You and Your Nonprofit Board: Advice and Practical Tips from the Field's Top Practitioners, Researchers, and Provocateurs

Terrie Temkin guides a star-studded cast of collaborators in creating a board volume that delivers the wisdom of the nonprofit world's leading practitioners, researchers, and provocateurs. This easily-digestible book is a must for board directors and anyone who is interested in effective nonprofit leadership. The focused, short-essay format makes it easy for the reader to absorb the authors' thinking on a variety of topics: some traditional—such as board member roles and responsibilities, recruitment, meeting management, and evaluation—and others not so much. For instance, you'll find articles on coaching for directors, the value of conversation, and several new structures for governance.

YOU and Your Nonprofit Board: Advice and Practical Tips from the Field’s Top Practitioners, Researchers, and Provocateurs is a book of how, not what. Eschewing a single perspective of governance, it is suggestive, not prescriptive. And it invites you to be part of the dialogue. It is the first governance book of its kind to:

• Reexamine nonprofit governance at its essence
• Challenge dogma about the board versus chief executive roles
• Let YOU decide if you still agree with the old thinking on governance
• Take aim at myths about governance that hold organizations back
• Provide practical, in-the-trenches advice and tips you can use NOW

Whether you are new to the field or have been immersed in it for years, you will find new ideas to help you navigate today's fast-paced, information-saturated reality in which wise practice is rapidly evolving.

About the Editor

Terrie Temkin, PhD, is widely considered by her peers to be a preeminent thought leader in the field of governance. She is a founding principal of the international consulting firm CoreStrategies for Nonprofits Inc. and is a cocreator of the new governance framework, Community-Engagement Governance™, discussed in this book. A prolific writer, Terrie’s work can be found throughout the world in books, journals, blogs, and her popular column, “On Nonprofits.” Terrie also teaches nonprofit governance at Florida Atlantic University.

About the CharityChannel Press In the Trenches™ Series

You’ll know an In the Trenches book not just by its cover, but by the authors' fun, upbeat writing style. But don’t be fooled by its down-to-earth approach and ample use of sidebars. In the Trenches books are authoritative and cover what a beginner should know to get started and progress rapidly, and what a more experienced nonprofit-sector practitioner needs to move forward in the subject.

There are some excellent books already on the market that cover the gamut of roles and responsibilities, recruitment, running meetings, evaluation, and more. Editor Terrie Temkin didn’t want to compete with them. Instead, Temkin guided a star-studded cast of collaborators into a smart book plan, creating a board volume that delivers the dearly bought wisdom of the nation’s leading practitioners, researchers, and provacateurs in ready bites of insight. Read these in short blasts, and you’ve absorbed centuries of wisdom. This book is a must for board geeks, board members, and top leadership.

You and Your Nonprofit Board: Advice and Practical Tips from the Field’s Top Practitioners, Researchers, and Provocateurs is a book of how, not what. It aims to be suggestive rather than prescriptive. It recognizes today’s reality—a reality where so much of what was accepted as best practice for years no longer works very well. It is equally of benefit to newbies and old-timers, to board members and executive directors, as well as consultants and interested community members. And, it represents different perspectives of governance rather than just one point of view.

This is first governance book of its kind to:

• Reexamine nonprofit governance at its essence
• Challenge dogma about the board versus chief executive roles
• Let YOU decide if you still agree with the old thinking on governance
• Take aim at myths about governance that hold organizations back
• Provide practical, in-the-trenches advice and tips you can use NOW

About the Author

Terrie Temkin, PhD, is widely considered by her peers to be a preeminent thought leader in the field of governance. She is a founding principal of the international consulting firm CoreStrategies for Nonprofits Inc. and is a cocreator of the new governance framework, Community-Engagement Governance™, discussed in this book. A prolific writer, Terrie’s work can be found throughout the world in books, journals, blogs, and her popular column, “On Nonprofits.” Terrie also teaches nonprofit governance at Florida Atlantic University.

About the CharityChannel Press In the Trenches™ Series

You’ll know an In the Trenches book not just by its cover, but by the author’s fun, upbeat writing style. But don’t be fooled by its down-to-earth approach and ample use of sidebars. In the Trenches books are authoritative and cover what a beginner should know to get started and progress rapidly, and what a more experienced nonprofit-sector practitioner needs to move forward in the subject.