Category: Board Development

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Board service is often an unseen and thankless job, and the problem of getting trustees more engaged and involved is part of the larger issue of “organizational culture-shift.” Because listening to reports makes people passive, it is no surprise that board members tend not to speak up. Open-ended questions stimulate conversation. Consider shaking things up by having meetings where there are no reports but only an agenda with good questions. This is what a colleague of mine, Thomas A. McLaughlin, author of “Nonprofit Mergers and Alliances: A Strategic Planning Guide,” calls a shift from a

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Do you have a New Year Retreat coming up soon?  Unfortunately, many attendees leave retreats feeling that their time was not well used and that the retreat did not work. That’s terrible. Experienced facilitation can solve that issue. More about that further on. Here are the most common types of retreats: Board Retreats involve an organization’s directors and executive staff, and should focus on development of governance mandates and initiatives. Executive Staff Retreats give EDs the opportunity to catalyze discussion among senior   officers on objectives for the organization. Staff and Board Retreats are broader,

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Have you ever had a board member suggest to the whole board that they each chip in a set amount? Did you cringe knowing that some are capable of giving more than others? The board member might say, “Let’s each pledge $10,000!” But you know that there are board members who could give $25,000! What did you do? This has happened to me many times in my fundraising career. The first time I didn’t respond but instead met with each board member privately. Yet most of the high-level givers still made the smaller gift. I