Governance Selection

St. Stephen, New Brunswick is known as the Chocolate Town. It is the home of Ganongs, a 150-year-old family-run candy company that is the economic lifeblood of this community. A box of Delecto dark chocolates is a favourite of mine. It offers a taste experience that is not well captured just by the description of each piece,

The same can be said for a selection of eight yummy posts by other Canadian and American governance experts. These ones are chosen in the hope of satisfying a range of volunteer board member and executive director palates.

Learn why you might not want to routinely review your executive report at every board meeting. Discover why a mix of revenue sources, or a balanced budget, might not always be a good thing for a non-profit. Explore what do about a micro-managing board. Take in the argument for board term limits. And, improve your non-profit's most important governance relationship, the one between the board chair and the executive director.

One or more of these topics will surely be to your taste. Open it up here.

Wondering what is in store for Governing Good later in 2020 and early and 2021? Well, I have a number of posts in the works. Here are three:

The rules have changed for Canadian charities opening up the possibilities for them to have greater involvement in trying to improve public policy. So, look for a post specifically on board's role in advocacy. This post will complement an October 2019 one entitled Board Members as Ambassadors.

The common concept of governing with "policies" is, I think, mysterious to many non-profits. This not surprising given the confusing array of information and advice available online. Although I have some sample policies on Governing Good, I believe it would be helpful to sketch out a picture of what policies a non-profit must have, a base list if you like, and what policies it ought to have, a more "world wise" list. This will likely require two future posts.

Another post I have researched and sketched out is one on non-profit membership. Are your members a well-defined and engaged group of people who pay close attention to what your organization does? Or are your members a group you identify with and work for but are not really connected to your organization in a formal way. And then, you may be amongst those non-profits whose only actual, legal members. are the directors, Indeed, there is a continuum of membership approaches Where are you and is it important to invest some time in clarifying and improving this connection?

So subscribe to Governing Good and stay tuned.