Board Retreat Facilitator / Leadership Coaching

Heroic Gardens is seeking an experienced volunteer facilitator to lead a focused Board of Directors retreat that will help guide our organization into its next stage of growth and governance maturity.

This is an ideal opportunity for a professional with experience in nonprofit governance, board development, executive coaching, or leadership facilitation who wants to make a meaningful contribution to a mission-driven organization supporting Veterans, caregivers, and community healing through nature.

Heroic Gardens has grown rapidly in impact, visibility, and partnerships. We are now at a pivotal moment where strong governance, clarity of roles, and board alignment are essential.
The retreat will be a working, strategic session designed to help our board:
Finalize and align on updated bylaws
Identify board strengths and gaps
Define the skills, lived experience, and perspectives needed in future board members
Establish shared expectations around governance, fundraising, and leadership
This is not a lecture—it’s an interactive, facilitated conversation that results in clear decisions and next steps.
What You’ll Do
Design and facilitate a half-day (or full-day) board retreat
Guide productive discussion around:
Governance best practices
Board roles, responsibilities, and accountability, current board gap analysis to help us determine the appropriate board personas/roles that belong on our board
Board composition, recruitment priorities, and succession planning
Help the board reach consensus and clarity, not just conversation
Provide light pre-work and a brief post-retreat summary or recommendations (optional but welcome)
Who We’re Looking For
Experience facilitating groups/ leadership training
Understanding of nonprofit governance (vs operational board roles)
Skilled at managing group dynamics, power balance, and productive decision-making
Comfortable working with founders, Veterans, and mission-driven leaders
Able to be both warm and directive when needed

Sharing pain points and goals of the retreat
Sharing draft strategic plan and all documentation previously created by consultants
Setting expectation with the board about the role prior to the meeting
Provide Current bylaws (with known pain points flagged)
Board roster + committee structure
Strategic priorities for the next 12–24 months
Any prior board self-assessments (if available)
Founder note: “What keeps me up at night”
Provide: Power dynamics or history they should be aware of
Who tends to dominate vs. stay quiet
Where there may be resistance (e.g., fundraising expectations)
Any sensitive founder–board intersections