You know about the benefits of good governance – a shared commitment to mission achievement and organizational sustainability. But how do you evaluate governance? How do you know if your governance is great?
Governance includes a wide range of activities, such as financial oversight, strategy formulation, and securing resources required for long-term organizational health. The tricky part of evaluating governance is that great governance is particular to each individual organization. The key to assessing your organization’s governance is determining what your organization needs from the board of directors and evaluating how well the board is meeting those specific needs.
The work required to evaluate an organization’s governance practices can be challenging: it requires leadership, a shared understanding of what success looks like and strong relationships between the chief executive, the board chair and the board as a whole. The good news is there are resources out there to help you assess and develop your governance systems and structures so they fit your organization’s unique needs.
Some resources and learning opportunities:
- Our Strategic Governance seminar for board and staff leaders presented with full-tuition fellowships December 2-3 in Chicago
- The Principles Workbook: Steering Your Board Toward Good Governance and Ethical Practice, produced by Independent Sector and BoardSource
- The New Work of the Nonprofit Board from the Harvard Business Review
What are your preferred governance tools and resources? Share them with your colleagues by leaving a comment below…