Beyond Board Reports: What Your Nonprofit Board Really Wants

Every nonprofit leader knows the scenario: Board meetings that consist of reviewing reports, nodding politely, and adjourning without meaningful engagement. But what if there's a better way? What if your board members are craving something beyond those financial statements and program updates?

The truth is, your board represents your organization's most valuable leadership asset—when properly engaged. They're not just there to fulfill a legal requirement; they're strategic partners who can propel your mission forward. On today's episode, Nathan explores four essential elements board members truly want from nonprofit leadership: community, decision-making opportunities, confidence in leadership, and yes—even fun.

Shift your focus from reports to relationships, and watch your board transform from obligatory oversight to enthusiastic partnership in advancing your mission.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Board Leadership
• 8:42 Building Community Among Board Members
• 25:07 Decision-Making That Matters
• 36:04 Building Confidence Through Leadership
• 49:17 Making Board Meetings Fun
• 53:20 Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Transcript

Nathan Ruby: 0:08

Welcome to the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership. I'm Nathan Ruby. Well, we here at the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership podcast, we talk about boards and how to get better functioning boards, how to encourage your board to help you with fundraising. That's a topic that we talk about I don't know if the word's often, but we do talk about it on a regular basis and we are talking about the board today. But we were talking about beyond reports. What does your board want from you? That is beyond just getting them together, handing them a bunch of reports, going over what they've already read on the report and calling it a board meeting. And this is important because your board, it's your lifeline. They are there to help you, to encourage you and, I don't know, maybe this is even the most important to keep you from running the organization off the cliff. Your board is the single most important asset you have to help you be successful. So recruiting and retaining high quality board members who are passionate about your organization's vision and mission is a top priority for you. So if it's a top priority for you, then making sure that you engage and lead them is incredibly important to your success and, ultimately, the success of the organization.

Nathan Ruby: 1:43

So today we're going to be talking about four points on how you can take your board beyond just board reports. So number one, here we go Community. Your board members want to be part of something greater than themselves, and so creating a strong sense of community among board members is essential for effective governance. And this is a community amongst themselves. Now, yes, you need to have a community with the organization and they need to have community with the people that you serve, and there's different types of community, but it all starts with having a community amongst themselves. The board needs to be connected first. So how do you do that? So here's a couple of ways that you could do that. One is to host social events outside of formal meetings. So you could do things within the meeting structure itself, and that's okay and that's good. But anytime that you can pull your group together outside of a formal board meeting, I think that's a great opportunity to build connection, to build friendships. So maybe it's a dinner, uh, before the board meeting, or a dinner the night before, um, or attending an event together, uh, with their families. So you could do like a baseball game, and you know you wouldn't make it a mandatory. You know if you made it mandatory. It would be an actual board meeting. But if you just said, hey, you know we are is going to be XYZ night at the local minor league baseball game and you know just, you know, come, you don't have to come as board members, just come, bring your families and let's enjoy the night together. Or maybe it's just for the board members and their families. Uh, so, just doing things outside of the formal structure of the board meeting, um, that is, those are good things to be doing. If you're meeting on zoom, if you've got a, if you have a national presence and your donors are from outside of the local area, maybe you hop on, have people come into the Zoom 15 minutes early or 30 minutes early before a board meeting, call it happy hour and just have some social time together. So social events is a great way to build communication, not communication to build community within your board.

Nathan Ruby: 4:27

Another is create a board-only communication channel, so something like Slack or some other way that the board can communicate with each other directly. Now you might get a little bit of pushback depends on your board If you say, oh, we're to use technology to communicate with each other and you know, depending on your board, you might get a. Oh, that's the last thing I want is another password and, oh, another piece of technology to learn. So you might get a little bit of that. But I think if you had a way for board members to communicate I mean, there's always email and text, but it might be something for you to try, especially if you have a board that's a little bit more tech savvy Maybe that's something that they would use. So you know, if they use it, great. If not, then all right, we'll, we'll go use something else. So a board only communication channel. Another idea is to use an annual retreat. Now, this is a little bit easier if your board is local. A little bit more difficult if they're not local. But just once a year. Having a treat that is both strategic, focused on strategy, but also relationship building. You could build in some breakout sessions. You could build in some time to where the board could just connect and get to know each other on a better, deeper, deeper level. So anything that you could do that builds community and friendship amongst your board will pay you dividends. All right, so that was building community amongst the board.

Nathan Ruby: 6:05

Second, decision making. Your board wants to make decisions that matter Now when we are building a high caliber, high output board. We want high caliber, high output individuals. So let's say, if you decided, the board decided they need a uh I don't know, I'm just really picking this out of the air uh, a realtor. They want a realtor on the board, for whatever reason. That is a skill set that is lacking and you want the skill sets of a realtor on your board awesome. What we don't want to do is we're not looking for your cousin's, girlfriend's ex -neighbor. We're not looking for just some random realtor person who has a name or initials behind their name. That's not who we're looking for. We're looking for the highest profile commercial realtor we could possibly get. And now, of course, they have to have a passion for your organization. We can't forget that. But we want as high up the realtor food chain that we can possibly get.

Nathan Ruby: 7:17

So if you have, your board has got three, four, five, six, seven, eight, whatever, of these high caliber, high output individuals, typically they are CEOs, they're presidents, they're vice presidents, they're directors, they own their own business, they're business owners. These are people that are used to making decisions. That is what your board is there to do. They're there to make decisions on behalf of the organization. So you have to give them decisions to make, and so that would be decisions on policy. So that is, you can make policy, you can write policy, but that is what the board does is they make decisions on policy. So you need to give them things to make decisions on, not just give them report after report, after report after report and that's it. That's the board meeting. You will bore them with that. So your board craves meaningful work, not just updates. I would recommend at every meeting, you have some decision that you want them to make.

Nathan Ruby: 8:33

And now, if you don't have a specific policy decision or something on strategy, something like that, you can ask the board to have input on non-governance items. So what do I mean by that? And I'm trying really hard not to confuse you here you could bring them operational type things and ask for their input on, without asking them or making them think that they're making a decision on it. So what does that mean? You could come and say, hey, we are thinking through starting a new program, and here are the top four things that we are thinking of doing. Can you give me your feedback on that we are thinking of doing? Can you give me your feedback on that, and so you can have a discussion and they could give feedback on this operational outline plan.

Nathan Ruby: 9:34

What you don't want to do is to let them think that they are making a final decision on that. You could say I'm seeking your advice, I'm seeking your guidance, I'm seeking your counsel as we look at this, and that is perfectly fine. But you don't want them to think that they're making a final decision on that, anything operational because you will have six different people. Give you six different decisions, and then you've got chaos, and so you don't want that. Give you six different decisions and then you've got chaos, and so you don't want that. So what I'm trying to say here is you want your board to be making decisions. If they have governance issues, if they have strategy issues, those are definitely easy things for them to be deciding on. If you don't have something like that at a particular meeting, you can come up with some operational things, as long as they know that you're just looking for their input or their expertise on it. Okay.

Nathan Ruby: 10:35

Number three confidence. They want to see you confident as a leader, and I think that maybe I've got this. Third this is the third bullet point, but this might even be the most important Um, they want to see you walk in there confident, because they want to be confident in your leadership ability. So here's three ways that you can give uh, uh, bring more confidence to your board meetings. First is make sure that you are prepared thoroughly for every board meeting. And when I say being thoroughly prepared, obviously you know you've got your finance report, you should be doing a fundraising report, so you've got all that stuff ahead of time. You've got your program updates. Whatever you're going to do for that, you need to walk into that meeting. You've got your program updates. Whatever you're going to do for that, you need to walk into that meeting knowing that you are ready and that you're prepared. And one of the ways that I do that is I think about my board members and I you know my board members right now. I've got it, I've got a few of these, and I know you do too.

Nathan Ruby: 11:45

Usually it's going to be the same one or two or three board members that are going to ask a question. So if you are, give a report on something, if you give the finance report, whatever it is there, while you should be giving the finance report, your treasurer should be doing that. But you know who's going to ask the question, right, you know who they are. So what I do is I sit down and I look at the report and I say, okay, who's going to ask the question? Right, you know who they are. So what I do is I sit down and I look at the report and I say, okay, who is going to ask me the first question? Oh, it's going to be I think it's going to be John. John is going to ask me the first question. Okay, what is John going to? What questions? If I am John, what questions am I going to have on this?

Nathan Ruby: 12:26

And now, this takes a little bit of time. It also means that you need to be prepared ahead of time. You can't finish the reports 20 minutes before the board meeting. You got to be finished ahead of time. But then think through. Okay, what is John going to ask me about this? And if it's your first board meeting, you probably won't know, but after your fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh board meeting, you should have an idea of what they're going to ask and then prepare the answer for that.

Nathan Ruby: 12:53

Another way that I do that is I will look at the report, whatever it is, and I'll say okay, what three questions? If it was me, what three questions would I ask? Or another way to say that is what questions? What are three questions I want them to ask me and that be prepared to answer that. And then, a final thing on questions is what are three questions? I pray they don't ask me. Uh, what are the? What are the three holes in this report? What are the three things that that's missing? What are the three things that, based on this report, what are the three things in this report? What are the three things that that's missing? What are the three things that, based on this report, what are the three things that we need to fix? And three is not a magic number. Maybe it's two, maybe it's four, whatever you pick the number, um, and then be prepared to answer those so that when the question comes, boom, you've got an answer that sounds like it's well thought through and prepared. Because it is, Because it is well thought through and prepared, all right, so be ready for questions.

Nathan Ruby: 13:53

Number two on confidence is speak with conviction about what you are doing, while being honest about challenges. So if you are reporting on something, you've got to believe in what you're doing. You got to believe in what you're reporting. If it's the fundraising report that you're talking about, all right, well, you have to be confident that this is our plan, this is our strategy, this is our tactics. These are the things that we're going to be doing and I feel confident that we are going to be doing and I feel confident that we are going to be able to hit this goal. All right, that's what your board wants to hear and that's what your board needs for them to engage with you. We're talking about fundraising. So if you want a board member to come to the event, you want to say this is the event, this is what we're doing. Uh, this is specifically what I want you to do while you're there and this is a good plan, this is going to work. Okay, they will want to be part of that.

Nathan Ruby: 14:57

The other side of that is, you also want to be honest about the gaps. You want to be honest about the challenges. You don't want to give off an air that you know everything and that you're not going to make any mistakes and that you're the know-it-all. That's a mistake. Your board doesn't want to see that. They will not trust you If you give off that vibe that you know it all, your board's not going to trust that.

Nathan Ruby: 15:32

Nobody likes to know it all, right, nobody. When we were kids, we didn't like that. As adults, we don't like that. So you have to come off. You have a plan, you know where we're going, you know what we're going to be doing and you have to be confident on that plan, while at the same time, it is okay to say this is our plan.

Nathan Ruby: 15:53

Here are the two places where I do have a bit of concern One, two. These are the two places and this is what I'm doing to compensate for that, or this is what I'm doing to adjust for that, or this is what I'm doing to fix that. So here's the plan. I'm confident it's going to work. Here are the two places. Here's the one or two or three whatever the number is places that we've got a bit of an issue here we need to address. Here's how we're addressing it. That's confidence. Your board will be very confident in you if that's how you address that. All right, so confidence.

Nathan Ruby: 16:29

So so far, our three things. We've got community. Your board wants to be part of something greater than themselves, and that starts with building a community within the board itself. Two your board wants to make decisions. That's why they're there. They want interesting, meaningful things to make decisions on. And number three is they need to trust you. You need to build confidence in your leadership. All right, number four what is number four? Well, this might be my favorite. It's fun. Your board members need to have fun at meetings. Boring meetings drain energy from the room and they especially drain energy off of a Zoom call.

Nathan Ruby: 17:16

If this is your board member, if your board member is heading to the meeting and they are thinking, man, my life is so hard right now and now I got to go sit through this two hour board meeting that is going to suck the remaining life out of me. That's not what you board. It's not what you board. It's not what you want your board member to be thinking as they're coming into the room ready for the meeting. So that's not what we want. So your board looks to you to set the tone for the meeting.

Nathan Ruby: 17:51

Okay, now, it is true that the board meeting is the board's house. It is not a staff house. When you, as the executive director, when you go to the board meeting, you are a guest in the board's home. All right, does that make sense? It's not a staff, it's not a staff home. On Tuesday morning, when your team, when your staff team, gets together for whatever your staff meeting is, that is the staff home, and if a board member comes to that meeting, the board member is a guest at the meeting. But you are in the board's home now. You are a guest at their home.

Nathan Ruby: 18:35

However, even though you are a guest in their home, they are looking to you for clues for leadership. They are looking to you to see how you are, how you're acting, and they will act accordingly. So if you are anxious, they will be anxious. If you are obviously melancholy, they will be obviously melancholy. The other side of that is, if you are positive and excited and upbeat, your board members will become positive, excited and upbeat, even if they walked into the room thinking oh my God, I got to sit through this two-hour meeting. That's going to suck the life out of me of the room, thinking, oh my God, I got to sit through this two hour meeting. That's going to suck the life out of me. Even if they are that way, coming in the door, if you are greeting them with a smile and you are greeting them with excitement and you are greeting them with positivity. They will feed on that and they will bring their now, you know they may not be laughing and having a you know a jolly time by the end of the meeting, but they will definitely bring their energy level up and their enthusiasm. They will bring that up to match what the room dynamics is, at least a little bit. So they are looking, your board is looking to you for cues on how they should be acting, and one of the things that I'm doing I actually, as I record this, I'm getting ready for a board meeting and the last couple of board meetings we have a um, we do not meet.

Nathan Ruby: 20:05

My organization is a hundred percent. A hundred percent, uh, uh, what is it? Uh, a hundred percent remote. Uh, we have our staff team is spread out over four states and two countries, so we do not have a physical location, office location, so everything we do is remote. However, we do have local. Some of our board members are local in the same community, so we do actually get together for board meetings. However, out of 14 board members, there's like five that are local. The rest zoom in, but we do meet the ones that are local. We do meet together, but it's in a organization that allows us to meet in their space, which is very nice of them to do that, and I use their technology nice of them to do that and I use their technology so it's their technology to get the camera on and get the camera up on the big screen. So on Zoom, so our Zoom people zooming in, they could see us, we could see them, and the microphone and all of that tech stuff.

Nathan Ruby: 21:11

And, unfortunately for my organization, I am the tech person, which is a sad state of affairs because I am horrible as a tech person, but I'm it. So the last two or three board meetings I have had a struggle getting the technology to work and so when our local board members came into the meeting, I was anxious. I was anxious, I was mad. My attention was not on them. There was one board member that came in. Literally I did not know they were there until about 10 minutes after they arrived. I didn't greet them, I didn't say hello, I didn't ask how their day was. I didn't do any of that because I was so focused on getting the technology to work. And I really realized that after the last meeting when the meeting was ended. It was a good meeting, but I was still angry and that probably came through the entire meeting.

Nathan Ruby: 22:10

So this time, what I'm doing? Well, I'm doing two things. One, I'm meeting a day ahead of time with the actual tech person from the organization so they can physically walk me through how to do it. So that's one thing. And then the second thing I'm doing is I'm showing up an hour earlier than I normally do just to double, triple, quadruple, check that I've got everything working and everything is ready to go, so that when my board members start walking in the door, my focus is on them and not on the technology. So that's something that I'm doing.

Nathan Ruby: 22:45

So if you need to identify, think back through the last couple of board meetings Was there something that didn't go right? Was there something that got you upset? And if you can fix that, fix that, because board members, I'm telling you, they want to have fun. They want to come in, sit down, they want to do meaningful work, but they want to like the people that they're around and they want to have some fun while they're doing this meaningful, serious work. We have covered a lot today and here are a few key takeaways.

Nathan Ruby: 23:20

Your board is not just a group of advisors. They're an essential partner in your organization's success. They want to be part of something greater than they are. They want to make meaningful decisions and they need to trust in your leadership. If you can build that strong sense of community, give them the space to contribute in ways that matter and keep the atmosphere engaging, positive and yep, even fun, you'll have a board that's not just supportive but truly invested in the success of your mission. Thank you for listening today. If you are benefiting from what is being shared on this podcast, we would like to ask you to share a review. On whatever platform you're listening to us on, let us know how the podcast is benefiting you. If you would like to get in touch with us, our contact information can be found in the show notes. That's all for today, until next time.