Virtual Program:
Facilitating Board Development in Nonprofits

Active and Focused Board Members Are a Tremendous Asset

These are extremely challenging times for nonprofits.  As the number and complexity of social needs seems to increase, the availability of funding for nonprofits seems to decrease.  Nonprofits are expected to do more with less, while being more entrepreneurial in their operations and fundraising.  Meanwhile, volunteer Board members strive to effectively understand their roles, and yet govern their nonprofits to operate more effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of their communities.

There are various best practices that help to ensure that Board activities always remain focused on what is important, and not just on what is urgent.  When Boards struggle, it usually is because they are missing some or all of these best practices. This program is to develop your ability to facilitate Board members to implement those best practices, resulting in Boards that remain tremendous assets to their communities and their nonprofits.

You can be an external consultant or even an internal consultant, such as the CEO or a fellow member of the Board. (Remember, a consultant is someone who tries to help an individual or organization to change, but who has no direct control to make that happen.)

The focus of the program is primarily on Boards of Directors in the United States and Canada.  However, the majority of the topics pertain to best practices in Boards around the world.  To understand what we mean by the phrase, "Board operations," see the topics in this program’s
Syllabus.

Benefits to You

Audiences for This Program

This program is for highly motivated people, working inside or outside of nonprofits, who seek to develop strong skills in facilitating Board development in nonprofits, in addition to increased people, organizational, systems and consulting skills, for example:

• Board members or employees who want to facilitate high-quality Boards for their organizations
• Facilitators who want to add nonprofit organizational skills to their process skills
• Experienced nonprofit leaders who are considering consulting as their next career
• Funders who want to select high-quality Board developers for their grantees

You do not have to come to the program with a current Board development project in order to greatly benefit from this program.  You can also be working on a project, even a project that is already into the middle and end-phases of the consulting process.  In those situations, the program's peer coaching group process still focuses on wherever you are in the project.  

From This Program, You Will Be Able To:

As a result of completion of this program and its prerequisite self-paced courses, you will be able to:

• Utilize a time-tested, proven process for improving the quality of Board operations
• Collaborate with an effective Board Governance Committee to improve Board operations
• Conduct a powerful, practical evaluation of the quality of the Board’s operations
• Guide the Committee to establish a relevant and realistic Board Development Plan for Board improvement
• Support the Committee’s role in ensuring the Board’s implementation of the Board Development Plan
• Provide useful and targeted advice to ensure momentum and learning during implementation
• Re-evaluate the quality of Board operations to measure the extent of improvement in the Board as a result of the Board development project

Abundant Sources for Your Learning During the Program

1. Virtual methods of access to content, coaching, peer exchange and sharing
2. Vast range of practical guidelines, tools and templates for facilitating Board development in nonprofits, including from our text, Field Guide to Developing, Operating and Restoring Your Nonprofit Board
3. 10 virtual modules, each including:
   1. Self-scheduled 1-2 hours of readings from the text and articles between meetings (see the Syllabus of topics)
   2. 90-minute, virtual seminar among participants and faculty, to discuss and reflect on the content from the readings
   3. 90-minute, virtual peer coaching group meeting among participants and faculty, to coach each member on applications of the readings
4. Ongoing peer coaching exchange in private group emails among participants and faculty
5. Comprehensive Learning and Development Journal to cultivate deep reflection and learning from all modules in the Program

For more information about each of these sources and the unique philosophy of learning in this program, see About CDI. (We also can provide this as an in-house program for your organization.)