Practical writing for people who serve on boards. No jargon, no fluff — the stuff we wish someone had handed us at our first meeting.
Vague expectations feel gentler and land crueler. The written one-pager, the annual re-commitment conversation, and what to say when the year changes shape.
Read the article: Clear is kind: setting expectations board members can meet
A fair evaluation is decided in the fall, not the spring: set written goals together at the start of the year, then run a cycle with no surprises in it.
Read the article: How do you evaluate an executive director fairly?
The first ninety days set the tone of the partnership for years. What the board owes a new ED — before day one, in month one, and at the 90-day check-in.
Read the article: How does a board welcome a new executive director?
Most board policies fail because they're unfindable, unreadable, and unowned. How to write one page that binds someone, names an enforcer, and carries a review date.
Read the article: How do you write a board policy that people actually follow?
Wouldn't the board move faster if its smartest member just decided? Yes — and worse. What a board has to actually do to beat the lone genius.
Read the article: "None of us is as smart as all of us": why boards beat lone geniuses
Most board advice assumes an executive director exists. For the boards that both govern and do the work, here's what changes — and what can't be skipped.
Read the article: Governing with no staff at all: the all-volunteer board
Mission creep never announces itself — it arrives as a grant that almost fits or a program someone loves. The filter questions, and how to decline warmly.
Unanimous votes aren't automatically a problem. Here's how to tell whether your board agrees or has simply stopped disagreeing — and five fixes that work.
Read the article: Our board rubber-stamps everything. How do we get real discussion?
Bylaws should change rarely — but a rule the board quietly ignores is a five-alarm answer. The real triggers, the read-through habit, and how to amend properly.
An honest two-sided answer: what term limits solve, what they cost small and specialized boards, and the staggered-term middle ground most boards should land on.