Sleepless in 2013?

It’s been said you get the board you deserve. It is the No. 1. It’s the fiduciary. It’s the boss’s boss, whether it be the CEO or the consultant, the hired gun. And having the right board engaged in the right way we find is consistently the No. 1 ingredient for success for a nonprofit.

So from selecting the right board, orienting them, evaluating them, to the ongoing investment it takes — and it does take a lot of investment to have a stellar board — to giving them the comfort and success in being ambassadors and fundraisers, and finally to that relationship building. They’re the key leaders of the organizations. They’re who you want to call and have them call you back right away, and that boils down to their passion for the mission as well as their connectedness to the key staff and the organization because we respond to whom we enjoy working with. Over and over, it’s either the great exhilaration of success or the great pain of the team we work with, and it ends up being rooted in the board.