Nonprofit Board Recruitment

Serving the Santa Barbara CommunityLeader discussing business plan with team in the board room

After the board has created its Board Development Plan, it’s time to design a Board Recruitment Plan. Contact Nonprofit Kinect today for a free consultation. Our professionals will ensure a highly effective recruitment process. The Board Development Plan will clarify the types of individuals you will want to recruit to the board; however, you must also have a clearly laid out plan for the methods and strategies you will use for recruiting those members. For example, if your plan calls for having a banker on the board you will want to consider many things when choosing just the right individual. Do you want a representative from your organization’s primary bank or would you prefer someone who is more neutral. Also, since bankers tend to focus on one specific area of banking you will have to narrow the scope a bit. Once you have identified a potential candidate, you can do a little informal research in your community to find out if the person actively participated on other boards they have served on. The individual’s number and type of connections within your community will be important to evaluate too.

Board Recruitment Begins with a Board-appointed Committee

Typically a board-appointed committee will take the lead on actual recruitment of new members. In the past, this committee was called the Board Nominating Committee; however, today the titles of Board Development Committee or Board Governance Committee are popular because they indicate a more comprehensive role for the committee than just nominating potential members.

The process for nominating and approving new board members must be clear and well-understood by all board members. It’s also best if it is quick. Everything moves quickly these days and once a person has been invited to serve on a board s/he should attend his/her first board meeting within a few weeks. There are ways of designing a system for nomination and approval that will be streamlined yet thorough.

The professionals at NonprofitKinect will work with you to develop a complete Board Recruitment Plan which will provide you with a system for nominating and approving top notch board members for your organization.