Full Table of Contents with Chapter Descriptions for the 2026 2nd Edition

INTRODUCTION: WHY SMALL NONPROFITS NEED STRONG BOARDS

For a small or very small nonprofit, there may be nothing as important to its mission or overall success as the quality of its board. Unlike large organizations where mediocre board performance might go unnoticed, at a small nonprofit a “mildly ineffective” board usually means the entire organization is mildly ineffective—or worse. This handbook is designed specifically for board members who may have never served on a board before, providing the practical tools and big ideas needed to understand roles and responsibilities of nonprofit board service.

PART I: BOARD BASICS

Chapter 1: What Does a Board Do?

The fundamental responsibilities of a nonprofit board explained through the story of Dennis, a potential board member learning what he’s signing up for. Covers the seven core board responsibilities: ensuring mission fidelity, creating policy, ensuring financial health, fundraising, strategic planning, supervising the executive director, and managing the board’s own governance. Learn the difference between governance and management, understand fiduciary duty, and grasp why boards exist in the first place. Includes the distinction between “paper boards,” “working boards,” and “governing boards.”

Chapter 2: Board Meetings

Your first board meeting can feel like stepping into a foreign country. This chapter demystifies board meeting culture and structure: understanding agendas, making informed votes, speaking up effectively, handling disagreements professionally, and recognizing when parking lot meetings undermine the board. Learn how to prepare for meetings, what questions to ask, how to read financial reports, and why self-evaluation surveys improve board performance. Covers board packets, consent agendas, and the art of productive board discussion.

Chapter 3: Beyond Board Meetings

Moving from practical basics to bigger ideas about board service. Understand the three types of touch points with your organization (fundraising, mission delivery, and community connections), learn when to say “no” to requests that aren’t board work, and discover how to be strategic about your volunteer time. This chapter covers board giving expectations, attending organization events, and balancing your board service with the rest of your life. Special focus on how to make your board service meaningful and sustainable.

PART II: IMPROVING YOUR BOARD

Chapter 4: Building a Foundation

Essential board infrastructure that every small nonprofit needs: executive committees that smooth board workflow, standing committees (finance, governance/board development, and fundraising) that get real work done, strategic planning processes, and conflict-of-interest policies. Learn how committees should work with the board, why oral committee reports waste time, and how to create a committee structure that actually functions. Includes specific guidance on what makes finance and governance committees effective.

Chapter 5: Getting Things Done

Practical tactics for effective boards: the Board Room Play exercise for understanding organizational strengths and weaknesses, using board retreats productively, setting term limits that plan for succession without forcing anyone off early, and creating a workable board calendar. Learn how to move your board from “paper board” to “working board” to “governing board” through specific, actionable steps. Covers how to engage disengaged board members and build board culture.

Chapter 6: Recruiting Great Board Members

The complete board recruitment process: identifying skills and diversity gaps, finding candidates through your networks and beyond, conducting effective recruitment conversations, onboarding new members properly, and setting them up for success. Learn how to ask someone to join your board, what to tell prospects about expectations, and how to create a memorable first board meeting experience for new members. Includes sample recruitment materials and orientation checklists.

Chapter 7 (Special Chapter): For Executive Directors

A dedicated chapter for nonprofit staff on how to work effectively with your board. Covers managing the board president relationship (the “hinge” that the nonprofit turns on), working with committees, handling board members who overstep boundaries, preparing excellent board packets, and knowing when to push back versus when to accommodate. Learn the art of redirecting “rogue” board members back into proper board structures and how to build trust with your board president through regular check-ins.

PART III: BOARD LEADERSHIP

Chapter 7: How to Be an Officer of the Board

Guidance for board officers beyond the president: president-elect/vice president (understanding the transition role and filling in when needed), treasurer (managing the finance committee and presenting financial reports), secretary (taking effective minutes and managing board communications), and committee chairs (running productive committee meetings and bringing recommendations to the board). Each role explained with practical expectations and common pitfalls to avoid.

Chapter 8: How to Be Board President

The most comprehensive chapter on board presidency: setting meeting agendas, running effective meetings, managing board dynamics, working with the executive director, handling difficult board members, and maintaining momentum between meetings. Learn facilitation techniques, how to navigate disagreements, when to use executive session, and how to balance leadership with collaboration. Covers the president’s role in recruitment, fundraising, and representing the organization publicly.

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Boards Without Staff

Special guidance for all-volunteer organizations where board members are also doing the work of the nonprofit. How to structure responsibilities, avoid burnout, know when you’re ready to hire staff, and transition from working board to governing board as you grow. Addresses the unique challenges of boards that must both govern and operate.

Appendix B: Robert’s Rules of Order Overview

Clear, practical explanation of parliamentary procedure for nonprofits. When to use Robert’s Rules, how to make motions, what “second” means, handling amendments, and maintaining order without being overly formal. Includes the most common motions and what they accomplish, plus guidance on when strict parliamentary procedure helps versus when it gets in the way.

Key Topics Covered

• Board Fundamentals: Seven core board responsibilities, fiduciary duty and legal obligations, governance vs. management distinction, individual vs. collective responsibility, board member qualifications and diversity, “paper” vs. “working” vs. “governing” boards, building and maintaining board culture
• Board Meetings & Structure: Preparing for and participating in meetings, reading and understanding financial reports, making informed votes, managing conflict and disagreement, consent agendas and board packets, executive sessions and when to use them, meeting facilitation techniques, board meeting self-evaluation
• Board Committees: Executive committee structure and function, finance committee deep-dives, governance/board development committee work, fundraising committee coordination, committee reporting without wasting time, bringing recommendations vs. just discussing, committee charters and clear responsibilities, ad hoc vs. standing committees
• Board Development & Recruitment: Skills assessment and gap analysis, diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruitment, finding board candidates beyond your usual networks, the recruitment conversation, setting clear expectations with prospects, onboarding new board members, board orientation best practices, building a board pipeline
• Board Leadership: President/chair responsibilities, running effective board meetings, agenda setting and annual calendars, managing board dynamics and personalities, president-elect/vice president transitions, treasurer and financial oversight, secretary and minutes-taking, committee chair effectiveness
• Organizational Strategy: Strategic planning process and board role, annual board calendars and workflow, board retreats that actually accomplish something, the Board Room Play strategic framework, term limits and board succession planning, moving boards through developmental stages
• Working with Staff: Executive director supervision, ED evaluation processes, the board president-ED relationship as organizational hinge, setting boundaries with individual board members, supporting (not micromanaging) staff, knowing when to intervene vs. trust the ED
• Board Policies & Governance: Conflict-of-interest policies, term limit policies, board member agreements/MOUs, committee charters, financial policies and reserves, document retention policies
• Special Situations: Boards without staff (all-volunteer), part-time vs. full-time executive directors, board transitions and presidential succession, difficult board members, when and how to ask board members to step down

Specific Problems This Book Solves

For New Board Members

• “I just joined a board—what am I supposed to do?”
• “I’ve never been on a board before and don’t know what to expect”
• “What questions should I ask at board meetings?”
• “How do I prepare for my first meeting?”
• “Is it normal for the board to feel this dysfunctional?”
• “Am I supposed to volunteer for the organization too, or just come to meetings?”

For Experienced Board Members

• “How do I move our board from just rubber-stamping to actually governing?”
• “Our meetings run three hours and accomplish nothing—how do we fix this?”
• “We have the same five people doing all the work while others coast”
• “How do I get my fellow board members to take this more seriously?”
• “Should I step up to be board president, and what would that mean?”
• “We need new board members but don’t know how to recruit”

For Board Presidents/Chairs

• “How do I run an effective board meeting?”
• “What’s my role versus the executive director’s role?”
• “How do I handle a difficult board member?”
• “Our board doesn’t have any structure—where do I start?”
• “How do I get the board to stop micromanaging staff?”
• “What belongs on the board agenda versus what doesn’t?”

For Executive Directors

• “My board won’t make decisions—they just defer everything to me”
• “How do I get my board more engaged?”
• “Individual board members keep giving me assignments like they’re my boss”
• “My board president and I don’t see eye to eye—how do I navigate this?”
• “Should my board have committees, and if so, which ones?”
• “How do I prepare board materials that actually get read?”

For Nonprofit Organizations

• “We’re all volunteers—is our board structure even necessary?”
• “We’re hiring our first staff member—how should the board change?”
• “We need term limits but don’t want to lose our best board members”
• “Our board meetings waste everyone’s time”
• “How do we build a board pipeline so we always have good candidates?”
• “We need more diversity on our board but don’t know where to start”

For Potential Board Members Considering Service

• “Is this board right for me?”
• “What’s the time commitment really like?”
• “What will I be expected to do besides attend meetings?”
• “Do I have to fundraise, and if so, how much?”
• “What if I don’t know anything about finance or nonprofits?”
• “How do I know if this organization is well-run before I commit?”