Shared leadership between nonprofit board members and the chief executive is a commonly invisible issue or at least widely misunderstood. Who leads the charge when it comes to strategic planning? Fundraising? Operations?

Why don’t more nonprofits use online investing tools? Sharon Liebowitz has some ideas. Share yours in the comments.

Over the last few weeks, I was honored to speak at two financial technology conferences in New York. It was great to hear insights and trends from fellow industry leaders and...

How often have you heard about frustration with nonprofit board members not being as engaged as they should be?

Perhaps you have experienced this trying situation yourself.

It’s a common complaint and it’s voiced by nonprofit staff and board members alike. Engagement expectations that can range...

Simone Joyaux is coming for you! She feels strongly about executive committees. Do you agree with her arguments? Read on and weigh in. And then take a look at BoardSource’s recommended governance practice pertaining to executive committees that we present below.

New and diverse perspectives matter—everyone knows that. What isn’t as clear is how to translate intent to incorporate new and diverse perspectives into a strategy for better decision making at the board level. In follow-up to a previous blog post I wrote about the importance of age diversity on...

Succession plans do for nonprofits what wills or testaments do for us as individuals — they help us plan for our future. As a CEO, when you engage in succession planning, you’re thinking ahead to everything your successor and others will need to know and do to carry on the good work your...

I live in a community where we know each other by name, use Twitter to help each other's locate lost pets, and shovel each other’s sidewalks after storms. I feel blessed to have such a close-knit environment while still living in a large, often impersonal city like DC. I am passionate about my...

Board meetings tend to remind me of sitcoms: a genre of comedy centered on characters who share a common environment, such as a home, workplace, or a boardroom, with laughable moments. There is usually a board member who lacks self-awareness (i.e. Kramer from Seinfeld), someone who has a very high...

The board meeting was only at the 30-minute mark, but eyes were already starting to droop. The AC was out, and the small fans whirred in the background like a white noise machine. Prior to the meeting, board members were treated to a 4-course lunch, and the rich food was adding to the sleepiness....

As both a mom and a consultant in the nonprofit sector, I often wonder what my world looks like to my two young children, who currently understand very little about what “mommy does.” What, for example, might they conclude about board culture if they were to venture with me into a nonprofit...