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Feature

Leanne Bergey
Founder/President
BoardEffect

Engaging Nonprofit Board Members Through Innovative E-Governance

Just as in the corporate sector, new tools will help nonprofit agencies to better communicate with their boards and meet their missions more effectively.

By Leanne Bergey

For better or worse, the nonprofit sector has experienced as much scandal as the for-profit world. Executive directors with outrageous incomes. Millions of dollars diverted to causes specifically forbidden by their endowments. Misuse of funds earmarked for families of 9/11 victims. The past five years has seen increased attention on mismanagement at nonprofit agencies.

While these instances are not the norm, they should be considered a call to action for our country’s 1.5 million nonprofits.

Many board members at these agencies are corporate executives working out of a spirit of goodwill, a passion for creating change. Experts claim that the spirit of that “engagement” — actively connecting with fellow board members, agency staff, and the global community — is not making its way into the boardroom. Having preached on the importance of board structure and streamlined process, governance consultants are now tackling the nuances of what makes a board move from good to great.

Managing volunteer board members can be very different than working with fiscally tied corporate directors. If finding time for board work is difficult at your company, double that angst for nonprofit agencies. Many nonprofits work at the whim of their funding streams. Staff members wear multiple hats. Information getting to board members may be inaccurate, missing, or hidden in an avalanche of unsorted (and sometimes irrelevant) data.

Enter E-Governance
If we’re looking for nonprofit boards to be more informed, accountable, and more engaged, then e-governance is — if not the only answer — a major part of the solution.

Currently, one out of five corporate boards currently uses an information management portal to keep board members connected and abreast of critical information. Although harnessing the power of 24/7 connectedness has made a major impact in the corporate sector, e-governance remains relatively unknown in the nonprofit sector.

The best nonprofit e-governance tools and practices do not add (or even appear to add) more work to the board’s plate. These web-based portals allow for collaboration between meetings, access to vital information, and separate out committee work in special areas for private deliberation. The best tools help to create an organizational history with secure document storage, orient new board members, and archive all synchronous and asynchronous communication.

Most importantly, they have built in knowledge management structures and processes that mimic “offline” board work, and often include instructional and educational tools that promote best practices.

BoardEffect, a new tool, launching in November 2007, has a partnership with BoardSource (formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards) to integrate its nonprofit policy sampler — over 240 templates and best practice instructions — into the online portal.

Commit to the New Tools
The old adage is very relevant here: e-governance cannot be “technology for technology’s sake.” Nonprofit governance consultants need to get ahead of the trend and commit to using e-governance tools as part of their strategy portfolio. Overworked boards and staff will need to integrate their online work seamlessly with their offline efforts, and they’ll need a guiding hand.

E-governance opens a myriad of opportunities for increased engagement as long as misplaced fears of additional work or “new” technology do not inhibit acceptance.

There are new rules of involvement for nonprofit sector board members. Our new benchmarks are passion, candor, and engagement. With the help of e-governance tools, nonprofit agencies can engage their boards and meet their missions more effectively.

Leanne Bergey is a nationally recognized authority on governance communication. She serves on the board of directors for the Creative Greenhouse and has been elected Board Member of the Year 2004 of Teaming for Technology, United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. She is also one of a select group of ePhilanthropy Master Trainers for the ePhilanthropy Foundation and teaches numerous classes, workshops, and seminars for regional and national associations and organizations.

She led the research and development process for BoardEffect™, a secure online portal and information management system for boards of directors operated by Verve, a firm specializing in Internet strategic communication planning and implementation for mission-focused organizations. BoardEffect is launching in November 2007.