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| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Research Articles : Feature Article |
Mixing it up in boardroom - Exploring the value of board diversity
By Abigail Brown
May 1, 2006
Having an effective board of directors is as much a part of a nonprofit organization's success as it is for a corporate organization. Board directors help to shape organizational goals and objectives. They keep the organization accountable to its members and supporters. More than just 'figureheads', board members are often key decision-makers regarding policy, management, operations and other governance issues affecting an organization.
Naturally, the role of board director requires a certain level of experience. During board recruitment, nonprofit organizations usually seek people who are prominent in their communities or field of work. They typically seek candidates with business or management experience, and also those who can provide legal, accounting, fundraising, or marketing expertise.
While it is important for nonprofits to attract candidates with favourable connections, influence, and work experience in the business sector (and let's not forget those with the ability and willingness to support the organization through donations), it's also important to consider candidates from the perspective of diversity.
Whenever your organization is seeking board members, be wary of a too-narrow selection process. A prominent CEO of a local business may be a great candidate for your board, but consider how a teacher at a local school can contribute to the board as well. A diverse list of candidates will include people with different skill-sets and educational or career backgrounds. Depending on your cause and the communities served by your organization, the list might also include candidates of diverse ethnicities, languages, sexual orientations, or age groups. Actively recruiting and engaging diverse and experienced candidates for board membership is how organizations cultivate board diversity.
Creative Tension: An important value-add of board diversity
"Board diversity helps to minimize blind spots. It also creates good debate and creative tension in organizations," says Michelle Martinez, program director with Altruvest Charitable Services.Altruvest provides skills development and governance training to boards and senior teams of Canadian charities. Through its BoardMatch Fundamentals program, Altruvest helps to match talented and enthusiastic individuals with charitable organizations seeking board members and other volunteers. The program has placed over 1,200 volunteers on the boards of some 400 charities to date.
Some healthy debate in the boardroom and 'creative tension' can strengthen your board because it introduces and helps to address different perspectives on an issue. It ensures that any new policies or decisions that need to be made have been carefully considered, and from a number of different angles.
Of course, there is a flip-side to the creative tension that can come from diverse boards. Inevitably, directors are going to disagree on some of the issues. But even that is essential for healthy discussion. "It just needs to be properly managed. Diverse boards should ensure that they have good conflict resolution strategies in place for any disagreements. Your organization needs to determine who has final say or whether consensus will be achieved through a democratic vote or other process," advises Martinez.
Think it through and make a commitment
Cultivating and maintaining board diversity is about commitment too. That commitment begins with some introspective inventory of your organization, says Martinez. "Focus on what's important for your organization. Explicitly discuss diversity and what it means within your organization."Martinez suggests one way to make diversity an integral part of your organization is to develop a policy about recruitment strategies and diversity for board and other staff positions in your organization. "Make inclusivity a part of your organization, a commitment to a way of being."
Diversity in action: Serve Canada
Serve Canada engages Canadian youth in positive ways through life skills training, experiential learning programs, after-school and summer activities, and other workshops for personal development. Issues addressed through these programs include violence, poverty, homelessness, and healthy relationships. Giving back to the community is a strong program component.This nonprofit organization has made diversity an integral part of its governance for the ultimate benefit of its clients. "As a board, we felt it was important, so we developed a diversity policy for our organization," shares Jen-Lenard Bensons, board member and chair of the board's governance and board development committee.
After a recent recruitment campaign, the current - and fully diverse - board consists of 14 members, including one youth representative (who is over the age of 18). Bensons says Serve Canada's recruitment strategy was explicitly inclusive regarding gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, and diverse skill-sets.
The current board seems to reflect that strategy of diversity. "We wanted the board to reflect the diverse client base and communities that access our services. Now our youth know that the people making the decisions 'at the top' know and understand who they are and their experiences," says Bensons. Serve Canada used a number of resources to find board members, including networking with 150 of its community partners, including hospitals, schools, and city councillors, and leveraging relationships with other youth connected to the organization.
All organizations can be inclusive and strategic in their recruitment strategies. "Define the variables. Look around and observe who is connected to your organization. Figure out who you're trying to recruit. It's really about reaching out and not expecting people to come to you," Bensons advises. "During our recruitment, we found that there are really so many experienced and qualified candidates of extraordinary calibre and backgrounds out there."
Where to start looking
Canadian nonprofit organizations looking to enhance their boards through talent and diversity can try visiting the following sites:
www.charityvillage.com
www.altruvest.org
www.boardmatch.orgIf your organization is in Toronto, you can visit www.abcgta.ca. ABCGTA is a new initiative by the Maytree Foundation that facilitates the placement of visible minorities with specific experience and skill sets within governance positions on agencies, boards, and commissions. Candidates' profiles and governance positions are posted on the site regularly to help volunteers and organizations find a suitable match.
***Don't forget to post board positions in your local ethnic newspapers or targeted consumer publications (for example a local magazine for youth, a school board's staff newsletter, or a gay and lesbian magazine distributed in your city). Often the people you want to attract are avid readers of these publications.
Abigail Brown, B.A., has a self-described passion for helping those in need through charity. She is also concerned with telling the important human stories behind the work that charities do. She has worked in several communications and fundraising roles for both corporate and nonprofit organizations, including John Wiley and Sons Publishing, United Way of Greater Toronto, and Youth Without Shelter. She resides in Toronto.
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