Pro Bono Board Development Resource

After eight years, we finally had a successful board recruitment process last year. We had recruited great board members before, but the process was often confusing and painful.

A significant part of last year’s recruitment success was due to the leadership of the chair of the committee, but the success was also the result of applying basic HR recruitment practices to the process.

The result was dramatic.

We went from having a 2:1 ratio of candidates to elected members to having a 20:1 ratio and a more diverse pool of experience and background than ever before. We went from a process where existing members were afraid to make nominations given the lack of clear process and communication to a process where board members were pulling out the stops to nominate candidates. Finally, we developed a process where new members felt like it was a real honor to be selected to the board.

We were so inspired by this success that we decided to add a pro bono Board Recruitment Service Grant to our Leadership Development and Strategic HR Service Grant Practice launching this fall across our six cities.

We believe that nonprofits will greatly increase their recruitment effectiveness by having teams of seasoned HR professionals help them design robust and intentional processes.

Building and managing a board is one of the hardest parts of being the leader of a nonprofit.

We hope this new Service Grant will help make it a little easier. I know it did for the Taproot Foundation.

If you are a nonprofit leader or board member interested in this new pro bono board recruitment program, be sure to check here for more details.