All About Boards of Directors (For-Profit and Nonprofit)
- © Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC
- Applies to for-profit and nonprofit Boards, unless marked differently.
Perhaps the best way to benefit from this topic is first to scan the subtopics in the following table, including how they are arranged on this page. The left side of the table lists the typical topics in Board operations, and the right side lists the typical functions in an organization that a Board must oversee.
Also, if you are looking for a very specific subtopic or article about Boards, you might use the "find" function in your browser, and enter the keyword(s) in order to search this page for those subtopics or articles. You also can use the "search" box in the upper right-hand corner.
- Much of the information in this topic was adapted from the book Field Guide to Developing, Operating and Restoring Your Nonprofit Board. Most of the information in that book applies to nonprofit and for-profit Boards.
- Also see Carter's Board Blog
Strategic Planning -- Learn This Critical Skill for Board Members
The Consultants Development Institute's Series Facilitating Strategic Planning provides free online courses, downloadable tools and interaction with experienced faculty to learn the core skills to facilitate strategic planning for any kind of organization. This is a critical skill for prospective and current Board members. Enrollment is unlimited.
Also see
Related Library Topics
Also See The Library's Blogs Related To This Topic
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to this topic. Scan down the blog's page to see various posts. Also see the section "Recent Blog Posts" in the sidebar of the blog or click on "next" near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
Library's
Boards of Directors Blog
Library's
Nonprofit Capacity Building Blog
For the Category of Boards of Directors:
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
For-Profit ("Corporate") Boards of Directors
For-Profit ("Corporate") Boards of Directors
-
Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit, utilize and evaluate the best employees for your business.
Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as Board member or employee),
other individuals, groups and organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem
among employees of small businesses. Many materials in this Library are
adapted from this book.
NOTE: This is one of the few books that's all about leadership AND how to effectively work with a corporate (for-profit) Board.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just click on the image of the book. Also, a "bubble" of information might be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Nonprofit Boards of Directors
-
Field Guide to Developing, Operating and Restoring Your Nonprofit Board
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to organize, operate and sustain high-quality nonprofit Boards -- and to fix a broken Board! Includes variety of Board models you can choose from, roles and responsibilities, how to get the best members, how to train and organize them, goals for standard committees, ensuring high-quality meetings, evaluating Boards, how to evaluate and/or replace the Executive Director, and much more! Includes many sample Board policies you can download! Written by the developer of the Free Management Library. Many materials in this Library's topic about Boards are adapted from this book. 30-day, money-back, guarantee!
-
Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit, utilize and evaluate the best staff members for your nonprofit.
Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as Board member or staff member),
other individuals, groups and organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem
among nonprofit staff. Written by the developer of the Free Management Library.
Many materials in this Library are
adapted from this book.
This is one of the few books that's all about leadership AND how to effectively work with a nonprofit Board.
-
Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in nonprofit organizations and successfully resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject! Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Written by the developer of the Free Management Library. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding change are adapted from this comprehensive book. 30-day, money-back, guarantee!
-
Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Step-by-step guidelines to customize and facilitate planners to implement the best strategic planning process to suit the particular nature and needs of their nonprofit. This is one of the few books, if any, that explains how to actually facilitate planning. Includes many online forms that can be downloaded and used by planners. Written by the developer of the Free Management Library. Many materials in this Library's topic about strategic planning are adapted from this book. 30-day, money-back, guarantee!