do you know where I can find some board
members every nonprofit needs committed
skilled passionate board members whether
you're starting a non-profit or growing
an existing nonprofit organization board
members are the amazing volunteer
leaders of your organization but when
you're starting out or trying to get to
the next level in making an impact how
do you know what kind of board members
you need and where to find them
that is what we will talk about in this
video welcome back my name is amber
Melanie Smith and if this is your first
time thank you so much for visiting my
youtube channel I am a non-profit
founder former board member executive
director full-time working for the
nonprofit that I founded many years ago
I'm also a speaker on social impact
leadership and service and I make these
youtube videos every week sometimes more
often if you're lucky on social impact
nonprofits and more putting together an
awesome board of directors is a huge
part of successfully starting and
running an organization and it is a
confusing process for many so we're
gonna break it down talk about how you
know what kinds of board members you
need and how to find them just if this
video is helpful to you please subscribe
show me some love
like this video share with your friends
and ring that bell so that you can get
alerts next time I post a video I am all
about helping aspiring changemakers
whether that means you are in the
nonprofit space social enterprise or
some other change making path I really
want to help you with tips and
strategies to help you make an impact
because living a life of purpose is what
it's all about so let's get into these
questions how do you know what kind of
board members you need and where on
earth can you find them so nonprofits
are required by law and by your bylaws
to have a board of directors and it's
often not really a good idea to just
recruit your family or your friends to
be on your board trust me on this one
it's rare to find a board of directors
on any
profit organization that agrees on
everything you really don't want those
business disagreements to ruin your
family or your friendships so you just
really want to focus on recruiting board
members who have these specific skills
and connections to help your
organization achieve its goals over the
next couple of years so let's get into
eight must-haves board member roles that
you should have in your organization and
just as a quick note yes some of those
roles can overlap you don't necessarily
have to have eight board members I know
lots of organizations that run on four
board members and some that run on 50
board members really depends on what
your state's laws are in terms of the
minimum number of board members that you
can have also your own bylaws as an
organization so your bylaws should be
setting the range of appropriate number
of bylaws and of course you can always
amend those if you decide you need to
grow the number of board members you
have and depending on the size of your
organization a very large Board of
Directors can either be a really good
thing because it means lots of
connections and potential avenues for
fundraising or it could be really
cumbersome difficult challenging thing
that means nobody can ever get anything
done so you just need to think about the
appropriate number of board members for
you at your current stage of growth in
your organization
let's get right into it the top four
roles you typically need are often
called members of the executive
committee so these are the board members
who are I guess you could say in charge
so we're talking about a chairman of
vice-chairman a secretary and a
treasurer it is very common for most
organizations to have all of these
things and in fact in some case having
all four of these roles might be
required by your bylaws so if you if
that is true for you you need to make
sure that these spots are filled with
the right competent board members at all
times in some cases some of these roles
can overlap and in other cases that's
not really appropriate for example you
couldn't really have someone who's both
your vice chairperson and your
chairperson that would not make any
sense but your vice chair could possibly
also be your secretary the chairman is
typically charged with developing the
agenda for board meetings sending that
out to board members in advance and
leading board member conversations at
those meetings the vice chair or
possibly Chair Elect will assist with
this role and would typically be the
person who's next in line for that role
when the Chairman's term in your board
is up the secretary is making sure that
appropriate and accurate records for
your organization are being kept so your
organization needs to be taking up
minutes at its board meetings I know it
sounds super boring but it's really
important so you have a record of all
votes that have been discussed and voted
upon and you know noting that certain
policies have passed because of those
votes and then of course your treasurer
is overseeing your financial status and
providing reports to the rest of the
board on that status regularly okay so
those are the basics but there are four
other types of board members that I
would highly recommend an organization
especially a newer organization that's
just starting up have as it is getting
things going so here are those four
roles so one critical role you want when
you are starting an
profit organization and as you're
growing is someone who is very
experienced or skilled and knowledgeable
in the specific issue or cause that your
organization is addressing so depending
on your cause it could be a fellow
nonprofit professional someone who's
done similar work in the past it could
be someone like a social worker who
knows what it's like to serve certain
clients it could be a doctor let's say
it's a medical organization or hospital
doctors make sense on the board they can
advise on you know appropriate program
strategies in order to be successful so
you want to basically have people on
your board who know how to execute the
programs that your organization is
executing this is especially important
if you are a newer nonprofit
organization that has no staff yet
because someone's got to know what
they're doing in terms of running those
programs and making sure that you are
effectively measuring whether those
programs are successful we're all doing
this we're all part of nonprofits
because we want to make an impact in the
world
so again emphasizing and the last thing
I'll say about it emphasizing the
importance of having someone who has
experienced tackling the specific issue
that your organization is trying to
address the next role you really want to
have on your board especially as a newer
organization and there's no really good
title for this role um just board member
who has this skill and this skill is
someone who's very socially connected
someone who has a lot of business
connections possible funding connections
basters you want to look for your social
butterfly someone who's comfortable
talking to lots of people out there
networking and just someone who knows
everyone that's the person you want
someone with all those connections is
going to be really critical in making
introductions to the rest of the board
members to possibly ask for donations or
sponsorships or apply for grants it will
lead to speaking opportunities you can
raise awareness about your cause but
this person can open a lot of doors for
you so they are a critical role
especially for a newer organization then
type of board member you really want on
your board especially when you're
starting up but really all the time no
matter what size your organization is
it's at least one preferably multiple
people with fundraising experience in
nonprofits now the idea is not that this
person or this group of people will be
solely responsible for your
organization's fundraising the entire
board and staff and technically all your
volunteers everyone in the organization
should really be helping with
fundraising to some degree but having
someone experienced and how fundraising
works can at least provide training and
guidance and leadership to the rest of
the board members staff or volunteers
who might feel a little anxious or
squeamish about fundraising this person
or these people can train those folks on
how to do it how to do it with
confidence and that is really important
finally you want to have a board member
who specializes and has some experience
with marketing and public relations this
is going to be really really important
in crafting your organization's
messaging your story getting media
coverage and all of these things will
help you gain supporters to gain
volunteers gain donors and raise
awareness about what you do so that you
can reach more people as you grow as an
organization so in summary the eight
roles that I think are critical to have
for an organization of any size but
especially newer organizations our
Chairman Vice Chair secretary treasurer
program expert socially connected person
fundraising expert and marketing expert
now no matter what role a board member
is playing with your organization all
board members should be trained and
practiced talking about your
organization's mission your
organization's story how and why they
decided to get connected to your
organization all board members will be
helping develop your future budgets
developing your fundraising plans and
all board members are especially charged
with helping with fundraising for the
whole organization all board members
regardless of role should be out there
networking speaking
publicly on behalf of your cause and
making introductions to staff volunteers
or other board members who might help
your cause be furthered okay so where do
you find these magical board members
let's talk about that
here's the thing it might seem or feel
like good board members are hard to find
but I am telling you that they are out
there I have seen them I have met them I
work with some of them myself don't fire
me and a lot of people want to serve on
a board of directors for a cause that
they care about and are actively seeking
those opportunities in fact it is a
proven strategy for advancing your own
career and just having a lot of success
and feeling good about your life so
people definitely are interested in
being board members where can you find
them here is my top list there are
organizations out there across the
United States whose goal is to help you
find volunteers or sometimes even
specifically volunteer board members so
you want to figure out where your
nearest volunteer center or executive
Service Corps is and reach out and learn
how you can tap into their networks of
potential volunteers or board members
looking for a place to serve there are
also some great board resource websites
like board source there are even board
matchmaking services online where people
who are interested in finding a board to
serve on enter in their profile tell you
all about themselves and then you can
peruse who they are and tell them about
your cause and see if they might be a
good fit so Google will do some
searching online there are some great
resources there for that a couple of
years ago linked in also introduced a
new feature where you could indicate on
your LinkedIn profile that you were
looking for non-profit board
opportunities and I think that you can
actually search for people in your area
who have checked that box so check out
who in your area has checked the box on
LinkedIn and you can see their skill
sets right there so that is a great
asset I would highly recommend in most
cities there is a Chamber of Commerce or
a plethora of business networking groups
I would attend some of those groups
meetings and do some networking put out
there that you are looking for board
members and just talk to a lot of people
at those spaces because those are often
the business professionals that are
looking for board service
this idea seems like a no-brainer but
you would not believe how often we
forget that our own volunteer base as a
non-profit is an amazing resource for
finding board members because the people
who are already volunteering for you in
some way
love your cause already they are giving
you their most precious asset their time
and so they are amazing candidates who
might have the skill sets that you are
looking for for your board so I would
reach out put the word out to your own
volunteer mailing list or network and
see who comes back who might be
interested in devoting their time to you
in a higher leadership capacity as a
board member and the final idea is also
possibly not that intuitive and that is
to ask other nonprofits in your area if
they have any board members that they
might recommend some of them might have
board members whose term is ending with
them who they think could be a good fit
for you there are some amazing
networking groups out there for
nonprofits in every community
I recommend the young nonprofit
Professionals Network or many states
also have a center for nonprofits these
resources might also be great for you
know crowdsourcing those ideas and
asking your fellow nonprofits about
awesome individuals out there who might
be looking for board service I am going
to leave some of the links to these
resources down below in my description
so be sure to check that out and I hope
this really has helped you out in
thinking about what kinds of board roles
you need to be planning for as you start
or grow a nonprofit organization that's
all I got once again my name is Amber
Melanie Smith and I make these videos
here on YouTube weekly so don't forget
to subscribe give me a thumbs up like
that video and ring the little bell so
that you can get alerts next time one of
my videos goes live also if you were on
Facebook don't forget to check out my
Facebook group change the world or bust
it is a group where myself and fellow
changemakers whether they are in
nonprofits or business or volunteering
or just getting started figuring all
that out people who just want to make a
difference and change the world all
talking together on some of the issues
of today and how we can
an impact so I hope you will join me
there thank you so much for joining me
until next time bye
[Music]