These Six Steps Help Keep Nonprofit Boards Accountable

Accountability is central to nonprofit board service. After all, boards are accountable to the organization’s constituencies; boards are accountable for complying with governmental regulations; and boards are responsible for holding the CEO/executive director accountable.

But beyond that, your board also has a primary responsibility for holding itself accountable. It is the accountable and liable body for the organization, which means the board takes responsibility to make sure the organization follows the laws, behaves in an ethical manner, and ensures the necessary resources are in place to support the mission of the nonprofit.

When board accountability is lax, members may fail to energetically fulfill essential responsibilities, and this can really hamper your nonprofit’s sustainability and growth. Board members may not fully participate in fundraising efforts; they may not actively support events; they may not effectively fulfill the role of a fiduciary; or, over time, they may fall into a pattern of overall disengagement.

In this post, I’ll be sharing six steps to build a culture of accountability, the foundation for a strong and vital organization.

Take Steps to Strengthen Accountability

In my experience, these six steps create a pathway toward board accountability that will motivate and engage your board members and strengthen your organization.

Step #1: Establish and maintain a board governance committee with clear responsibilities (some nonprofits choose to call it a board development committee, but the functions are essentially the same).
A board governance/board development committee sets the pace, creates systems to wire in accountability, and ensures that the rules established for board members are followed, including ensuring that all nonprofit funds are accounted for in a transparent and compliant manner. For these reasons, it’s critical the individuals your nonprofit selects for this committee are outstanding role models for other board members to follow. 

A board governance/board development committee also ensures you have a pipeline of strong board candidates, giving you the ability to replace board members who can no longer offer full commitment and to gradually add expertise and skillsets that will create a very high-functioning board. The committee will:

  • Maintain and monitor the effectiveness of the board governance structure

  • Identify and nurture leadership candidates at all levels 

  • Maintain an active board prospect pipeline according to the skills/expertise needed

  • Identify volunteer non-board members for committee membership

  • Meet with prospective board members and recommend candidates to the board

  • Recommend a slate of officers and board members to the board annually

  • Effectively onboard new board members

Step #2: Write a comprehensive position description for board members and have it signed annually.
Transparency and accountability start by clearly delineating your board members’ roles and responsibilities in a position description and sharing it with prospective candidates BEFORE they agree to come onto the board. Position descriptions should always include a signature line, indicating that the board member agrees to the position requirements. Consider reviewing your position description each year (perhaps at the same time you renew your board conflict-of-interest statements and other board documents). This will keep those roles and responsibilities top-of-mind.

Step #3: Define board member fundraising responsibilities. Be clear and use a board pledge.
Every single member of your board can and should be playing a vital role in your fundraising efforts. To proactively support board accountability in this area, you will need to:

  • Establish realistic expectations for fundraising

  • Educate your board development committee about fundraising roles

  • Openly discuss fundraising responsibilities in board recruitment

  • Ensure your board job description includes fundraising responsibilities 

  • Provide a mechanism to record and monitor board member fundraising so you can assess performance 

A board fundraising pledge might look something like this: 

 

Step #4: Use board terms to create regular opportunities to evaluate board member effectiveness. Be sure to include a self-evaluation.
Most of the time, people don’t consider board terms a part of accountability. However, as board members approach the end of a 2- or 3-year term, it provides a natural opportunity for the board development committee to evaluate the board member’s engagement level. Making a self-evaluation part of the process sometimes helps individuals make the decision to stay and renew their term, or to leave the board for another role within the organization that’s a better fit.

Step #5: Clear processes and procedures help ensure fiscal responsibility.
I would be remiss to not mention fiscal responsibility when discussing board accountability. Each board member has a responsibility to ensure, to the best of their ability, that all funds are handled and accounted for in a transparent and compliant manner. The includes activities of the staff and any outsourced vendor such as a bookkeeper. The best way to ensure financial accountability is to develop policies for handling funds within the organization and a process by which all financial business is carried out. Since each board member is fiscally responsible (part of the reason you have Directors and Officers Insurance) it behooves them to make sure these policies and procedures are in place and reviewed on a regular basis.

Step #6: Be comfortable saying “thank you for your service” to those who are not delivering.
The simple process of having to renew a term will often provide a board member, struggling with the responsibilities of board membership, the right moment to step away in good standing. You gratefully thank them for their service. If an under-performing board member doesn’t volunteer to step down, the board development committee must step up and acknowledge that renewing another term of a particular board member would not be in the best interest of the board member or the organization. There simply isn’t an offer made to renew the term. You gratefully thank them for their service.

Live by the three C’s: Clarity, Commitment and COURAGE

By working steps 1-6, you are establishing well-defined and understood responsibilities (clarity), ensuring everyone on the board is dedicated to fulfilling those responsibilities (commitment) and exhibiting the fortitude (courage!) to make hard decisions, adhere to nonprofit best practices, find the right solutions and, when necessary, move on from volunteers who aren’t fulfilling their obligations.


The More Than Giving Company helps nonprofits develop high-performing boards. Whether you need assistance with designing a board recruitment and onboarding process, developing an effective board pledge, or creating a strong fiscal process,  we can help. Learn more by scheduling a free 30-minute consultation with Vicki.

Vicki Burkhart