As written in another thread, “Trustees of nonprofit organizations have a fiduciary duty to act in the organization's best interests, ensuring its mission is upheld, finances are managed responsibly, and operations are compliant with laws and regulations." There is further information concerning scope of what directors vision should encompass: 1. Fiduciary Duties: Duty of Care: Trustees must exercise reasonable care and diligence in managing the organization's affairs, including reviewing financial statements, monitoring programs, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. 2. Strategic Planning and Governance: Mission and Vision: Trustees help define and maintain the organization's mission, vision, and values, ensuring they guide all activities. 3. Financial Oversight: Budget Approval: Trustees approve the organization's budgetand monitor its financial performance. 4. Program Oversight: Program Evaluation: Trustees monitor and evaluate the organization's programs and services to ensurethey are effective and meet the needs of the community. 5. Legal and Ethical Compliance: Legal Compliance: Trustees ensure the organization operates in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. 6. Board Member Recruitment and Development: Board Recruitment: Trustees play a role in recruiting and selecting new board members, ensuring the board has the necessary skills and expertise. Board Development: They provide training and developmentopportunities for board members to enhance their skills and knowledge. Duty of Loyalty: Trustees must act in the organization's best interests, avoiding conflicts of interest and prioritizing the organization's mission over personal gain. Duty of Obedience: Trustees must ensure the organization operates in accordance with its governing documents, policies, and laws. Strategic Direction: They develop and approve the organization's strategic plan, setting long-term goals and objectives. Policy Development: Trustees establish and review policies and procedures to ensure effective and ethicaloperations. Performance Evaluation: They regularly evaluate the organization's performance against its goals and make necessary adjustments. Resource Management: They ensure the organization has sufficient resources to carry out its mission and programs. Fundraising: They play a role in fundraising efforts, supporting the organization's ability to secure funding. Financial Reporting: They ensure the organization maintains accurate financial records and reports. Program Development: They may be involved in developing new programs and services to address emerging needs. Advocacy: They may advocate for the organization's mission and programs at the local, state, or national level. Conflict of Interest: They must avoid conflicts of interest andensure that all decisions are made in the organization's best interest. Accountability: They are accountable to the organization's stakeholders, including donors, beneficiaries, and the public. 6. Board Member Recruitment and Development: Board Recruitment: Trustees play a role in recruiting and selecting new board members, ensuring the board has the necessary skills and expertise. Board Development: They provide training and development opportunities for board members to enhancetheir skills and knowledge. It’s pretty clear the directors need guidance and direction to start to develop the skills outlined above. Our documents provide little to no advice as to how to be an effective leader within the organization. It appears to me the guidance needs to be written into our documents so to speak to the needs of the organization and the members. The needs of the business should not be an ambiguous term open for outsiders to interpret. Being a board member is not a job for the faint of heart. With the changing environment of society combined with legal and regulatory challenges, the job of being a board member is fraught with issues that must be addressed. There is a focus to create a balance in the needs of all of the stakeholders and address the desires of the community. Developing a plan to achieve a better future for Sun City includes building a greater capacity for the board of directors to function effectively and efficiently. The deferral to the attorneys should be a last resort, not an exception to performing due diligence on a daily basis. The attached list gives a good overview of how the functions should be outlined. Add to that a comprehensive training program and the ability for the board to provide guidance for the community should be stellar.
If i told you there is a gentleman (albeit a winter resident) who lives in Sun City and who owned and ran a company doing trustee/board member training for hospital boards across the country, would you be surprised? Then if i told you he went and offered his services to the general manager, would you be even more surprised? Finally, if he told you he never heard back from the GM, would that surprise anyone?
No, sadly, it doesn’t surprise me. The path to change is not always an easy road to follow. But I feel it’s clear from the continuous need to rely on an attorney’s opinion in order to function, a directional change needs to occur. The need for training is most clear, followed by structured guidance for the director’s to follow that does not include ambiguous language. As the scope of the community expands, so does the need for guidance and direction to follow. This business of the board needing to refer all items for legal advice is absurd. The original documents were rewritten and annotated with a goal to make sure they were not clear as to the purpose and scope. Clarity is needed and the board would surely benefit from having this information available.
