What We Learned from Our Recent Community Conversations

Community Conversations March 2025

BoardSource recently hosted a Community Conversations event in Washington D.C. with leaders who serve on nonprofit boards. During the conversations, we heard what’s working well and what challenges are top of mind for these leaders. We imagine some of these issues are not unique to these leaders and wonder how many other boards are also grappling with these same issues. We’ve highlighted five top challenges and provided curated resources to help address these issues.

Meeting the Moment

Given the current political climate and impacts to nonprofit organizations, leaders are encouraged to consider questions and options that advance the organization’s mission and collective purpose. Purpose-Driven Board Leadership offers a framework that boards can use to lead to improved outcomes.

Understanding Board Roles and Responsibilities

One common challenge boards face is not fully understanding their roles and responsibilities. A solid understanding of board roles and responsibilities is critical for effective governance. During our recent event, board members highlighted the importance of clearly defined roles to avoid overlap and confusion. Ensuring that each member knows their specific duties helps to streamline decision-making processes and enhances overall board efficiency.

Develop the right board for your organization. Check out our popular resources on Roles & Responsibilities:

Strengthening Board-Staff Partnerships

The partnership between the board and staff is integral to the success of any nonprofit. Even more critical is the board chair and chief executive partnership. Our event underscored the importance of building strong, trust-based relationships between these two groups.

Recruiting Your Board

Board recruitment comes up as a recurring theme and not surprising. Having an intentional board recruitment process will yield some of the best results to further your organization’s work and impact. Ensuring those serving on the board reflects the communities served is aligned with the Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (PDBL) framework. Additionally, retaining and developing the right set of board members for your organization is critical to its long-term success.

Engaging Your Board in Fundraising

Building a culture of philanthropy is critical to financial sustainability of the organization. For organizations that raise contributed income, securing the resources for the organization is one of the responsibilities of the board. Yet, it is consistently reported as the responsibility board members are the least comfortable with. With pending cuts to government funding, securing the resources of an organization is more important than ever.

Inviting Feedback: Share Your Governance Challenges

We understand that each nonprofit faces unique challenges in governance. We invite you to share what areas you or your organization may need support. By opening a dialogue, we can collectively find solutions and share learnings that benefit the entire nonprofit sector. Please complete this short form to share your experiences with us. Together, we can build stronger and more effective boards.