Board Self-Assessment

How Are We Doing? -- Nonprofit Board Self-Assessment

Nonprofit boards are comprised of volunteers, unpaid advocates for an organization. They devote time and energy to something that is important to them. Volunteers, yes, but legally bound to keep the organization on track.

It is a difficult job to keep your board on track, handling your business as transparently as possible and staying on mission. Governance is not easy. But how do you know if you and your fellow board members are doing the very best job possible? How can you be sure that you are effectively managing your fiduciary responsibility?

Self-assessment can be a critical tool. After all, if you’re going to spend your valuable time doing something, shouldn’t you take steps to ensure that time is well spent?

One easy form of assessment is to have each board member answer a few simple questions at the end of each board meeting. Questions like, “Did we spend most of our time today on governance issues, or did we stray into operational matters?” or “Did the materials (board package, etc.) adequately prepare us for our business today?”

A more formal, in-depth evaluation should be made on an annual basis. There are many sample board self-assessment tools available. However, in order for this evaluation to be useful, those generic tools should be used as a starting point for your board to use while developing an instrument specific to the organization’s mission and goals.

Take a look at your strategic goals. What questions do you need to ask yourselves in order to determine if you are doing what’s necessary to reach those goals? I suggest breaking them down into specific strategies and developing assessment questions to address each strategy.

How do you feel about the value of board self-assessment? What tools do you use? Has anyone tied their assessment tool directly to their strategic plan?