Board Development

A diverse, skilled, and engaged board is a critical lever for organizational effectiveness and mission impact. Strong governance requires more than a capable board; it requires clear roles, effective structures, thoughtful board composition and recruitment, productive relationships, and practices that enable boards and staff to work together well.

We partner with nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies to strengthen governance, support effective boards and governing bodies, and design governance structures that fit your unique needs and context. We help boards, trustees, and staff clarify roles and responsibilities, strengthen engagement, improve decision-making, and build the capacity needed for effective oversight and shared accountability.

Our board development and governance capacity-building services include training on nonprofit governance best practices and board member roles and responsibilities; facilitating board self-assessments; developing board composition, recruitment strategies, and processes; developing and updating board policies and manuals; creating board, officer, and committee member job descriptions; designing governance structures and committee charters; developing board engagement agreements; and providing governance coaching and consulting.

We help organizations create the clarity, roles, and practices needed for effective governance. This includes clarifying decision-making authority and accountability; strengthening board-staff partnership; and creating governance practices that support meaningful participation, effective oversight, and shared accountability.

Board Self-Assessment Service

A strong board of directors is central to a healthy and well-functioning organization. But how do you assess the strength of your board and identify where there are opportunities to grow? 

Our customized Board Self-Assessment helps your board reflect on what it is doing well, understand challenges that may be emerging, and identify opportunities for improvement in support of your organization’s mission. 

Our comprehensive Board Self-Assessment tool uses an online survey to invite individual board members to assess board governance, partnership with the chief executive, strategy, roles and responsibilities, culture, recruitment and retention, communication, meetings, fund development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. We synthesize the input and report key themes and findings to the board to spark reflection and discussion.

The assessment includes a facilitated board training and survey debrief. More than just a survey tool, our assessment is a collaborative process designed to support reflection, inform decision-making, and strengthen your board’s and organization’s capacity.