Recruit Board Members | BoardSource

Elected Board members of the German Pirate Party (Piratenpartei) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Elected Board members of the German Pirate Party (Piratenpartei) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nothing is more important to the health and sustainability of your organization than getting highly qualified and enthusiastic people to serve on your board. But many organizations struggle to identify the right leaders.

• Over half, 58%, of nonprofit leaders report that it is difficult to recruit new members. (2012 BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index)
• Only 73% of chief executives state that they have the right board members to effectively govern their organizations. Leading with Intent 2015: A National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices

Why is board recruitment so important…and so challenging? Because the job of building a board is about more than just filling slots. It is about finding leaders who have skill sets and perspectives that align with your organization’s strategies, goals, and needs — not just now, but into the future. And it’s not just about recruiting one great individual; it’s about having the right blend of skill sets, expertise, community connections, and diverse perspectives and spheres of influence across the board as a whole — which takes some discipline and planning to determine.

Our Recruiting a Stronger Board Toolkit has everything you need to recruit board members. In addition, view our free webinar below for background on how to strategically recruit board members.

Recruit Board Members | BoardSource

Joining Boards: It’s Not Just Who You Know That Matters

For many, a corporate directorship is a career capstone. But attaining one is far from easy. No one can say for sure how to get on a corporate board, but many people point to two routes: the first is to break into the “right” network and the second is to seek a progression of board seats that begins with, for example, a seat on a not-for-profit or community board and eventually results in appointment to a corporate board.

Both paths are problematic — neither is particularly transparent or relies on objective measures and given that many boards are stubborn bastions of white masculinity, pursuing the “right” network can be fraught, especially for women and other diverse candidates. Indeed, our research reinforces that concern: many boards still rely on their own (mostly white, mostly male) networks to fill seats.

There’s a different way — one that is more measurable, controllable and offers greater transparency. It starts with a focus on skills. Although many boards continue to select new members from their own networks, our research suggests that more are beginning to implement objective processes to select members based on the skills and attributes that boards need to be effective. Our 2012 survey, in partnership with WomenCorporateDirectors and Heidrick & Struggles, of more than 1,000 corporate directors across the globe, found that 48% of the boards had a formal process of determining the combination of skills and attributes required for their board and, therefore, for new directors.

Joining Boards: It’s Not Just Who You Know That Matters

Boardroom Advisory Services

Fee based consulting services for emerging technology for profit and nonprofit start up advisory and directorial boards. Veteran entrepreneur Stephen G. Barr with the mission to assist emerging technology start ups from conception through IPO, merger or sale by serving, guiding, advising and governing their advisory & director's boards on a fee based consulting basis with a focus on current best practices, ethics and prudent leadership principles. Services Include but not Limited to; * Board Formation and Staffing * Mission Development * Seed Funding Acquisition * Board Administration & Governance * Investor Reporting * Procedural Implementation * External Reporting and Compliance * Media and Public Relations * IPO, Merger or Sale Negotiations Expert Market Study and Business plan preparation, review and evaluations. Founded, built and ran multiple corporations in the <$1M annual revenue and 1-5 employees on bootstrap seed capital. Founder & CEO of a regional consulting firm and served on the board of directors of several other, larger corporations in California, New York, Arizona, Delaware & Nevada acquired by a national, Fortune 500 corporation in 1996. Actively seeking compensated board appointments on the Advisory Boards of emerging technology start ups, NPO's, progressive political PACs, fine arts and ecological lobby groups and open to other market segments as well. Pro Bono appointments considered for those initiatives closest to Mr. Barr's personal moral imperatives.