Board Assessment

The board of directors is a critical component of a nonprofit organization. Because new members join the board and others rotate off, it is important for the executive director and board chair to continually monitor the expectations of the board and ensure that the Board is aligned to the mission and vision of the organization.

This resource addresses how a board assessment can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of both individual board members and the board as a group in order to strengthen your board’s performance.

When Should You Conduct a Board Assessment?

The Giersch Group recommends using a board assessment as a continuous best practice. Since a board is a dynamic entity that does not meet more than a few times a year, implementing a board assessment once a year or every other year can help establish the standard of evaluating performance, preparing for the future, and measuring progress on goals. In addition, because of the ever-changing composition of the board, it is important to make sure the expectations of board members are aligned with those of the executive director and staff. Lastly, feedback received will outline how each board member perceives his/her role and identify priorities for board activities going forward.

If the same (or similar) assessment is used on an on-going basis, it will allow the organization to measure growth in the effectiveness of the board and the development of organizational systems and structures that support board work.

A board assessment can also be particularly useful during times of significant change in a nonprofit organization. Some of these may include:

1. Appointment of a new executive director and/or board chair.
2. Development of a strategic plan.
3. Major change in programming, funding or strategy.

In addition, a board assessment can be a good way to gather board member’s perspectives prior to a board retreat or annual planning session.

Assessment Format

While the assessment process should not be burdensome, it is important to include enough questions that will structure the feedback provide by board members in a meaningful way. A typical board assessment will have three sections:

1. Assessment of performance of the board on its core responsibilities.
2. Assessment of key board responsibilities for the next 1-2 years.
3. Assessment of the nonprofit’s systems and structure as they relate to supporting the work of the board.

Board members are busy, so it is important to keep assessment questions short and to the point. We also recommend using three choices on the survey, which forces responders to indicate if they are positive, negative or neutral about a specific issue. As a reminder to keep the form as simple as possible, if you use acronyms or other terms that may not be familiar to all board members, make sure you use a separate handout with these commonly-used terms.

Current Performance of the Board

The first section of the assessment should ask board members to assess their current performance on the core functions and expectations of the board. These may include activities such as overseeing financial performance, participating in fundraising, clarifying the organization’s mission and vision and improving board performance. If your organization has a job description for a board member, these specific responsibilities should also be incorporated into this first section of the board assessment.

Sample Assessment Questions:

Key Responsibilities for the Next 1-2 Years

Next, the assessment should ask board members to reflect on the short-term future of the organization (1-2 years) and rank the importance of key board responsibilities. Most of these responsibilities will be the same as in the first section. An organization may want to add any new strategic priorities, such as increasing evaluation of programs, increasing marketing and PR, building the organization’s reputation in the community, or transitioning from a hands-on working board to a policy board.

This part of the assessment is critical, because it will help the board prioritize its activities over the coming year to best meet the needs of the organization.

Sample Assessment Questions:

Organizational Systems and Structures

Finally, board members need to assess how the internal systems and structure of the organization are helping them fulfill their responsibilities. This includes issues such as board size, composition and nominating process. For example, if the organization is relying on the board to provide technical expertise on investments but no one on the board has any experience in investing, then that would be identified as a structural problem that can be fixed – you need to find a board member with expertise in this area.

The functioning of the board meeting can also be assessed at this time. This includes issues such as whether or board agendas and materials provided in advance of meetings and the over-all efficiency and effectiveness of board and committee meetings.

Sample Assessment Questions:

Logistics of the Assessment

Now that you have created an assessment, the board chair should send the assessment to the board members via email or snail mail.  This should be provided alongside a cover note from the board chair that explains the importance of the assessment and that the results will be reviewed by the entire board. The cover note should include deadline of approximately 5-10 days and where to send the assessment when completed.   The executive director or the board chair should decide who will follow up with board members who do not complete the assessment within that timeframe.

The Giersch Group also recommends having the executive director and 1-2 staff members complete the assessment as well. This can help gauge the relationship between the board of directors and key staff as well as point out any differences in strategic vision or assessment of systems.

Reviewing Results

The results of the assessment can be used to facilitate a discussion among board members around the governance activities that will result in the greatest benefit for the organization. We recommend the following process to evaluate the data received:

1. Compile the results and review them for consistency. Identify questions that have a wide range of responses and highlight these as potential issues to discuss. For example, if you have 5 board member who “disagree” that board size is appropriate, 5 who “strongly agree” and 2 staff who “somewhat agree,” there needs to be a discussion in which the “disagrees” can explain to the “strongly agrees” why they feel the board composition is not appropriate. In facilitating conversations like this, it is important to focus participants on solutions that are beneficial to the organization, and it is the role of the board chair and executive director to provide structure and guidance around this process.
2. Look for areas of alignment. In general, we find that the typical organization has significant alignment on 60-75% of the assessment questions. This means that while one or two people may answer differently than the others, there is a clear majority who responds in one way.
3. Review the results for outliers. Is there one board member who is responding with very different answers than anyone else? Does one person have a particular issue over which they are especially passionate? It can be helpful for the board chair or executive director to follow up individually with these board members to get additional feedback and clarification on their responses.
4. The board chair and executive director should review the results. It is important for the executive director and board chair to be unified on the report and recommendations they present to the board. The Giersch Group also recommends limiting the viewing of all responses to the executive director and board chair to ensure that the opinions of individual board members remain confidential.
5. Executive director and board chair present a summary of the data to the entire board of directors. We do not recommend distributing all results, as people can get distracted trying to determine each person’s response to specific questions, and it is important to maintain the confidentiality of individual responses.
   1. The summary report should highlight 5 areas of alignment that are important, such as:
      • We all agree that our board composition is improving, but we still need a few younger members.
      • Clarification of vision needs to be one of our priorities for the coming year.
      • We all feel that board meetings are effectively run.
   2. A few key areas of disagreement should be summarized, such as:
      • There was split opinion over whether or not the board size was appropriate. Some felt that it was much too small while others felt that the current size allows us to efficiently make decisions.
      • Based on survey results, it was evident that we do not all have a clear understanding of staff vs. board roles.
6. Facilitate a conversation on how to overcome some the areas of disagreement and build on the areas of alignment. Again, these should ultimately tie back into the organization’s strategic plan and fulfillment of its mission.

Again, the Giersch Group recommends this process a s a continuous best practice.  Building an assessment into your regular board strategy can help strengthen your organization’s capacity and ensure that your board is equipped to advance your organization’s mission and strategic priorities.

Additional Information

1. Sample nonprofit assessment tools are part of the Nonprofit Resource Center’s offerings: http://www.nprcenter.org/resource/evaluating-board
2. A variety of articles and resources on the topic of board assessment are listed on the National Council of Nonprofit’s website: http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/node/5677

For more information, please visit the Giersch Group at http://www.gierschgroup.com/ or contact us at prosper@gierschgroup.com