Picture this:
You get hired at a company with little knowledge of what your job will entail. You love the organization and have enough expertise in certain areas that the people in charge thought you’d add value, but you’re a little confused about the specifics.
Your vague, generic title doesn’t help much, and you don’t know anyone in the office to ask for clarity or feel welcomed.
The only thing you do know is that you’re one of the few people in charge of overseeing the whole organization, and you are legally responsible for upholding its values and stewarding it well.
You might be able to work out the kinks over time, but it’d be pretty hard to hit the ground running, right?
Unfortunately, it can feel like this for the new directors added to your board if they don’t have a thorough onboarding process.
We want to help you avoid this kind of confusion, so we’ve created a set of best practices for onboarding nonprofit board members.
An Orientation Overview
All successful onboarding starts with a thorough orientation.
The orientation process should introduce your new board member to their basic roles, responsibilities, and policies while also giving them a deeper knowledge of your nonprofit’s mission and vision.
The trickiest part of the orientation is ensuring that everything gets covered, especially in a world where most meetings happen virtually.
Boardsource has a helpful checklist that helps you stay on track as it highlights key areas like the nonprofit’s programs, organizational history, and strategic direction.
You’ll want to include a comprehensive review of your nonprofit’s strategic plan. This overview will help lay a strong foundation for the new board member and give them an idea of where your organization is headed.
In addition to these high-level concepts, the checklist also suggests covering:
Finances
Organizational structure
Board roles/individual board member responsibilities
Board operations
The checklist helps ensure that you don’t miss any major steps during the initial orientation, but you should also feel comfortable adapting it to fit the specific needs of your nonprofit.
A board member’s role description tailored to your nonprofit’s board can also help bring immediate clarity to the position. Here’s an example from Boardsource that outlines both the role of the board as a whole and specific board members.
The Council of Nonprofits also advises organizations to “include any expectations about personal giving/fundraising efforts” in the role description to ensure those expectations don’t slip through the cracks. Beyond that, they also suggest covering:
Special issue(s) that are specific to your nonprofit's vision and mission
Governance policies
Accountability practices
The responsibility to evaluate the performance and compensation of the executive director
Steps to Take Before the First Boarding Meeting
A thorough orientation kicks off the onboarding process, but it’s not like everything just falls into place right after that.
You can take additional steps to orient new members before the first meeting to help ease the transition and set the board up for success.
Send a Welcome Announcement to Supporters
Boardable recommends welcoming the new member into the organization publicly via a newsletter, social media post, or changes on the website. Doing this serves two purposes:
Shows the board member that you are excited to have them on your team
Gives donors and supporters a chance to stay up-to-date about the organization
Schedule a Visit or a Get-Together with Other Board Members
Board members work closely with one another, and relational dynamics play a big role in developing your board’s culture. That culture will ultimately influence how each person works with the other and how effective your board is.
Hosting an event for your new director to meet and engage with existing board members and key staff can help foster the relationships in a more neutral environment than the first board meeting.
You can get two birds with one stone by hosting the get-together at your nonprofit’s main facility, if that’s possible. By doing so, you have a chance to show the new member around your physical space while also introducing them to other people.
It may not be feasible to get together in person in today's world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get together. Virtual hangouts or introductions can still make your new member feel comfortable and welcomed at your organization.
Get Their Tech Set Up
As the digital world expands into the nonprofit sphere, more organizations have begun to use tech solutions to help manage their marketing, teams, donors, finances, and other administrative needs.
These tools help the day-to-day operations run more smoothly, but they require a bit of legwork at the beginning. Ensure that your new board member has access to whatever software solutions they need for success early on.
A crucial element is getting them added to the appropriate email lists. Doing this will ensure they receive important communication from the organization, helping them stay connected with what’s going on between board meetings.
Assign a Board Buddy
Have you ever been invited to something and checked the guestlist for someone you know before committing to go?
We do that because we don’t like to show up to places feeling like we don’t belong. A nonprofit board is no different, even when the meetings happen over zoom.
Your new board members may not speak up or contribute much if they feel uncomfortable. Even those that have experience in other areas may struggle to find their stride with your organization at the beginning.
Assigning a board buddy, or mentor, who has more experience around the nonprofit can help the new director settle in. Boardable recommends that a new board buddy:
Have one-on-one meetings with the new board member
Connect before the first few meetings
Have follow-up conversations after the first few meetings to clarify any points or answer questions
Encourage Board Chair Follow-Ups
Board buddies aren’t the only ones who get to follow-up with the new members. The Council of Nonprofits suggests that your board chair talk with your new member after they agree to serve but before the first meeting.
This communication helps clarify any missing pieces to your new director and can also “set the stage for positive communication and a productive relationship with the board chair.”
Ongoing Learning and Development Until Offboarding Begins
Successful onboarding comes down to getting your new board members comfortable with your organization so they can excel in their roles.
But it’s not like there’s some wall we cross over, and a person magically “gets it.” Board members can constantly grow and improve their knowledge about the nonprofit sphere, especially if they don’t have a ton of experience before serving.
Most come in with a passion for the cause or love for the organization but may have little knowledge about the ins and outs of running a nonprofit.
You can help educate your board by offering additional resources or pointing them to learning and development opportunities like conferences, seminars, or webinars. The more they know, the more they can help your nonprofit flourish. Boardsource puts it like this:
“Continuous — and collective — learning opportunities will help deepen your board members’ understanding of their roles and responsibilities and of your organization and the environment in which it operates, which, in turn, will increase their effectiveness and value to your organization.”
The ongoing learning will help keep your board members engaged and active with best practices until their time with the organization ends. When that time comes, you can check out our article on offboarding directors.
The Ultimate Benefit of a Thorough Onboarding Process
The more success your board has, the better off your nonprofit will be. Getting a new board member started with a thorough onboarding process can help jumpstart that success.
Yes, it takes time up front to develop your onboarding process. Just like with strategic planning, once you have the process dialed in, you will be able to use the framework to establish a great starting point for any member of your team.