Board Member University

Imagine the ideal board training…

An ideal board training would make a significant difference in the life of an organization. Board leadership would improve and the organization would flourish and advance its mission.

An ideal board training would make sure that when a board turned its attention to a particular area of the organization, that area would improve. And an ideal board training would make sure that the board was turning its attention to the areas of greatest need.

Organizations can’t wait years before seeing pay-offs from investing in board training. An ideal board training would make an immediate difference and get better over time.

This ideal training would:

• Require little to no board meeting time
• Be there when you need it—including at the last minute
• Cover all the important areas of board functioning
• Be affordable
• Put the board on a path of continuous improvement

If you want your board to experience this ideal board training then you’re in the right place.

Welcome to “Build a Better Nonprofit Board.”

My name is Dan Ehrenkrantz and I love nonprofit organizations.

My own board training started when I landed my first job as the lead professional of a nonprofit organization. I didn’t understand the role of the board--and neither did the board members. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move the organization forward. It wasn’t until I developed a better understanding of the leadership role of the board that I was able to help the board develop and help the organization grow. By the time I left that job, we had more than doubled in size and built a new building.

My second position as a lead professional was as the president of an accredited college—a special focus graduate institution. In this position, I continued to hone my skills as a nonprofit leader. I placed a special emphasis on board development. I knew that leadership of a nonprofit organization is a shared venture between many people—and chief among them are the lead professional and the board members.

In addition to serving as the chief executive of two nonprofit organizations, I have also served as a board chair, an interim executive, and as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. And I have published articles on nonprofit governance in such places as Forbes.com, The Huffington Post, and The Nonprofit Quarterly.

While I was serving as college president, our college took over the mission of another organization. This organization was responsible for providing support and services to over 100 affiliated organizations. Some of these nonprofits were well run, others were struggling—but each one of these nonprofit organizations now looked to my college to help them improve.

There had been many improvement initiatives in the past but they tinkered around the edges of organizational change and were never truly transformational. A small group of us worked together to determine how we could make a greater impact. After numerous interviews and tapping the combined wisdom of a number of consultants we recognized that our best chance to create sustained and lasting change was by improving board functioning at these affiliated organizations.  

However, we didn’t have the funds that would allow us to provide all of these organizations with the intensive training that can transform nonprofit boards. I was frustrated with our inability to reach all of our constituent organizations with the type of support that could make a significant difference. Instead we ended up focusing on crisis management.

This is the situation with many nonprofit boards. Board training is reserved for problem areas and occurs sporadically, if at all. Sustained training that can truly move the needle is deemed to be impractical for reasons of time and money.

And this is why I have created Build a Better Nonprofit Board.

Improving the board is the most effective lever to press in order to advance an organization. Build a Better Nonprofit Board presses that lever.

Traditional board trainings, done at a board meeting or retreat, can be helpful. But these types of board trainings have a number of built-in problems.

• Board training takes time away from tending to board business.
• It’s rare to have 100% attendance at any meeting.  And people who were absent for the training will sometimes make it difficult to implement.
• Board turnover means new board members didn’t receive training. Veteran board members don’t want to receive the same training a second time.
• It’s hard to retain the content of a training so you can apply it when you need it. Will board members remember and apply the training six months later? Eighteen months later?
• Scheduling and planning for traditional training usually needs to be done months in advance. By the time the training occurs, the selected topic may not be the most pressing board issue.
• Different trainers have slightly different theories of nonprofit boards. Lack of consistency in approach means successive trainings often don’t build upon one another.
• Staff time is required to select a presenter and arrange the logistics for board training.
• The choice boards face is to either have regular and sustained training over a long period of time—which is expensive; or schedule trainings infrequently—which is less effective.
• It’s impossible to know exactly what the training will contain until it has already been delivered. Sometimes the training that is offered is not aligned with what the board and staff need.  Some board trainings can cause more problems than they solve.

Build a Better Nonprofit Board addresses each one of these issues:

• It takes little or no time away from tending to board business.
• People who aren’t present for the training can access it on their own time.
• New board members can receive the exact same training as veteran board members.
• Training can be repeated as often as necessary to help board members retain and apply the content.
• Topics for trainings can be selected at the last minute to meet the board’s most pressing needs.
• A consistent approach means that the trainings build upon and reinforce one another.
• Logistical demands on staff are minimal to non-existent.
• An affordable annual subscription fee entitles your board and all of its members to the entirety of the training material.
• Training content can be previewed so that board leadership knows exactly what the board is getting.

The course is divided into three sections:

1. Foundation—an overview of how to use the course, the roles and responsibilities of nonprofit boards, and what it takes to be a great board member.

2. Nuts and Bolts—how to fulfill the responsibilities of a nonprofit board

3. Pursuing Excellence—the characteristics and activities of great nonprofit boards

Within these three sections you’ll find:

Five hours of video lessons divided into 59 clearly labeled sections. Individual board members are able to personalize their learning. Or you can view a lesson with the entire board immediately preceding a board discussion. Most videos are about five minutes long so the board doesn’t need to choose between learning and doing.

Over 125 board-level questions. When board members ask board-level questions they move your organization forward.  By providing the right types of questions, board members can immediately apply the training. Seeing the value of the training board members are happy to come back for more, creating a virtuous cycle of continuous growth.

Comprehensive coverage of the work of nonprofit boards. Board members will have what they need to develop a basic understanding of areas with which they may not be familiar such as fundraising, financial reporting, strategic planning, or assessment. And board leadership will enjoy the experience of having a “consultant in their back pockets” they can pull out on short notice to address specific issues.

Here’s what people are saying about Build a Better Nonprofit Board:

"Asking the right questions is a simple and elegant way into the world of high-performing boards (and organizations). I think this is a great project."  

David Grant, former President and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and author of "The Social Profit Handbook"

“I am greatly impressed by the scope and range of your commitment to provide training for nonprofit boards. I admire your synthesis of commonalities among nonprofits despite many differences… I especially welcomed your call for posing and pursuing probing questions...This is a most exciting prospect.”  

Robert M. O’Neil, former president of the University of Virginia, former president of the statewide University of Wisconsin system, Association of Governing Boards senior fellow.

Build a Better Nonprofit Board will require virtually no staff time and is more affordable than the typical cost of hiring a consultant to lead a retreat. And it’s there for you when you need it.

If you have been thinking about ways to:

• Get your board and staff working together well
• Do a better job of fundraising
• Increase the value of board meetings
• Better assess the impact of your programs
• Improve your planning efforts
• And achieve your organization’s mission

Then Build a Better Nonprofit Board could be exactly what you've been looking for.

The cost of Build a Better Nonprofit Board covers access to the course for your entire organization. However, if you’re still concerned about the cost, consider the expenses you already incur in order to bring your board together:

• The cost of staff time to arrange board meetings
• The value of board member volunteer hours spent preparing for and attending board meetings
• Your board portal, if you have one. And the cost of staff and volunteer time to document and communicate what happened at board meetings
• Board meals, room rentals, travel costs, and other financial investments that make it possible for your board to meet regularly.

Your board is one of your organization’s most valuable assets. And you’re already investing a great deal to make sure that your organization benefits from the time the board spends together. If Building a Better Nonprofit Board can add value to the investments you’re already making in your board, then you don’t want to miss the opportunity.

If you’re still hesitant, let me make it easy for you. Sign up for Build a Better Nonprofit Board today and use it for the next 90 days. If you decide you don’t want to keep it for any reason, send an email within 90 days to [email protected] and you’ll be issued a full refund. 

This guarantee is an experiment so take advantage of it today. I want to remove all the risk on your part and make it as easy as possible for you to take the next step to improving your board's performance. I love nonprofit organizations and I want to see them succeed.

Let me join you in advancing the work of your organization. All you need to do is click the button below, enter your name and credit card information and we’ll be off and running. I’ll contact you shortly with instructions on how to give all members of your board access to the training.

I’ll see you on the inside.