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Do you know where I can find some board members? Every nonprofit needs committed skilled passionate board members whether you're starting a non-profit or growing an existing nonprofit organization. Board members are the amazing volunteer leaders of your organization. But when you're starting out or trying to get to the next level in making an impact how do you know what kind of board members you need and where to find them that is what we will talk about in this video welcome back my name is amber Melanie Smith and if this is your first time thank you so much for visiting my youtube channel I am a non-profit founder former board member executive director full-time working for the nonprofit that I founded many years ago I'm also a speaker on social impact leadership and service and I make these youtube videos every week sometimes more often if you're lucky on social impact nonprofits and more putting together an awesome board of directors is a huge part of successfully starting and running an organization and it is a confusing process for many so we're gonna break it down talk about how you know what kinds of board members you need and how to find them just if this video is helpful to you please subscribe show me some love like this video share with your friends and ring that bell so that you can get alerts next time I post a video I am all about helping aspiring changemakers whether that means you are in the nonprofit space social enterprise or some other change making path I really want to help you with tips and strategies to help you make an impact because living a life of purpose is what it's all about so let's get into these questions how do you know what kind of board members you need and where on earth can you find them so nonprofits are required by law and by your bylaws to have a board of directors and it's often not really a good idea to just recruit your family or your friends to be on your board trust me on this one it's rare to find a board of directors on any profit organization that agrees on everything you really don't want those business disagreements to ruin your family or your friendships so you just really want to focus on recruiting board members who have these specific skills and connections to help your organization achieve its goals over the next couple of years so let's get into eight must-haves board member roles that you should have in your organization and just as a quick note yes some of those roles can overlap you don't necessarily have to have eight board members I know lots of organizations that run on four board members and some that run on 50 board members really depends on what your state's laws are in terms of the minimum number of board members that you can have also your own bylaws as an organization so your bylaws should be setting the range of appropriate number of bylaws and of course you can always amend those if you decide you need to grow the number of board members you have and depending on the size of your organization a very large Board of Directors can either be a really good thing because it means lots of connections and potential avenues for fundraising or it could be really cumbersome difficult challenging thing that means nobody can ever get anything done so you just need to think about the appropriate number of board members for you at your current stage of growth in your organization let's get right into it the top four roles you typically need are often called members of the executive committee so these are the board members who are I guess you could say in charge so we're talking about a chairman of vice-chairman a secretary and a treasurer it is very common for most organizations to have all of these things and in fact in some case having all four of these roles might be required by your bylaws so if you if that is true for you you need to make sure that these spots are filled with the right competent board members at all times in some cases some of these roles can overlap and in other cases that's not really appropriate for example you couldn't really have someone who's both your vice chairperson and your chairperson that would not make any sense but your vice chair could possibly also be your secretary the chairman is typically charged with developing the agenda for board meetings sending that out to board members in advance and leading board member conversations at those meetings the vice chair or possibly Chair Elect will assist with this role and would typically be the person who's next in line for that role when the Chairman's term in your board is up the secretary is making sure that appropriate and accurate records for your organization are being kept so your organization needs to be taking up minutes at its board meetings I know it sounds super boring but it's really important so you have a record of all votes that have been discussed and voted upon and you know noting that certain policies have passed because of those votes and then of course your treasurer is overseeing your financial status and providing reports to the rest of the board on that status regularly okay so those are the basics but there are four other types of board members that I would highly recommend an organization especially a newer organization that's just starting up have as it is getting things going so here are those four roles so one critical role you want when you are starting an profit organization and as you're growing is someone who is very experienced or skilled and knowledgeable in the specific issue or cause that your organization is addressing so depending on your cause it could be a fellow nonprofit professional someone who's done similar work in the past it could be someone like a social worker who knows what it's like to serve certain clients it could be a doctor let's say it's a medical organization or hospital doctors make sense on the board they can advise on you know appropriate program strategies in order to be successful so you want to basically have people on your board who know how to execute the programs that your organization is executing this is especially important if you are a newer nonprofit organization that has no staff yet because someone's got to know what they're doing in terms of running those programs and making sure that you are effectively measuring whether those programs are successful we're all doing this we're all part of nonprofits because we want to make an impact in the world so again emphasizing and the last thing I'll say about it emphasizing the importance of having someone who has experienced tackling the specific issue that your organization is trying to address the next role you really want to have on your board especially as a newer organization and there's no really good title for this role um just board member who has this skill and this skill is someone who's very socially connected someone who has a lot of business connections possible funding connections basters you want to look for your social butterfly someone who's comfortable talking to lots of people out there networking and just someone who knows everyone that's the person you want someone with all those connections is going to be really critical in making introductions to the rest of the board members to possibly ask for donations or sponsorships or apply for grants it will lead to speaking opportunities you can raise awareness about your cause but this person can open a lot of doors for you so they are a critical role especially for a newer organization then type of board member you really want on your board especially when you're starting up but really all the time no matter what size your organization is it's at least one preferably multiple people with fundraising experience in nonprofits now the idea is not that this person or this group of people will be solely responsible for your organization's fundraising the entire board and staff and technically all your volunteers everyone in the organization should really be helping with fundraising to some degree but having someone experienced and how fundraising works can at least provide training and guidance and leadership to the rest of the board members staff or volunteers who might feel a little anxious or squeamish about fundraising this person or these people can train those folks on how to do it how to do it with confidence and that is really important finally you want to have a board member who specializes and has some experience with marketing and public relations this is going to be really really important in crafting your organization's messaging your story getting media coverage and all of these things will help you gain supporters to gain volunteers gain donors and raise awareness about what you do so that you can reach more people as you grow as an organization so in summary the eight roles that I think are critical to have for an organization of any size but especially newer organizations our Chairman Vice Chair secretary treasurer program expert socially connected person fundraising expert and marketing expert now no matter what role a board member is playing with your organization all board members should be trained and practiced talking about your organization's mission your organization's story how and why they decided to get connected to your organization all board members will be helping develop your future budgets developing your fundraising plans and all board members are especially charged with helping with fundraising for the whole organization all board members regardless of role should be out there networking speaking publicly on behalf of your cause and making introductions to staff volunteers or other board members who might help your cause be furthered okay so where do you find these magical board members let's talk about that here's the thing it might seem or feel like good board members are hard to find but I am telling you that they are out there I have seen them I have met them I work with some of them myself don't fire me and a lot of people want to serve on a board of directors for a cause that they care about and are actively seeking those opportunities in fact it is a proven strategy for advancing your own career and just having a lot of success and feeling good about your life so people definitely are interested in being board members where can you find them here is my top list there are organizations out there across the United States whose goal is to help you find volunteers or sometimes even specifically volunteer board members so you want to figure out where your nearest volunteer center or executive Service Corps is and reach out and learn how you can tap into their networks of potential volunteers or board members looking for a place to serve there are also some great board resource websites like board source there are even board matchmaking services online where people who are interested in finding a board to serve on enter in their profile tell you all about themselves and then you can peruse who they are and tell them about your cause and see if they might be a good fit so Google will do some searching online there are some great resources there for that a couple of years ago linked in also introduced a new feature where you could indicate on your LinkedIn profile that you were looking for non-profit board opportunities and I think that you can actually search for people in your area who have checked that box so check out who in your area has checked the box on LinkedIn and you can see their skill sets right there so that is a great asset I would highly recommend in most cities there is a Chamber of Commerce or a plethora of business networking groups I would attend some of those groups meetings and do some networking put out there that you are looking for board members and just talk to a lot of people at those spaces because those are often the business professionals that are looking for board service this idea seems like a no-brainer but you would not believe how often we forget that our own volunteer base as a non-profit is an amazing resource for finding board members because the people who are already volunteering for you in some way love your cause already they are giving you their most precious asset their time and so they are amazing candidates who might have the skill sets that you are looking for for your board so I would reach out put the word out to your own volunteer mailing list or network and see who comes back who might be interested in devoting their time to you in a higher leadership capacity as a board member and the final idea is also possibly not that intuitive and that is to ask other nonprofits in your area if they have any board members that they might recommend some of them might have board members whose term is ending with them who they think could be a good fit for you there are some amazing networking groups out there for nonprofits in every community I recommend the young nonprofit Professionals Network or many states also have a center for nonprofits these resources might also be great for you know crowdsourcing those ideas and asking your fellow nonprofits about awesome individuals out there who might be looking for board service I am going to leave some of the links to these resources down below in my description so be sure to check that out and I hope this really has helped you out in thinking about what kinds of board roles you need to be planning for as you start or grow a nonprofit organization that's all I got once again my name is Amber Melanie Smith and I make these videos here on YouTube weekly so don't forget to subscribe give me a thumbs up like that video and ring the little bell so that you can get alerts next time one of my videos goes live also if you were on Facebook don't forget to check out my Facebook group change the world or bust it is a group where myself and fellow changemakers whether they are in nonprofits or business or volunteering or just getting started figuring all that out people who just want to make a difference and change the world all talking together on some of the issues of today and how we can an impact so I hope you will join me there thank you so much for joining me until next time bye