Do you want to raise more funds, recruit more volunteers, and mobilize prayer? Investing time in improving your supporter website can help. First, be sure to have a separate supporter website in addition to your client website. Why?
If your center has been around a while and the board only has a few members, breaking it down into committees doesn’t make sense. But a healthy board that has been around 5 or more years with sufficient members could benefit by delegating responsibility to various committees.
How do committees function? What are the benefits of having board committees?
In the process of evaluating whether to implement board committees, your board should discuss the following questions: Do we have enough members on our board? Are we meeting too often? What are we accomplishing during meetings? Do our meetings last too long?
If, by your members' reckoning, your board meets too frequently and for too long, it could mean you’re trying to do too much. Boards have many responsibilities, but everything doesn’t need to happen during meetings of the full board. Some tasks can be handled by committees outside of regular board meetings.
Would you like to meet less and accomplish more? Committees could be the answer.
Let’s say you currently meet every month. Consider having a meeting of the full board in January and then committee meetings in February. The committees report to full board at the March meeting. Now your board only meets every other month and you get as much (or more) accomplished!
GUIDELINES FOR BOARD COMMITTEES
Committee members that are not board members should be approved by the full board. They do not attend board meetings except to provide expert advice.
Committee members that are not board members should nevertheless share the organization's mission and vision.
Term-limited board members can stay involved by serving on committees.
Committees are "breeding grounds" for new members, receiving valuable exposure to the ministry.
Here's an overview of board committees that could be formed and their various functions:
THE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE provides the equivalent of "preventative medicine" to a board. This group works to ensure a board has the right people with the right mix of skills, up-to-date and relevant policies, and the capacity to examine its own work and make changes when necessary. It should consist of board members only.
This committee can help the board when trouble arises, but ongoing checkups and good habits should render emergencies obsolete. Ultimately, the governance committee helps institutionalize effective governance practices for the present and future health of an organization.These are things a governance committee can do:
If your full board does not meet every month, an EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE can handle decisions that must be made before the next meeting. Typically a board of 13 or more members will name an executive committee, and it will consist solely of the officers of the board.
This is the only committee that can make decisions on behalf of the full board, as directed by the board. The board will determine which decisions the executive committee can make, and the executive committee will immediately report all its decisions to the board. These are its responsibilities:
The FINANCIAL COMMITTEE may consist of only two people, and include the financial professional who conducts the organization’s audit or financial statement (and is not on the board). This committee would disseminate financial information to the board in a simple format and timely manner so members can request clarifications prior to the board meeting. Here’s what this committee does:
The DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE works with the chief executive and other development staff to engage the board in fundraising, particularly on fundraising events. This committee’s responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, the following:
ADVISORY COMMITTEE members may have a special skill or area of expertise that is missing from the board or staff roster– legal, medical, financial, facilities, development, etc. Committee members can:
Every one of the committee tasks listed above is a responsibility of the board. You can see how committees allow boards to break these tasks into bite-sized chunks. Choose the committees that will make the board's job easier.
The concept of board committees has been around for years, but many centers have not yet implemented them. It takes effort, energy, and planning to make committees work, but if you do, the board’s job becomes easier and you can accomplish more. You’ll increase your exposure to the community and draw in more people to help the ministry.
Can you do your job without committees? Sure, but wouldn’t you rather be more effective?
Learn more: