RELEVANT
REVIEWS
Best Practices and Tools for
Not-for-Profit Boards
2004. Pealow,
James and Humphrey, Sandi. Toronto, ON:
Canadian Society of Association
Executives. 125 pages. Soft cover (8.5" x 11").
www.csae.com
Price
$89.00 (members)
$129.00 (non-members)
Plus
shipping & handling and applicable taxes.
"Highly publicized corporate
governance failures have members of not-for-profit
boards doing a whole lot of soul searching. What
is the real role of the board? What can boards and
individual board members be held liable for?
Where is the dividing line between board
responsibilities and staff responsibility? How do we
know if the right things are actually being done in
our organization, and how do we determine what the
right things really are? What skills and abilities do
good board members bring to the table? What should we
really be discussing at board meetings?"
Authors Pealow and Humphrey start this
resource with the above questions as they embark on
the challenge of producing a publication that will
"bring about positive change in your not-for-profit
organization".
The approach they use is to divide the
practices and tools into four competency areas --
people, policy, property and process. Within
each area, they pose from 5 to 12 questions board
members may be asking. They discuss each
question, and then describe a practice that can be
followed in response to the question. Included
in the publication is a tool accompanying every
practice.
It is helpful to have a number of key
elements of interest to board members in one
publication. It is also of value for the less
experienced boards to have a practice and tool
provided rather than simply being told about an issue,
and that as a board, they should do something about
it.
The practices and tools are in
separate parts of the publication, but there are lots
of cross referencing to ensure that readers can check
out tools as they read practices. The Quick
Reference Charts also enables readers to quickly find
the question they want an answer to, and the
applicable practice and tool.
Given that the authors initiated the
book by discussing organizational failures, I would
have liked to see some coverage about proper board
oversight of operations (whether involving staff or
volunteers). In our experience, boards struggle
significantly with what is appropriate oversight.
For example, the authors ask some
great questions of readers about what is important for
boards with respect to organizational finances (i.e.
objectives). Unfortunately, and especially given
that the majority of board members lack financial
expertise, the subsequent practice and tool are
provided without the clarity on how to use them
properly. The presentation of regular financial
reports is insufficient. Boards need to
understand what needs to be in reports, why, and how
to use and gather the information.
While effective audit committees are a
key element of emerging corporate and non-profit
governance changes, I did not notice any reference to
this trend in the financial accountability area.
Similar gaps exist in the other
topical areas. As a result, I think the publication
will be more useful for orientation purposes (where
you want manageable depth on a wide variety of issues)
than as a definitive reference resource (when you want
sufficient depth and authority to address a course of
action in a particular situation).
Overall, this
publication provides sufficient
relevant content to justify its
inclusion in an association's
reference library or executive
director's book shelf. That being
said, I think the price is excessive
and out-of-line, and if I only had
$100 to spend on resource books, I
wouldn't spend it all on just this
one book.
Where the Publication is Available
This publication can be ordered on-line.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgement
-
Introduction
-
Competencies
-
Quick Reference Charts
-
People Practices
-
Policy Practices
-
Property Practices
-
Process Practices
-
People Tools
-
Policy Tools
-
Property Tools
-
Process Tools
-
Sources of Information
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Wayne
Amundson is president of Association Xpertise Inc.
and Publisher/Editor of The
Canadian Association e-zine.
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