my sabbatical. Thanks to a supportive board, I was incredibly fortunate and valued to be able to take two months off. My fellow executive directors/CEO’s have expressed a variety of responses to my sabbatical. 

Envy: “You are so lucky!” 

Amazement: “How were you able to leave for a month and not have the organization collapse?” 

Aspiration: “Can you talk to my board?”

Allison leaves the stresses of nonprofits behind to spend time with a new friend in Kenya

Why would a board encourage an executive director to take a two month sabbatical? There are a number of reasons:

Supporting your ED/CEO:

Written by Allison Howe

Term Limits

If there is one governance topic that directors of organizations without term limits often avoid, it is term limits. On some boards, years of service are worn almost like a badge of honor: “I’ve been on this board for 25 years.” More than once, I’ve seen someone take offense when asked how long they intended to continue serving.

The reason is understandable. People who serve on nonprofit boards care deeply about the organizations they support. They take pride in the mission, celebrate the progress they’ve helped achieve, and invest significant time, talent, and financial resources. That level of commitment is exactly what every nonprofit hopes to attract.

However, as a consultant who has worked with

Written by Allison Howe

Executive Director/CEO Sabbatical – Win, win and win!

Working as an executive director in the nonprofit sector has been somewhat stressful over the last few years. Nonprofit leaders are known for trying to do the best they can with limited resources. But the last few years have been especially taxing: the pandemic, the swing of social reckoning with everything from abortion rights to racial justice, the ratcheting down of resources for nonprofits and the people we serve. Executive directors are tired.

As the child of a professor, I remember my father received an opportunity to have a sabbatical every seven years. For my family, that meant that we lived in England for six months while my father did his

Written by Allison Howe

Who Makes an Effective Board Chair?

I have been in my job as executive director for over seven years. In those seven years, I have had four different board chairs and we are gearing up for a fifth.  Each board chair has brought something new to NonProfitConnect and to my growth. And I think they have each left with new skills and perspectives. I feel lucky to have had each of them co-leading NonProfitConnect.

Not everyone is so lucky. I feel it is important for executive directors/CEO’s to be involved in identifying future board chairs both to recruit for the board and to develop once on the board. The relationship between a board chair and executive director/CEO is too vital to leave just to

Written by Allison Howe

With all the challenges facing nonprofits externally, I am observing that more nonprofit leaders and board members are open to new ways of approaching the sector’s work. There is no shortage of original ideas in the nonprofit sector but we are not set up as a sector to truly test them out.

Here are some of the barriers to innovation that nonprofits often face:

• Risk averse boards – In the fall, Joan Garry gave a talk at a NonProfitConnect sponsored conference, where she talked about nonprofit boards’ aversion to risk. Her thesis was that board members think their job is to protect the nonprofit by avoiding risk. They do have that obligation. However,
  

Written by Allison Howe

Joining a board provides us with so many wonderful opportunities! Most new board members see the chance to meet new people and to make a difference in a cause that matters to them. They may even see that serving on a board looks good on their LinkedIn profile.  But there is so much more if you take full advantage of this role.

Here are suggestions about how to maximize your board service:

• • Join with an open mind and the intention to learn. I have seen many people from the corporate world come to a board meeting bringing corporate biases and strategies. Those perspectives are important, but also it is important to listen to challenges
    

Written by Allison Howe

You joined the board because you believe heartily in the mission of your nonprofit. But it is getting harder and harder to get to those meetings. Too many responsibilities with the kids. Or the elderly parents. Or work.  Also, there are so many meetings and you think, “What am I really contributing?”  Perhaps you have nothing new to say after serving 20 years on a board with no term limits and the other board members do not want to hear, “We tried that already.”  Maybe you are a founder and find others are getting frustrated balancing your feelings with what needs to happen to move the organization forward.

It is often difficult to acknowledge that maybe you are no longer a good

Written by Allison Howe

Board meetings are a necessary part of getting nonprofit work done.  Many board members and Executive Director/CEOs will tell you getting board members to attend, and keep their cameras on, can be a huge feat. How do you go from boring to engaging board meetings?

Whatever role you are in,NonProfitConnect has some suggestions for adding a little life to a bland board meeting:

• Try to meet in person, at least some of the time
  • Yes, we have many busy people on boards and yes, it is so much easier just to get on a zoom call. However, not only do you miss out on developing relationships that lead to the board building trust, but remote meetings make it too easy for people to not be present.  If
    

Written by Allison Howe

Is this you? You show up to a board committee meeting and you are the only one? Or, at your organization’s event, you are the only board member in attendance?

Are you thinking to yourself…What is happening?

People are too busy?

Maybe the other board members just don’t understand their role?

Or maybe, no one asked them to come?

Whether you are the Board Chair, the Executive Director/CEO or that person on the board who does 90% of what gets done, you have a lot on your shoulders. How can you spark excitement and engagement from the other board members?

Over the years, at NonProfit Connect, we have honed in on some strategies to better engage board members,