Written by Allison Howe

You joined the board because you believe heartily in the mission of your nonprofit. But it is getting harder and harder to get to those meetings. Too many responsibilities with the kids. Or the elderly parents. Or work.  Also, there are so many meetings and you think, “What am I really contributing?”  Perhaps you have nothing new to say after serving 20 years on a board with no term limits and the other board members do not want to hear, “We tried that already.”  Maybe you are a founder and find others are getting frustrated balancing your feelings with what needs to happen to move the organization forward.

It is often difficult to acknowledge that maybe you are no longer a good

Written by Allison Howe

Board meetings are a necessary part of getting nonprofit work done.  Many board members and Executive Director/CEOs will tell you getting board members to attend, and keep their cameras on, can be a huge feat. How do you go from boring to engaging board meetings?

Whatever role you are in,NonProfitConnect has some suggestions for adding a little life to a bland board meeting:

• Try to meet in person, at least some of the time
  • Yes, we have many busy people on boards and yes, it is so much easier just to get on a zoom call. However, not only do you miss out on developing relationships that lead to the board building trust, but remote meetings make it too easy for people to not be present.  If
    

Written by Allison Howe

Is this you? You show up to a board committee meeting and you are the only one? Or, at your organization’s event, you are the only board member in attendance?

Are you thinking to yourself…What is happening?

People are too busy?

Maybe the other board members just don’t understand their role?

Or maybe, no one asked them to come?

Whether you are the Board Chair, the Executive Director/CEO or that person on the board who does 90% of what gets done, you have a lot on your shoulders. How can you spark excitement and engagement from the other board members?

Over the years, at NonProfit Connect, we have honed in on some strategies to better engage board members,