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Meet The Team

Victoria McBrayer

CEO

Jamal McBrayer

President

Brittany Townsend

Treasurer

Angel Townsend

Secretary

D’ontray Townsend

Vice President

The Role of a Nonprofit Board of Directors

The board of directors plays a critical role in the success of a nonprofit organization. The board is responsible for setting the organization’s strategic direction and ensuring that the organization has the necessary resources to achieve its goals. The board is also responsible for ensuring that the organization operates within legal and ethical guidelines.

Fiduciary Duty

We’ve talked about the fiduciary duty of nonprofit board members before, so I highly recommend you check out our full article and video on that subject.  It is such an important issue, we need to highlight it here, as well.

One of the key responsibilities of the board is to provide financial oversight. The board is responsible for approving the organization’s budget, making sure that the organization is operating within its means, and ensuring that the organization is in compliance with all financial regulations. The board is also responsible for ensuring that the organization has adequate resources to achieve its goals and for overseeing fundraising efforts.

But it’s not just oversight.  Fiduciary duty means you have to treat the organization’s assets like they are your own.  You, the nonprofit board member, are fully responsible for the management, or mismanagement, of those resources.

Overseeing Management

The board of directors is also responsible for hiring and overseeing the organization’s executive director or CEO. The board sets the CEO’s compensation, evaluates their performance, and provides guidance and support to ensure that the organization is operating effectively.  More on that below.

Legal and Ethical Concerns

Another important role of the board is to ensure that the organization operates in compliance with legal and ethical standards. The board is responsible for ensuring that the organization is complying with all laws and regulations, and for ensuring that the organization is operating ethically and with integrity.

Mission

Finally, the board of directors is responsible for ensuring that the organization is fulfilling its mission and achieving its goals. The board is responsible for setting the organization’s mission, vision, and values, and for ensuring that the organization is making progress towards achieving its goals.

Don’t Confuse Governance for Management

A key principle to highlight here is that most boards function best when they limit themselves to governance.  Governance is high level:  strategy, oversight, accountability.  By contrast, management is the day-to-day operations of a nonprofit.

Ideally, a nonprofit governance team is different from its management team, which is made up of paid or volunteer staff members. While many small nonprofits especially those in the startup phase have board members serving in management positions, the ultimate goal is to have board members separate from paid staff members as much as possible. The board of directors, as a governing body, should focus on the organization’s mission, strategy, and goals. Staff members are responsible for the implementation of the mission.

Having dual-capacity board members can sometimes lead to problems between a nonprofit mission and how it operates.  However, we have to quickly acknowledge that is not always possible in very small organizations.  I served for many years on a neighborhood homeowners association board of directors, and my fellow directors and I did pretty much everything.  Is that ideal?  No, not at all.  But sometimes it is reality in micro-sized nonprofits.

The Role of Officers

Organizations should also have Officers, typically chosen from among the board members, who are given a higher level of responsibility compared to other board members. Initial officers are elected by the board; this vote usually takes place during the organization’s first meeting. Much like board members, officers usually serve terms.

Typically, a nonprofit has three officers serving the role of President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Officer roles and their terms should be specifically defined in the organization’s bylaws.

The President.  The President heads up the board and supervises all of the business and affairs of the board. While the President can also serve as the CEO or Executive Director of the organization, keep in mind that these two roles are separate.  Returning to an earlier point, the role of President is a matter of governance, while the role of CEO/ED is management.

The Secretary.  The Secretary records and archives the minutes, or record of discussion and votes, of each meeting of the Board of Directors. Additionally, the Secretary is responsible for keeping track of the organization’s activities to make sure the actions of the organization are in accordance to the organization’s Bylaws. The Secretary is usually the officer who keeps board member’s contact information in order to inform them about upcoming meetings of the board.

The Treasurer.  The Treasurer is the officer accountable for keeping accurate accounting records of the receipts and disbursements of the organization. This person is usually a signatory on all bank accounts, though he or she shouldn’t be the only signatory.  Additionally, the Treasurer is responsible for keeping track of the organization’s financial condition. This is an important role because it keeps the other officers and board members informed about the financials.