How to transition from a not-for-profit to a commercial board role

Are you a not-for-profit board director with aspirations for a commercial or paid board role? This is a common aspiration for many. How to make that transition is a question I get asked regularly.?

Transferable skills

The good news is that you already have board and governance experience due to your for-purpose appointment. This, in the first instance, means you can call yourself a Non-Executive Director (NED), which levels the playing field when compared to other NEDs. Equally, any sort of board level experience offers the opportunity to articulate your value proposition at board level and how your skills and experience can contribute in a board setting.?

Transitioning to commercial boards may seem daunting, but your NFP (not-for-profit) experience can offer a unique advantage for the right commercial organisation. Your skills gained while engaging in not-for-profit governance ARE directly transferable to commercial settings. NFP boards (and their NEDs) must adhere to rigorous governance standards, often more stringent than those in the private sector. Your understanding of governance best practices, compliance issues, and board functioning will, if properly articulated, serve you well when pitching for a commercial board role. Equally, governing an organisation that may operate with limited resources and numerous external pressures means that you can hone and communicate your ability to drive results within constraints – something attractive to commercial and for-purpose organisations alike.?

Frustrations – The reality of the situation

Despite having transferable skills, leveraging your not-for-profit (NFP) board experience into a paid board role is still challenging. This is often because many assume that the skills and experience gained on a NFP board or committee are not transferable to commercial entity boards. Whilst I think this is an incorrect assumption, it is a prevailing perspective of many who make or influence these board appointment decisions. This makes it difficult to leverage your board experience and place your board career in a holding pattern. If you are a not-for-profit NED searching for that elusive paid or commercial opportunity, this will undoubtedly ring true.

Change your approach

It is tempting to lead with and emphasise your Not for Profit board experience when pitching for commercial roles – verbally or in writing, formally or informally. However, with the odd exception, I don’t recommend you do this for the above reasons. Instead, you need to go back to basics and clearly articulate your value to the organisation you are targeting or pitching to. This pitch will initially and likely focus on the commercialities of your executive experience, connections, and industry exposure, which will be supported by any NFP board experience. Not the other way around. In this context, consider your NFP board role a nice to have rather than the reason you should be appointed to a more significant board.

Manage your expectations

It is tempting for many to target desirable board appointments that are realistically out of reach today but might be achievable at the end of their board career. Perhaps consider what I call “gateway NFP organisations”. These include professional or industry associations or organisations like the local Chamber of Commerce, a peak industry body, or a community bank. These organisations are often run by people who ‘just turn up’ and can have significant professionals on their boards. People that can be leveraged and learnt from. However, I think the real benefit is the access these sorts of NFP appointments provide. If you were to be appointed to the board or committee of these sorts of organisations, in addition to calling yourself a non-executive director, you would gain exposure to the entire database of member individuals and member organisations – entities you can legitimately and authentically start developing relationships with. These members and organisations will have access to commercial and paid board opportunities. Remember, 80%+ of all board roles are filled informally through these sorts of ‘weak tie’ connections. And, if we are talking about paid appointments, the figure is closer to 90%, if not higher!

Is a commercial board appointment essential?

Don’t let your board aspirations interfere with what you are passionate about. A NFP board appointment to an organisation you are passionate about personally or professionally is something that I think you should pursue regardless of your longer-term board or executive career goals. I recognise that maintaining an unpaid board role is time-consuming and, at times, risky. However, individuals gain a number of unique benefits for sitting on any board , regardless of whether they are paid or not. Indeed, as I reflect on my relatively meagre board experience, I am reminded of how valuable my board work has been to my executive career. In fact, I can say unequivocally that my voluntary board experiences have been pivotal to my executive success. Whilst it is not the reason I serve on NFP boards, it is a nice by-product.

In Summary

Don’t expect a NFP board role to lead to a commercial appointment. Instead, it is more helpful to ‘silo’ your NFP board experience when it comes to applying for or convincing someone to appoint you to a commercial board. Focus on your commercial expertise, strategic experience and personal connections, Particularly the value this experience can add at board level. This, to my mind, is the reason you will be appointed to a commercial board. Your NFP governance experience is a value add.?

About the Author

David Schwarz is CEO & Founder of Board Direction – Australia’s leading board advertising and non-executive career support firm. He has over a decade of experience of putting people on boards as an international headhunter and a non-executive recruiter and has interviewed over one thousand non-executives and placed hundreds into some of the most significant public, private and NFP roles in the world