When working last month with a founding Executive Director client who had a need to expand and diversify her organization’s board of directors, she conveyed to me that they felt a bit stuck. While they had a wonderful board that had served the organization well for many years, she shared (with a laugh), “we’re out of ideas!”
The thought of seeking out and vetting new board members felt to her like a daunting task. She knew that she wanted to get outside of their current circle of friends and contacts to bring in people with new experiences and perspectives, but she had no idea where to start. Fortunately, we knew that BoardBuild would be the perfect place to begin!
Within a day, I had created an online account on the BoardBuild site for her organization that would allow us to then create a post advertising open board positions. Within that posting, we were able to detail what skills an ideal candidate would bring to the table (event planning, financial expertise), as well as details about the mission of the organization (child abuse prevention, advocacy). With the click of a button, the site generated a list of candidates that would be a great fit. And these were not just names on a screen, these were professionals who had already completed BoardBuild’s excellent governance certification, so they were oriented and ready to jump right into the work at hand. Additionally, the site’s matching process pulled candidates who indicated they had a passion for the key elements of the organization’s mission and were experienced in the specific skills we were seeking. A perfect match–and not unlike an online dating site!
One of the greatest things about the BoardBuild platform though is its ease of use and real-time responsiveness. During the process, we had a few conversations along the lines of “Maybe the financial expertise isn’t as important as we originally thought. Let’s eliminate those criteria while adding marketing as a preferred skill since we have that new website coming online next year.” We discovered that it was possible to go back to the posting and tweak the search terms any time. Doing so was as easy as checking boxes on their website, hitting save, and we instantly had access to a modified list of candidates to contact.
Board recruitment, training, and governance can be challenging for any size organization, and can be especially so for small or new organizations but finding a great board of directors to guide your mission is crucial. We are fortunate to have a local resource like BoardBuild to help identify and develop these precious volunteer resources. Let’s all take full advantage!