If you or a board member were writing a Report Card on the performance and practices of your board, what grade would you give it?   Would you conclude you have a good board, a great board, or something else?  To be most effective in your organization’s performance and funding success, you will want to move your board from a good board to a great board.

What are the differences between a good board and a great board?

1. Great Boards begin as good boards and graduate.  Note the seven universal hallmarks of a good board (hopefully, your board) in Welcome to the Board by Fisher Howe.
   
   
2. Great Boards define themselves by what they are, but equally by what they dare to become.
   
   “Defining the organization and stating its goals and purposes is probably the most critical task that confronts trustees.  Everything else that trustees do rest on this basic decision”
   -- Robert Greenleaf
   
   
3. Great Boards define themselves by asking questions.  Asking the right questions in board meetings is more important than giving the right answers to irrelevant questions.
   
   
4. Great Boards keep their attention focused on strategic priorities, not operations.   Through strategic planning, the Board sets the Compass for the organization; Management provides the Blueprint that translates these strategic goals into a programmatic plan for action
   
   
5. Great Boards secure their future by building endowment to provide a secure revenue stream in difficult times.  

   “Those institutions that are less well endowed will spend the next decade losing ground to the strong institutions.”
   --CASE

6. Great Boards do not skirt their fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities.  They take responsibility for ensuring that sufficient resources are found to carry out its mission and programs successfully. They understand that no fundraising effort ever succeeds unless one person (including board members) asks another person for money.

7. Great Boards are never really content.  They do not coast on yesterday’s success. They look for opportunities to stretch their goals and programs to serve better those in need.  They also know that tomorrow’s successes do not just happen.  They are the result of wise and creative planning and are aware that “all planning degenerates into work if anything is to happen” –Peter Drucker

8. And finally, Great Boards identify priorities – “first things first and second things not at all.”  They spend their time together on major, not minor, matters.

    

The Moran Company has presented the Hallmarks of a Great Board, along with examples, anecdotes, and illustrations that make a point to numerous boards in workshops, seminars, retreats and at regular board meetings. It is something very hard for an inside Executive Director or Board Chair to do for obvious reasons.  Several boards have grown into better boards as a result of applying some of the lessons learned. 

If your Board might benefit from such a session, please contact Bill Moran or Hal Schultz at The Moran Company.

About The Moran Company
Founded by Bill Moran, The Moran Company works with nonprofits that want to reach more donors and generate more dollars. To learn more about our fundraising training, consulting, or executive search services, please contact us (816) 756-1090 or info@morancompany.com.

© The Moran Company, 2007.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article for FREE provided you include the above paragraph. No changes without our permission, please.