Nonprofit leaders share their go-to governance resources

We know there is a great deal of information out there about nonprofit leadership and governance. It can be hard to know what resources offer truly useful information and which people to trust.

To help, we asked nonprofit board members and leaders to share their top governance resources. The following is a collection of their recommendations, appropriate for both those new to the board and to board veterans.

Governance websites and nonprofit organizations to check out

• Association of Fundraising Professionals empowers individuals and organizations to practice ethical fundraising through professional education, networking, research and advocacy.
• Blue Avocado is an online magazine with hundreds of articles written by nonprofit leaders for nonprofit leaders.
• BoardBuild is a platform for emerging and established leaders and nonprofit organizations to connect and form board-level relationships. Individuals are trained and optimally paired with nonprofits to serve as qualified board members.
• BoardSource provides an extensive range of tools, training, and research to enhance board leadership effectiveness and strengthen organizational impact.
• Boardstrong helps nonprofit organizations achieve the highest standards of board leadership, governance and oversight. It provides nonprofit board training, consultation and educational resources.
• Carmichael works with nonprofit organizations to enhance their governance and effectiveness in delivering their objectives, by using Carmichael’s sector knowledge, experience, resources and physical space to help them achieve real and positive change for their beneficiaries.
• At the Center for Effective Nonprofits,their goal is to improve the long-term sustainability of nonprofit leaders and organizations by offering the highest quality programs, consultation, training and community-building networks.
• Center for Effective Philanthropy provides data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness.
• Corporate Governance Institute offers certified diplomas and courses in governance, as well as membership of a global, professional community.
• Council on Foundations is a nonprofit membership association that serves as a guide for philanthropies as they advance the greater good, helping those organizations build trust in philanthropy, expand pathways to giving, engage broader perspectives and co-create solutions that will lead to a better future.
• Deloitte’s Centre for Corporate Governance is designed to provide boards and senior management with a single point of access to current developments, Deloitte perspectives, learning materials and other useful information related to corporate governance.
• The Diligent Institute provides original, cutting-edge research on the most pressing issues in corporate governance, certifications and educational programs that equip leaders with the knowledge and credentials needed to guide their organizations.
• The Director’s Dilemma newsletter aims to amplify the power of directors and boards to build better businesses by providing a safe environment for testing their judgement using real-life scenarios. Each newsletter presents a case study based on real events together with at least three sample solutions from governance practitioners.
• The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance is a top online resource for discourse on corporate governance. It has featured more than 10,000 posts by more than 5,000 contributors, and its posts have been widely cited in over 800 law review articles and regulatory materials.
• National Council of Nonprofits mobilizes the nation’s largest sector-wide network of nonprofits to achieve transformative results. It provides nonprofits with the tools, research and resource needed to operate more effectively, efficiently and ethically.
• The Stanford Social Innovation Review is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems.

Governance and strategy experts to follow

• Phil Buchanan is president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) and is the author of Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count, He is co-host of a podcast, also called Giving Done Right. His op-eds have appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times and Financial Times.
• Joan Garry of Joan Garry Consulting works with some of the nation’s largest organizations as an executive coach and strategic advisor. She specializes in coaching new CEOs following “long and strong” leaders, navigating leadership transitions with staff and boards and working with executive leadership teams to strengthen the ability of the team to lead with the CEO.
• Mary Hiland of Hiland Consulting is a volunteer who became a staff member and ultimately the executive director of a nonprofit. She focuses on the well-being and effectiveness of nonprofit leaders.
• Niamh Brennan is the Michael MacCormac Professor of Management at University College Dublin (UCD) and the founder and academic director of the UCD Center for Corporate Governance. Her research interests are in financial reporting (accounting narratives, impression management, rhetoric and argument, and silence) and corporate governance (boards of directors, audit committees, and whistleblowing).

favorite governance resources download

Download this comprehensive list of governance resources in pdf format today, to increase your board’s effectiveness and achieve greater organizational impact.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Useful governance blogs

• European Corporate Governance Institute blog serves as a prominent global voice on corporate governance and corporate responsibility.
• Glass Lewis blog focuses on providing corporate governance solutions that deliver transparency and efficiency to investment, operations and compliance teams.
• WEF World Economic Forum’s blog features stories on thought leadership, solutions and analysis on the world’s biggest challenges.
• And our own BoardEffect blog offers strategy, tips and tools to help volunteer boards do their work better and more efficiently.

Governance and board podcasts to listen to

Better Boards podcast features Sabine Dembkowski talking with senior independent directors, chief executive officers, nonexecutive directors, company secretaries, selected trusted advisors and academics from leading universities like Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge.

Governance Matters podcast by Governance Intelligence provides listeners with insight into the cutting-edge issues of the month for corporate secretaries, general counsel and all governance professionals.

Inspired Nonprofit Leadership podcast with Sarah Oliverier is a place for nonprofit leaders to gain insights, tips, inspiration and encouragement to unleash their potential.

Take on Board by Helga Svendsen, who created the podcast to hear women’s experiences on board of directors. It includes tips and advice to help other women discover what they need to be their best in the boardroom.

Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership by Patton McDowell. The weekly podcast offers insights and dialogues with nonprofit leaders and sector experts.

Governance and nonprofit books you might find helpful

The Art of Governing Coherently: Mastering the Implementation of Coherent Governance® and Policy Governance by Linda J. Dawson and Randy Quinn is a practical guide loaded with solutions, all based on processes successfully in use today by boards across the U.S and internationally. While many of the examples offered here come from the world of public school boards and nonprofit boards, the implementation processes are equally applicable to boards of all types

Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations by John Carver. Carver continues to debunk the entrenched beliefs and habits that hobble boards and to replace them with his innovative approach to effective governance. 

Corporate Governance by Bob Tricker. The book equips students with a sound understanding of the frameworks that govern organizations. It offers comprehensive coverage of key principles combined with a strong practical focus through a clear three-part structure.

Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits is Leslie R. Crutchfield’s landmark book that reveals the six powerful practices of 12 high-impact nonprofits and tells their compelling stories.

Governance in the Digital Age: A Guide for the Modern Corporate Board Director by Brian Stafford and Dottie Schindlinger. This book seeks to chart the technology-fueled changes taking place in the field of corporate governance and describes the impact these changes are having on boards and the enterprises they govern.

Good Governance is a Choice: A Way to Re-Create Your Board the Right Way by Randy Quinn and Linda J. Dawson is a book about, and for, boards of public and nonprofit organizations. Its central focus is on public school boards and the special challenges they face, but the governing model it introduces, Coherent Governance, is applicable to any board of any type.

The Governance Core by Davis Campbell and Michael Fullan. Designed to guide educational leadership past difficult and formidable challenges, the governance system outlined in this book will lead to school districts and schools operating at the highest levels of effectiveness.

Giving Done Right by Phil Buchanan. A practical guide to philanthropy at all levels of giving that seeks to educate and inspire. It focuses on philanthropy and giving from a donor perspective, including avoiding pitfalls.

Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards by Richard Chait introduces a framework for helping nonprofit organizations maximize the effectiveness of their boards.

Governing with Purpose by Brian Cavanagh takes readers through how to become a brilliant board trustee, carry out roles effectively and even enjoy the experience.

Step Up! How To Be an Excellent Nonprofit Board Member by Elizabeth Bailey and Nancy Schmidt, is a handbook for new and tenured board members, and anyone who is considering joining a nonprofit board. It covers the basics that every board member should know and ventures beyond the usual topics into areas that aren’t always openly discussed.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service and human dignity.

Resources for training and onboarding new board members

We hope that you and your board colleagues find these expert recommendations useful and insightful. New members getting to grips with governance and their role on the board may find the suggestions particularly valuable as they get up to speed. You can store this list in your BoardEffect Resource Library to use during onboarding and training, and we hope that the list is useful for all leaders of mission-driven organizations.

BoardEffect delivers an agile board management solution optimized for governance leaders of nonprofits, higher education institutions, community healthcare organizations and credit unions with the right tools to drive more efficient, transparent and secure governance.