fundsforNGOs

Grants and Resources for Sustainability

  • Subscribe for Free
  • Premium Sign in
  • Premium Sign up


  • Home
  • Latest Funds
    • Agriculture
    • Children
    • Community Healthcare
    • Democracy and Good Governance
    • Education
    • Environmental Conservation
    • Food Security and Nutrition
    • HIV and AIDS
    • Humanitarian Relief
    • Human Rights
    • Livelihood Development
    • Media and Development
    • Peace and Conflict Resolution
    • Poverty Alleviation
    • Women and Gender
    • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
    • Youth Empowerment
  • Resources
  • News
  • Featured
  • Premium
    • Premium Sign in
  • Jobs
  • Submit
  • Subscribe
  • About us
  • Contact
Your are here: fundsforngos.org » Featured Articles » NGO Management: How to assemble a Board of Trustees

NGO Management: How to assemble a Board of Trustees

153
SHARES
ShareTweetWhatsappEmail

Board members play a critical role in the development and success of non-profit organisations. Sometimes referred to as a Board of Trustees, these volunteers act as guardians for your organisation who protect and maintain the core values and purposes of the organisation.

As a collective body, the trustees hold the authority and responsibility to ensure the fulfillment of an organisation’s mission. They are ultimately responsible for the fiscal health of the institution. The board of trustees governing role is typically limited to selection of the president and policy approval, with the daily operations and management of the institution operated by staff and volunteers.

Ad Top Grants, Donors and Resources on How to Apply
Premium Membership offers the perfect platform where you can quickly learn about top grants and donors that can fund your projects. Powerful tools such as Grant Search, Map, Calendar and Custom Funding Alerts will make your work easy. Additionally, learn how to apply with our resources such as Sample Proposals and Downloadable Ebooks Learn more or Join instantly for $49.99/year (50% Discount) 
 

Finding the right composition of your Board of Trustees could be one of the most important projects that you ever take on. A well established and committed board with the right skills can provide a solid platform that will enable your NGO to blossom in the years to come.

Board members with essential skills can reduce the burden on your organisation’s paid staff and volunteers that will liberate them and enable them to achieve more. They can also reduce costs to outside contractors and agencies by allowing you to conduct certain operations such as accounting, fundraising and legal matters in house. Organisation’s that benefit from active, well informed and responsible trustees are often the best placed to fulfill their missions.

Typically, the President of the Board of Trustees is responsible for establishing the agenda for the board that would span across all areas of the organisation’s function. Other roles that feature on many board’s are secretary and treasurer whilst it is also common to have a number of sub-committees that are responsible for specific areas of the organisation’s work.

Ad Organize your Fundraising Information
With tons of information piling up, it is not easy to keep track of what is relevant and what can become useful in future. That is why our Premium Dashboard offers a convenient interface so that you know what is latest, you can search what is relevant and save what can be useful. Learn more or Join instantly for $49.99/year (50% Discount) 
 

The board’s main responsibilities include establishing and supporting the institutions vision and mission, acting as the legal owners of the organisation, ensuring the organisation is sustainable, evaluating performance, supporting staff and reviewing and creating policies. Often boards operate subcommittees to support different areas of the organisation meaning they may be involved in fundraising, strategic planning, human resources and communications. Trustees are typically expected to act as ambassadors for the institution in the community.

A board of trustees is made up of a number of different representatives and often number between five and twelve people, sometimes more, sometimes less. An organisation’s founding document normally dictates the size of the board of trustees, although this number can be amended as your organisation’s needs change. Trustees are normally elected or appointed to the board at an Annual General Meeting, normally for a specific period of time.

Your non-profit should aim to establish a well balanced board that collectively share the qualities you need to responsibly manage your organisation. Many NGOs actively work to assemble diverse representations of leaders in their community that can serve to broaden support for the organisation. Some of the skills and qualities that your NGO should be looking for in a board of trustees are:

Ad Successful Sample Proposals
Whether you are looking for ideas to develop projects or seeking reference information for writing the most effective proposals quickly to meet deadlines, Premium Membership gives you access to the most successful Sample Proposals from grantees around the world. Learn more or Join instantly for $49.99/year only 50% Discount. 
 
  • A passion for your cause
  • Knowledge of either your cause, non-profit management, business knowledge or some other relevent professional experience
  • Commitment and reliability
  • A beneficiary of your organisation’s services or someone with direct experience of the issue you are working to resolve

Each organisation will require different skills to run their board effectively. Organisation’s working with human rights issues for example may benefit from individuals with legal experience whereas non-profits working with people with a disability should try to ensure they have people on their board who can represent the disabled community effectively.

As well as suitable experience and knowledge, many NGOs target individuals who can bring specific skills to their board of trustees that can help them to develop. If your organisation would benefit from having a better understanding of your finances and how you can achieve or maintain sustainability it would be wise to recruit someone with a financial background as your Treasurer. Perhaps your organisation needs a leader who can act as a spokesperson who can make inspiring speeches and persuade others to support your cause? If this is the case you will need to search for someone with well developed public speaking and people skills.

Becoming a representative on a non-profit organisation’s board of trustees is a substantial investment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Nor should you take unnecessary risks with bringing people you are unsure of on to your organisation’s board either. You should try to be as methodical and strategic in the development of your board as possible. Once you have highlighted the skills you are looking for you can begin the task of recruiting additional board members.

Ad Calendar and Map Views
Premium Membership enables you to view upcoming grant opportunities in a calendar and a map view. Quickly learn about submission deadlines and plan your schedules. Click on your country (or countries of interest) to know how many grants are open. Learn more or Join instantly for $49.99/year (50% Discount) 
 

To give your NGO the best opportunity to recruit the right board members you should form a recruitment panel amongst existing staff or members of your existing board. This group is responsible for formalizing the opportunity internally, promoting the role to the wider community and managing and delivering the application and interview process. By involving a number of individuals rather than just one you will be able to get a better perspective or your prospective candidates which should lead to more informed decision making.

Board members can be drawn from all sectors of your community. We have put together a short list of initiatives that your NGOs recruitment panel can undertake to source new board members:

  • Invite long term or regular donors to your cause
  • Suggest the opportunity to people in positions of power, influence or wealth
  • Recommend joining your board to individuals recommended to you by colleagues and peers
  • Welcome existing volunteers of your organisation to your board of trustees
  • Promote the opportunity through any communications outlets you own such as newsletters, websites, posters and social media as well as releasing information about it to the local press
  • Post the role to a volunteer recruitment website

Upon receiving applications to join your organisation’s board of trustees the recruitment subcommittee should interview the candidate, either formally or informally, before making recommendations to the president of the board. When trustees have been appointed they will need to be supported to understand all aspects of your organisation to enable them to do the best job that they can.

Ad Take a Look inside the Premium Membership with these Walkthrough Videos
Wondering what is it like inside the Premium? You can now take a look inside with our walkthrough videos and learn about the powerful features. Watch Videos or Join instantly for $49.99/year only (50% Discount) 
 

Has your organisation worked to develop your board of trustees? Are you a trustee? Let us know in the comments.

Related:

  • FundsforNGOs collection of the best non-profit Associations
  • Fundraising Essentials: Grant Fundraising Strategy Checklist
  • Fundraising Essentials: Grant Exit Strategies
  • Fundraising Essentials: Outcome Funding
  • Fundraising Essentials: How to thank donors
  • NGO Management: How to assemble a Board of Trustees
  • Grant Proposals: What to do if your proposal is rejected

Comments

  1. AvatarHing'andu Hamasamu says

    February 2, 2014 at 9:21 am

    We are set! Our Board is now in place. We followed your instructions and we believe we will have a successful board.
    Thank you.

  2. AvatarRwihura Kakooko Roberts says

    November 10, 2013 at 7:58 am

    The Board of trustees is in place and I am not a member of the BoTs but rather an employee of the Organisation. However, the trustees play a pivital role in directing the decisions and activities of the Organisation.

Latest Funds for NGOs

Agriculture
Children
Community Healthcare
Democracy and Good Governance
Education
Environmental Conservation
Food Security and Nutrition
HIV and AIDS
Humanitarian Relief
Human Rights
Livelihood Development
Media and Development
Peace and Conflict Resolution
Poverty Alleviation
Women and Gender
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Youth Empowerment

Opportunities in Your Country

Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bangladesh Cambodia Cameroon
Colombia Egypt Ethiopia Georgia Ghana India
Indonesia Iraq Kenya Laos Liberia Madagascar
Malawi Moldova Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal
Nigeria Pakistan Papua-New-Guinea Philippines Rwanda Somalia
South-Africa South-Sudan Sri-Lanka Tanzania Thailand Uganda
Ukraine United-Kingdom United-States Vietnam Zambia Zimbabwe

About

About us
Contact us
Subscribe
Submit
Premium Membership
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Google Plus
Slideshare
LinkedIn
Instagram

Legal

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Anti-Spam and Anti-Phishing Policy
How to unsubscribe from Free Newsletters
Premium Terms of Service

[footer_backtotop]

All Rights Reserved © FUNDSFORNGOS, LLC. Unless otherwise specified, this website is not affiliated to any of the organizations mentioned above in any manner. The material provided here is solely for informational purposes only without any warranty. Visitors are advised to use it at their own discretion. FUNDSFORNGOS, LLC, 1 East 53rd Street, 8th Floor, New York NY 10022 United States of America. Privacy Policy