Nonprofit Governing Board

Introduction A nonprofit governing board has many responsibilities when it comes to the success of the finances of an organization. These responsibilities include and are not limited to oversight by state and federal regulators, identifying and managing financial risk, the management of finances and fiduciary oversight, and communication financial transparency to all of the members of an organization. To begin with, executive director’s and CEOs are responsible for coming up with a strategic plan which ensures the relevance of objectives to achieve the organization’s ultimate vision and mission. A vision is a picture of what is possible for an organization to accomplish within the community it serves (p. 79, Carlson). The board members, staff,

Boards of directors adopt financial policies which clarify the roles, authority, and responsibilities for financial management activities and decisions (Council of Nonprofits). While executive directors use financial leadership to impact the mission and goals of an organization, boards of directors have a governing role in assessing and planning an organization’s finances. The board of director’s work with the executive directors to produce financial results. The board is responsible for short and long term planning for an organization, build reports, evaluate financials, and plan to project future project needs. They also embrace new management models that produce more and better results, they find new ways to engage donors more fully, diversify funding streams that include earned income, brand their services and communicate their messages, produce measurable results, and approach missions in a scalable manner sufficient to solve the community problems and opportunities they were formed to address (p. 37, Olberding). The board of directors uphold important responsibilities and duties to help their respective organizations achieve the ultimate goal and success of missions and core

Nonprofit organizations strive to better a community it chooses to serve by upholding high values, accountability, and financial stability throughout its management practices. Both executive directors/CEOs and the board of directors use their management skills to help achieve the ultimate success of nonprofit organizations. A quote from an executive director in the journal article, “The Executive Director’s Guide to Thriving as a Nonprofit Leader,” to sum up financial management in nonprofits is, “just because we are a nonprofit, that doesn’t mean we can’t make a profit” (p. 114,