We’ve put together an FAQ to address frequently-asked questions we have heard from board members, staff, and volunteers at small- and medium-sized nonprofits.
Decision-Making
How do we figure out whether a decision belongs to the board or to staff?
Instead of asking “who owns this,” ask what kind of decision it is by checking it against four areas: Mission (does it affect purpose or direction?), Risk (legal, financial, reputational, or safety concerns?), Resources (a significant commitment of money, people, or capacity?), and Accountability (who’s ultimately responsible for the outcome?). The more a decision touches these four areas, the more the board should be involved.
What happens if a decision doesn’t clearly belong to either the board or staff?
Many decisions fall into a gray zone — program changes tied to strategy, budget adjustments, risk calls, new opportunities. These usually call for collaboration rather than one group owning the decision outright.
How do we know if our nonprofit board of directors is spending its time well?
Look at your meeting agendas. If most of the time goes to operational updates and routine approvals, the board is likely doing management work, not governance. If time goes to mission, risk, sustainability, and the organization’s future, the board is functioning as a governing body.
Our nonprofit is getting bigger and having trouble making decisions. What should we do?
Where are you in your growth cycle? A startup with a working board makes decisions differently than a mature organization with staff.
Early on, a working board does almost everything. As staff are hired, responsibilities shift toward them. As the organization matures, the board typically moves toward focusing on strategy, oversight, and sustainability rather than operations.
If you’re experiencing micromanagement, staff hesitation to act, board rubber-stamping decisions without real discussion, slow decision-making, and frustration over who has authority, you may have outgrown your structure. Read the FAQ item, “How do we figure out whether a decision belongs to the board or to staff?”
Who should set policies and procedures – the board or the staff of a nonprofit?
First, you need to know the difference between policies, procedures, and practices. Policies set direction, guardrails, and expectations. Procedures describe how work actually gets done. Practices are the everyday habits and approaches people develop through experience.
When you look at it this way, you’ll see how boards establish policies, staff develop procedures, and practices evolve naturally through experience.
I’m a board member who also volunteers or serves on a committee. Are there any issues around that?
You will need to keep your roles straight. First, name which “hat” you’re wearing. A board hat means governance, direction, and oversight. A volunteer hat means doing the work. A committee hat means researching and preparing recommendations. Confusion happens when information you gained from one role starts driving decisions that belong to another role.
What’s the role of a nonprofit board committee?
Committees work best when their job is limited to exploring issues, gathering information, and developing recommendations – not making final decisions. The committee gives the board the information they need to make decisions, and the board doesn’t have to spend the time on research.
What does “authority” mean in a governance context?
Authority isn’t about who holds the most power – it’s about who is the recognized, appropriate source for a given decision. Boards hold authority over mission, accountability, and long-term direction; staff hold authority over implementation, because they’re closest to the work.
What questions should a board ask before diving into an issue?
Ask four questions: Is this about mission? Is this about risk? Is this about resources? Is this about accountability?
These filter questions help the board stay focused on governance instead of getting pulled into operational details.
To learn more about board decision-making, we recommend the Nonprofit Board Certificate Course.
How do I…
How do I serve on a nonprofit board? How do I recruit board members? How do I read financial statements? How do I prepare my nonprofit for a disaster?
You may have landed in a nonprofit role that is completely different from anything you’ve done in the past. Like most of us, you turn to the internet to get some answers. At the Nonprofit Learning Center, we support the community by answering a lot of questions! We hope we’ve answered the one at the top of your mind below.
How do I recruit members for my nonprofit board?
We’ve created a video you can share with prospective board members, to help them understand what’s involved in the role.
To go deeper: Take the Nonprofit Board Certificate Course. In the first module, we explore recruiting a diverse board and the roles and responsibilities of a board member.
How do I serve on a nonprofit board?
We’ve created a video to help you get started in the role of a board member.
To go deeper: Take the Nonprofit Board Certificate Course in English or Spanish.
How do I prepare my nonprofit for a disaster?
In Disaster Planning for Nonprofits, there are three steps: Document, Gather, and Problem-Solve. You spend time thinking about and writing down the different types of situations you might encounter at your location. You make inventories of what you have, including the information and data. Then you write a Continuity of Operations Plan, or COOP, that sets out the specific steps for your nonprofit if something occurs. We walk you through the steps to do all of this for your nonprofit, with exercises, checklists, and a full set of downloadable spreadsheets and tools.
There’s no such thing as an off-the-shelf disaster plan, because every nonprofit is different. Our step-by-step approach is intended to make your custom plan as easy to create as possible.
How do I write a continuity of operations plan, or COOP?
There are two types of COOPs: By disaster and by task. A COOP by disaster addresses a possible scenario and then lists the steps you would take if it occurs. A COOP by task documents how different functions, such as payroll, would be handled in the event of a disaster.
We explain how to create both a COOP by Disaster and a COOP by Task in Disaster Planning for Nonprofits.
I’m a nonprofit board member. Does that mean I have to give money or do fundraising?
Every board has different expectations, but you should know that there are a variety of ways to support an organization. We recommend you start with an understanding of the three steps to fundraising: Cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. The work involved in the three steps is not equal! Probably 60% of the work is cultivation, or building relationships with people who are interested. 10% is asking them for support – solicitation. The remainder is stewardship, which is keeping those people engaged and connected to the work.
To go deeper: Take How to Raise Money for Your Organization, which includes videos and a workbook that will give you clear fundraising steps to move forward.
What are all these numbers? How do I read a nonprofit financial statement?
There are four statements to understand: a balance sheet (a snapshot in time), an income statement (how the money flows over time), a cash flow statement (what you have available to use), and a budget (the planned-for income and expenses).
The numbers in each statement are linked to each other, and that shows you the true financial health of your nonprofit. To understand each statement, plus the relationship between them, we recommend that you take our online course, Let’s Talk Money. It’s an introduction to basic nonprofit finance that includes a workbook with examples of the financial statements and videos to walk you through them.
If you already know how to read a financial statement, but the rest of your board seems confused when you talk about it, consider this: You can take Let’s Talk Money and learn new, easier ways to explain these concepts to others.