NAAG/NASCO Charities Conference: Purpose-Driven Board Leadership

One of the outstanding presentations at the 2023 NAAG/NASCO Charities Conference focused on Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (“PDBL”), a governance framework that I think has groundbreaking potential. Dani Robbins, BoardSource’s Director of Strategic Governance, delivered the presentation which provided attendees, including many state charity regulators with much food for thought. As an introduction to the presentation, […]

Lessons in Nonprofit Governance from the Screen

I’ll be presenting a session at the 2023 NAAG/NASCO Charities Conference this Wednesday, October 11. The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and the National Association of State Charities Officials (NASCO) are holding the Conference virtually this year. You can register through Monday, October 9, here ($100). You’ll need to attend for the pop culture […]

Restatement of the Law: Duty of Loyalty

The ALI Restatement of the Law, Charitable Nonprofit Organizations (the “Restatement”) provides: “A fiduciary of a charity has a duty to: … [a]ct in good faith and in a manner the fiduciary believes to be in the best interests of the charity in light of its purposes ….” The Restatement explains: [W]ith the exception of […]

More on Purpose-Driven Board Leadership

In 2021, Anne Wallestad, the widely respected former CEO of BoardSource, wrote one of the most important articles on nonprofit governance I’ve ever read, The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership (Stanford Social Innovation Review). We’ve previously written about the article’s proposed governance model here and here. The article emphasized that nonprofit boards must govern with consideration […]

Georgetown Nonprofit Governance 2021 – Part 2

This is our second post on Georgetown Law’s annual nonprofit governance conference held virtually last week – 2021 Nonprofit Board Governance: Identifying Issues, Assessing Effectiveness, Managing for Organizational Success. Here are more highlights from Day One: The Board’s Role Anne Wallestad, CEO of BoardSource, discussed the role of the board of directors of a nonprofit and the […]

Georgetown Nonprofit Governance: Where Was the Board?

Georgetown Law’s annual nonprofit governance conference was held virtually earlier this week – 2021 Nonprofit Board Governance: Identifying Issues, Assessing Effectiveness, Managing for Organizational Success. The opening session was presented by James G. Sheehan, Chief of the New York Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, and Anne Wallestad, CEO of Board Source. This post will highlight part […]

Nonprofit Tweets of the Week – January 3, 2014

    We wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Have a listen to U2's New Year's Day while perusing this week's tweets on nonprofits, philanthropy, governance and social enterprises:  Nonprofit Quarterly: NPQ looks back at important trends of 2013 and what to anticipate in 2014 http://ow.ly/saVME  Philantopic: Looking Ahead: Trends, Collisions That Will […]

Screwtape’s 10 Tips for Building a Better Board

  Limit the board to family and friends, people who will support whatever you want to do. If you add more board members, make sure they have a high net worth. Allocate minimal resources to recruiting; just have existing board members ask their rich friends. Don't worry about diversity; 86% of nonprofit board members are […]

Quotes from Glee and Nonprofit Governance

"When my mom applied to college, she put being popular as her main extracurricular activity." – Quinn.  Too often, nonprofits recruit board members because of their social status or popularity.  They justify this because of the funds and connections they may bring with them.  We criticize colleges for accepting students for the same reasons.  Shouldn’t […]