BoardSource Leadership Forum 2011

Published on: by Gene Takagi Category:BOARDS / GOVERNANCE, EVENTS

The theme of this year's BoardSource Leadership Forum is Governing Towards the Future.  According to BoardSource, the Forum "is the only national conference focused on the impact of nonprofit boards and the unique role they play in advancing the public good. Every year, approximately 800 nonprofit board members, chief executives, and senior staff from around the world gather with an impressive array of experts to discuss the newest thinking and practices in nonprofit governance."  Among those experts this year, Tim Delaney (National Council of Nonprofits), David Greco (Nonprofit Finance Fund), R. Todd Johnson (Jones Day), Jan Masaoka (Blue Avocado), Francie Ostrower (University of Texas, Austin), and our own Emily Chan!

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Emily will be presenting on Emerging Legal Questions in Today's Boardroom, offering the perspective of a nonprofit lawyer and social media savvy millennial.  Here's the description of her session (9/25 – look for her blog post this week!):

All too often, board members stifle their own potential to be great leaders by staying in the dark on important legal issues. Increased attention to earned income and social enterprise, greater utilization of technologies and social media, and heightened demands for transparency are some of the current trends creating new risks for boards and a stronger need for updated governance discussions in the boardroom. In this session, we will discuss the key legal questions and strategies every board should consider to lead more confidently and effectively in today’s nonprofit landscape.

Emily also will be participating on a panel for the following session: Deliberating the Future: How Will the Public's Demand for Transparency Impact the Recruitment and Role of the Nonprofit Board Member?

9/25 UPDATE:  Some of my favorite tweets from #BLF2011 (we'll post separately about Emily's session) –

  • emilychan: "History rarely moves in straight lines." RT @BoardSource "Certainty is the enemy of hope." Linda Crompton at the opening plenary
  • ReachInc: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed without being faced." – James Baldwin quote
  • emilychan: Healthy to take nothing for granted; to be willing to hold everything out to scrutiny; & to ask the difficult questions. – Crompton
  • BClarkWhitney: In for-profit, risk is absorbed by investors. In the NP sector, risk is absorbed by the most vulnerable in our communities – David Greco 
  • BoardSource: Politics 2.0 have young people on your bd to help u thru technology and figure out branding.
  • BoardSource: Tim Delany: "Politicians don't see our sector as a whole. Only as Tax expenditures and lobbyists for causes."
  • beachpace: Qualities of effective NPO leaders: Commitment to Impact, Willfull Naivety & Resource Magnetism. – Cheryl Dorsey
  • FrogPurse: Dorsey notes that being a next generation leader isn't about your age, it is about your view of the world.
  • emilychan: Fourth Sector accounts for 5-15% of U.S. GDP and 10-20% of U.S. Jobs. – Heerad Sabeti
  • emilychan: The role of nonprofit leaders in the Fourth Sector: Embrace it, help shape it, & find opportunities in it. – Sabeti
  • emilychan: Debate! audience poll: If we want better performance from nonprofit board members, we should pay them. 25% agree; 75% disagree.
  • emilychan: Debate! Q2: Chief Exec accountable & responsible for work of Board. 49% agree; 51% agree. Lively debate in room around the nuances.
  • emilychan: Debate! Q3:Should foundations impose governance stds on grantees? 32% Y; 68% N | More by panelist Rick Moyers http://bit.ly/n06pSz
  • MeredithKennedy The best boards don't think the same, but they do think together. – Richard Chait