January 6, 2025 • 45 mins
Unlocking the secrets to managing effective nonprofit boards, our episode promises to transform your approach to board recruitment and engagement. With our insightful guest, Phelosha Collaros, we uncover how to transcend the traditional focus on financial capacity and instead recruit board members driven by passion and alignment with your mission. This discussion challenges the norm, advocating for a nuanced, staged pipeline approach to recruiting, where financial commitment is just the starting point for identifying true mission champions.
Prepare to rethink your onboarding strategy with lessons from the seasoned expertise of Phelosha Collaros. Transitioning from basic orientations to a more structured and comprehensive onboarding program, we detail the essential steps your organization needs to cultivate dedicated board members right from the start. By crafting tailored welcome emails, hosting informative orientation sessions, and setting up mentorship opportunities, your nonprofit can ensure a seamless integration that fosters long-term engagement and accountability.
Finally, delve into the intricacies of board engagement and governance with actionable strategies to elevate your board’s effectiveness. From candid conversations and peer counseling to utilizing anonymized surveys for honest feedback, this episode is packed with innovative ideas to keep board members motivated and mission-aligned. Discover how redefining fundraising roles and celebrating successes can transform your board’s fundraising potential without overwhelming them. Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical advice from Phelosha Collaros on cultivating a board that not only supports but champions your organizational goals.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Keith Greer, CFRE (00:05):
Hey, there, hi, and welcome back ambitious
fundraisers.
Today we're diving into a topicthat can make or break the
success of your nonprofitmanaging your board.
Let's face it, your board ofdirectors has the potential to
be your organization's greatestasset or its biggest challenge.
So how do you recruit, engageand empower a board that's truly
aligned with your mission andready to roll up their sleeves?
(00:27):
That's exactly what we'reunpacking in today's
conversation.
We'll tackle some of thetoughest questions around board
management.
How do you identify boardmembers who are more than just
their financial capacity?
What makes a truly great boardmember, and how can you
cultivate a culture ofengagement and accountability
that keeps your board inspiredand active long-term?
(00:47):
Grab a notebook and settle in.
You're not going to want tomiss this one.
So let's talk fundraising withour special guest, Phelosha
Collaros.
I'm thrilled to welcome today'sguest, Phelosha Collaros, to the
show.
Phelosha serves as the VicePresident for Board Governance
and Strategic Outcomes at StJohn's College, which has
(01:08):
campuses in Annapolis, maryland,and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In this role, she's at the helmof the college's governance
structure, ensuring strongcommunication and policy
management with the Board ofVisitors and Governors.
Beyond that, Phelosha is aconnector, building meaningful
relationships with individualsand organizations who share a
passion for lifelong learning, amission St John's College is so
(01:31):
well known for.
Before stepping into this role,she served as the college's
vice president for advancementand alumni relations, and she
also brings a wealth ofexperience from her time as the
foundation director for theAmerican Society of Radiologic
Technologists.
With degrees in business andpublic administration from
Walden University andcertification as a Quality
(01:51):
Improvement Associate, Pheloshabrings both expertise and heart
to every facet of her work.
Phelosha, welcome to Let's TalkFundraising.
I'm so excited to have you here.
Phelosha Collaros (02:02):
Oh, Keith, I'm so excited to be here.
Thank you so much for theinvitation.
I'm looking forward to ourdiscussion today.
Keith Greer, CFRE (02:08):
Absolutely, and I just kind of want to jump
right in and many nonprofitleaders search for potential
board members based on theperson's capacity to give.
The belief is that if they getinvolved on the board, that they
will naturally want to supportthe organization with an
increase in their ownphilanthropy.
What do you think of thisstrategy?
How does it fall short, andwhat is a better way to approach
(02:28):
identifying board members whoare truly invested in the
organization's mission?
Phelosha Collaros (02:34):
Yeah, I think that the answer to why it falls
short is a simple one, but thecontext on what to do about it
is probably much more complexand we'll spend some time on
that.
I think that the short answeris you know, just because
somebody has financial capacity,it doesn't guarantee that
they're going to be missionaligned with your organization.
It doesn't guarantee anyengagement or commitment.
(02:57):
So financial capacity is anindication of financial capacity
.
Keith Greer, CFRE (03:02):
Full stop, and that's it.
Phelosha Collaros (03:03):
That's it period.
Financial capacity, full stop.
That's it Period.
So if you really are trying tounderstand, you know how do you
go around that shortcoming.
I think first we have to behonest with ourselves of what
drives that right.
Why are we doing this in ourorganizations?
Because we are and I think thatis the complicated context
because many, if not most,nonprofits you know context,
(03:27):
because many, if not most,nonprofits you know, have deep
financial needs and the board isusually a very strong piece of
the puzzle on how thosefinancial needs are met.
So I think for many of us,financial capacity really is a
significant part of theconversation of how we are going
to compose our board so that wecan meet the needs of the
people we're serving.
So, knowing that constraint,knowing that information and
(03:49):
knowing that it is also truethat transformational gifts,
campaign gifts, they are indeedinfluenced positively by board
membership, either by alreadybeing a sitting board member or
by kind of merging as somebodythat's an appropriate leader for
the board.
So those things are tiedtogether.
So if we're going to take forgranted that we need board
(04:10):
members to give their meaningfulphilanthropy and we're going to
take for granted that major andtransformational gifts are
positively impacted by boardphilanthropy, by board
membership, by boardphilanthropy, by board
membership.
How do we say okay, thatgranted.
How do we not fall into thetrap that we're pursuing the
wrong people for boardmembership based on financial
(04:32):
capacity?
And I think what's most helpfulfor me is to draw one very
bright, specific line, and thatis that the gift conversation
should happen before anybody isappointed to board membership.
Keith Greer, CFRE (04:47):
Hope is not a strategy Exactly.
Phelosha Collaros (04:50):
If you just hold that line right, we're
going to have the giftconversation before somebody is
appointed to board duties.
Then you have that moment whereyou're able to really assess
that commitment and that desireto actually support the
organization at a higher level.
So hope is not a strategy.
(05:10):
Putting someone on the boardbecause you hope they're going
to give no, that is the line.
I would encourage people tokind of reboot the way they look
at bringing on people withfinancial capacity to the
organization, not, as you know,like an open floodgate, but as
stages of a board pipeline.
So you have your kind of idealimmediate recruitment situation.
(05:34):
And that is where you havesomeone with financial capacity
who has a history ofphilanthropic donations to your
nonprofit and they also have theinterest and the skills and
abilities to serve on a board.
That's your short-termrecruitment timeframe.
Right, they've already signaledthe financial commitment.
They've already stood out fortheir expertise or for their
(05:55):
volunteerism.
That's someone you're going tomove along very quickly.
And you have kind of theshort-term recruitment not
immediate but short-term andthose are people that their
giving is maybe new or it's kindof minimal, but they have all
these other indications ofcommitment right, they volunteer
for your organization in asustained way.
(06:15):
They're a particularconstituent.
That's important, right.
They could be a parent of astudent who's attending your
institution.
They could be a regular at alot of different events that the
organization puts on gatherings.
They're a real strongparticipant.
So you have this indication ofengagement.
Strong indication of engagement.
Weaker indication ofphilanthropy.
But that's a good short-termrecruitment prospect because you
(06:39):
can draw on that engagement andhave the conversation about
whether they're willing toincrease their philanthropic
commitment and then kind of putin your long-term pipeline
people who have not given toyour organization.
They have high financialcapacity and you see that they
give to organizations like yoursat a significant level.
(07:00):
So they're interested inaffinities in terms of mission
engagement and that is somethingto build on.
But your next action is not tofigure out how to get them on
the board.
Your next action is to figureout how to deepen the connection
between them and your specificorganization.
Keith Greer, CFRE (07:16):
Yeah, and I think that's such an important
point to mention that it's notjust about the financial
commitment, but it's about thatconnection.
How much do they actually careabout you?
Because something that couldlook like a big gift to us as
fundraisers might be reallyinconsequential to them and it's
really a lack of interestthat's not getting them to give
it that bigger level.
So I think that's a reallyimportant piece to point out,
(07:37):
but you've been working withboards for as long as I've known
you, which I think is going onlike 10 or 15 years at this
point it's kind of wild, but inyour experience, what are the
key qualities or characteristicsthat make someone not just a
good but a great board memberfor a nonprofit organization?
Phelosha Collaros (07:55):
Yeah, that's an excellent question.
I find that there's a lot ofcommonalities.
So I've had the privilege ofworking with three different
types of boards, right?
So an elected board, so boardof directors that's actually
elected from membership.
A board of trustees, which iskind of self-appointed in an
organization and more kind oflike a I would say like an
(08:17):
advisory council type of board,so board members who are chosen
for their connection to theorganization with a different,
like, for example, corporatesponsorship type of role.
And so all of those are.
They're very different in termsof the individual reasons why
you're going to bring peopleonto a board.
But there's some significantlystrong commonalities and I would
say you know, the first one isreally mission alignment.
(08:38):
Right, that they do have thatinterest, that engagement with
the mission, that they're reallylooking for furthering the
cause or the vision of theorganization and they're not in
it for personal gain.
I think that's very important.
It's not a soapbox for them orthey're coming in with some type
of agenda.
They really believe in theorganization, they really
believe in the mission and thepeople you're trying to serve.
(09:00):
The second one, I think, isaccountability.
Really great board members.
They show up, they're there atthe meetings, they're prepared
for those meetings, they've readthe things in advance that
they're supposed to read,they're prepared to ask
intelligent questions.
They're kind of getting belowthe surface because of their
(09:21):
continuity of engagement andaccountability.
And that is really important.
And I would say, you know,right now we're reassessing our
governing documents at St John'sCollege and one of the
questions we're asking is shouldwe have a different type of
group that are not working boardmembers, that are not governing
board members, of folks that wewant to acknowledge or keep
close to the organization butnot just give them that title?
(09:43):
Because the accountability ofbeing a governing board member
to do the work, to do thereadings, to show up, is not the
same as someone you want to putin because they have affluence
and influence and you just wantthem to be in your orbit.
So kind of making sure thedifference between somebody you
want to engage and a great boardmember is somebody who's going
to bring that accountability.
The next one I'd say is astrategic mindset.
(10:05):
They really have to get beyondthe day-to-day and think
long-term, like what is thesustainability, what is the
enduring part of thisorganization that we're going to
steward into the future?
And that can be sometimes hardfor some board members who get a
little fixated on maybesomething that's happening right
now or a specific thing thatthey might be concerned about in
(10:27):
the moment.
Really, taking that long viewis critical for board members,
and a great board member canconnect the short-term things
that are happening with thatlong-term view of how we're
going to be successful.
And I think the final thing Iwould highlight is they really
need to have a collaborativenature right.
So boards function as acollective and they bring that
(10:49):
collective wisdom to the tableand they can only act for their
organization as a collective,not as individuals.
So in order to be effective asa board member, you have to know
how you're going to work withthe other board members, how
you're going to work with thestaff, how you're going to work
with the chief executive orpresident at the organization
and how you're going to interactwith stakeholders.
In a way.
That's all very positivereaffirming keeping
(11:15):
accountabilities where they needto be kept, but also moving
things forward together, reallyreducing any type of unnecessary
friction, which is not adifference of opinion, but it is
like anything that will dragthe organization back from
because somebody wants to act asan individual as opposed to
part of a group, a collectivethat is stewarding this
(11:35):
organization together.
That's going to hold someoneback from being a great board
member.
But once they master that skillof working in committees, in
working groups, with presidentsand staff, then they're a very
powerful actor for theorganization.
Keith Greer, CFRE (11:50):
I wish you could just share that message to
all potential board members oflike.
You're part of a group here.
This is not about you and yourinterest.
It's about what is best for theorganization.
That's such an important one.
But I really liked what youwere talking about how you're
evaluating a potential new kindof structure to bring in people
who might not want to be part ofthe organizational influence or
(12:13):
organizational management, butthey still want to have some
kind of influence and be able toshow their commitment and their
passion, and I think that's areally important thing, because
not everybody wants to do theheavy lifting that a board
necessarily has to do, and noteverybody's qualified to do it
either, but they can still bepassionate about supporting it
in other ways.
Phelosha Collaros (12:32):
Exactly.
I mean, every board member hasa fiduciary responsibility for
the organization, right?
So that means you ought toreview the 990.
You ought to review thefinancials.
If that is not for you, youought not to be on a board.
Right, right Find out other waysto volunteer and hopefully the
organization can provide thoseways for you to be involved in
events or in other type of taskforces or advisory groups, you
(12:58):
know, so that we can, you know,tap into your talent and your
passion, but not have the samestringent requirements that a
governing board needs to meet.
Keith Greer, CFRE (13:06):
So, as you're kind of looking at these two
introducing this new structure,what strategies do you recommend
for recruiting board memberswho are not only influential or
financially capable, but alsodeeply aligned with the
organization's mission andvalues?
Phelosha Collaros (13:20):
Right.
So you know, I think, that tofind these mission aligned board
members you really do have tohave like a strategic
relationship driven approach.
Right?
So that means you're going toneed to, you know, identify the
skills that you're looking for,open up your networks and, just,
you know, make sure that youare finding the right fit for
(13:43):
your organization at the currenttime.
Right, so there you know, as anorganization grows and evolved,
and especially if you're youknow some, a place like St
John's college that's beenaround you know decades, with a
new program and it's the thirdoldest school in the country you
know that there's going to be alot of changes, that the
organization is going to facechanges to the external
environment and that's going tochange who you need on your
(14:05):
board.
So what we've done is we'veactually worked through the.
We have a trustee andgovernance committee and they're
not only charged with the boardpipeline and kind of nominating
candidates for election to theboard, but they're also recently
taken on a project, whichthey've completed, to create two
seminal documents.
One is a board compositionguideline for internal use by
(14:29):
the Trustee and GovernanceCommittee, where they looked at
who are we looking for at thistime in our current landscape at
the college.
When we look at the overallcomposition of the board, what
do we want that overall makeupto be, very concretely, in terms
of skills and demographics andprofessional background and
(14:50):
constituency relationship to thecollege.
What is that rounded picturethat we want?
When we look at the full board,to say we were able to achieve
as a composition, full boardcomposition, so that guideline
is for internal use.
And then we have an externaldocument that we can share with
all of our board members, all ofour staff members and any
potential trustees, which ismore like a job description.
(15:13):
So it's a leave behind.
You can have a conversationwith somebody about the board.
You can leave it behind withthem.
If somebody says, oh, I'd liketo help you find board members,
we give it to them and so thatthey really have a concrete
sense of who we're looking for.
You know, really, without thattype of clarity, which is the
first step for an organization,you need to ask people to open
(15:37):
their networks and to recommendand nominate board members.
You're going to get much morehigh quality candidates because
they are going to be looking forwho you're looking for.
Keith Greer, CFRE (15:46):
And so once you have those people that
you've identified and you'rebringing them into the fold
you've had that conversationabout giving is part of being on
the board.
How do you approach onboardingnew board members, and what does
an effective onboarding processlook like to ensure they're
fully engaged from the start?
Because if they are startingoff on the wrong foot, it's very
(16:08):
easy for things to go astray.
So how do you get there?
Phelosha Collaros (16:11):
That is so true and I think you know, all
of us can relate a little bit toan experience of being
somewhere and something startshappening and you think this is
not what I expected.
No, this is not what I signedup for.
So you do not want your boardto have that experience, a board
(16:35):
member to have that experience,because I'm sure basically all
organizations have a cap on howmany board seats they have.
So if you put someone in aboard seat, that means somebody
else didn't have that seat, andso you want to make sure that
there's complete alignmentbetween the person who took that
seat and what theirexpectations are and what your
expectations are of them, and sothat I think that starts yeah,
that starts with the firstconversation when you're
inviting them to the board, andthen it's just reinforced all
(16:58):
through this onboarding process.
I also have to say, keith, thatI really liked that you used
the term onboarding and notorientation, because that was a
real kind of revelation for usgoing through the pandemic and
coming out the other side ofthat.
Prior to the pandemic, we had anorientation.
It was like two hours theafternoon before the board
(17:21):
meeting started.
We gave them their binders, wewalked through the materials and
we asked for questions and andthat was it.
And then you know, have a greatweekend, guys.
You know, um, what the pandemicdid, was it?
It just really disrupted thenotion that you can take for
granted that your board cultureis going to transfer between new
(17:41):
board members and sitting boardmembers.
That's gone now.
So you have to be a lot moreintentional on how are you going
to acclimate board members totheir role and to how the board
functions and how to beproductive contributing board
member, member and how to havethat high, highly effective
board.
So we completely changed ourmindset from having an
(18:04):
orientation to having anonboarding program and now we
have several, several steps tothat basically.
So it starts once somebody iselected, they get a welcome
email from the organization thatreally lays out what their year
of onboarding is going to looklike and you know what kind of
resources that are going to bemade available to them.
So after that email, thenthey're going to get a packet in
(18:26):
the mail that's going to havetheir board handbook.
That's going to contain awelcome letter from the chair, a
welcome letter from thepresidents, laying out the
strategic priorities of theorganization at this time.
It's going to have anorganization chart.
It's going to have thedescription of all the
committees, a description of ourpolity document and, I think
(18:48):
really very importantly, adescription of the individual
trustees' roles andresponsibilities and the board's
roles and responsibilities andas distinguished from the roles
and responsibilities of thepresident, because that's
something that can be a littleconfusing for new board members
is what are the nuances betweenthe dividing lines between the
board and the executive of theorganization?
Keith Greer, CFRE (19:10):
So that comes to them yeah, what's that
difference between governing andoperations?
Phelosha Collaros (19:13):
Exactly 100%.
So that comes to them for apre-read and then we do an
orientation.
At the orientation, it is thenew board members, the chairman
of the board, the presidents andthe leadership of trustee and
governance and myself.
So we'll go through all theirquestions that they've now
accumulated since theirpre-reads and then they're
assigned a mentor, and thatmentor, who's a sitting board
(19:35):
member, will have a sidebarconversation with them, either
in person, depending on locality, or online prior to the first
board meeting, and we'll checkin with them at every board
meeting, if not after everyboard meeting, to see how that
experience is going to see whatquestions they have.
I mean, really, in terms of thebest thing you can do with this
(19:55):
onboarding process is make sureto catch deviations early,
right.
So, someone's not having a goodexperience or they're confused,
they're going to start todisengage in that first year.
So what are you setting up tomake sure that disengagement
does not happen in that firstyear?
And then I would say, the finalthing that we do is not just
for new members, but it's such apowerful piece of onboarding
but we keep it for all boardmembers and that is a mission
(20:17):
engagement session.
So every board meeting now andthis was a brainchild of our
sitting chairman of the board,we take two hours out of the
board weekend to have a sessionthat reconnects the board
members with the mission of theorganization.
So, from you know, being acollege, they have done a lab.
They've, you know, done a labthat students would do.
(20:38):
They've done a languagetutorial that students would do.
They've, you know, done a labthat students would do.
They've done a languagetutorial that students would do.
They've also done a kind of animmersive experience into public
safety, like what's the day inthe life of a public safety
officer and how does thatimprove the student experience
They've done, you know, we arenot known for our sports.
We're not the St John's CollegeUniversity of the basketball
(20:58):
fame but you know what doesathletics mean to the program?
What does the whole body, mind,spirit, trifecta mean for the
education of a whole human?
And this coming board meetingwe'll be devoting those two
hours to strategic visioning andplanning so that mission
engagement session you can have.
Prior to this, a board meetingwas a series of committee
(21:19):
meetings and an executivesession and a plenary session.
So you just did.
You know finance and audit andall that that's important.
But to have that moment to stepback as a full board and really
reengage with the mission hasbecome such a powerful piece of
both onboarding new members andalso keeping kind of a board
culture going over time.
Keith Greer, CFRE (21:42):
I really like what you were saying there
about making sure that you havethe culture of the board really
well established, becauseculture eats strategy every day.
Right, absolutely, if theculture's off, it's going to
fall apart, and I think that's athing that so many nonprofits
forget to focus on, not onlywith their staff recruitment,
but especially with their boardrecruitment and their board
(22:02):
leadership, and so having afocus on that, I think, was
really important.
But I also want to make surethat I heard you correctly you
guys do a full year ofonboarding.
Phelosha Collaros (22:12):
Yes, it is a full year and so the orientation
is just the start of it.
But the mentorship we reallylean on the mentorship to carry
the heavy lift of the onboardingfor the rest of the year.
So it is those constantcheck-ins at the board meeting
or right after the board meetingthat really keeps them engaged
in that onboarding process andthe mission engagement sessions
(22:32):
that we do at every meeting.
Keith Greer, CFRE (22:34):
I think that's so important.
In so many places youronboarding or your orientation
is literally a one-hour preludeto the meeting, and then that's
it.
That was us, you're expected tofully engage at the highest
levels, but you also have someboard members that come from
very influential organizationsfor-profit organizations and so
(22:55):
what are some of the keydifferences between serving on a
nonprofit board versus afor-profit board, like maybe
that of a bank?
How should nonprofit leadersleverage these differences when
they're recruiting new members?
Phelosha Collaros (23:07):
Yes, I think the number one thing that pops
into my mind when you ask thatquestion is something that
recently happened at the college.
We had some students organizingto increase the pay of work
studies, and so St John'sfinancial aid is very generous.
We actually our last capitalcampaign, which we completed
(23:28):
very successfully the FreeingMinds campaign was specifically
initiated to roll back tuitionfor 10 years.
So we really do takeaffordability seriously.
But parents and families andstudents are still struggling to
afford the cost of highereducation.
So we understand that that'sreally relevant and see what we
(23:51):
can do about those issues as aphilanthropy dependent
institution.
But when the students came toadvocate for increased wages,
they one of them said why can'tyou take the money that you're
paying the board members andjust give it to the students
instead?
Which was a real teachingmoment because, hey, there's a
key difference between corporateboards and nonprofit boards.
(24:13):
You know they, we do not payour board members.
You know they pay us for theprivilege of serving on the
board.
You know, sometimes millions ofdollars.
So that kind of fundamentalswitch of of the, the, the
organization being some, youknow a corporation being
something.
That's kind of paying you foryour expertise to an
(24:34):
organization that you are sopassionate about, that you're
willing not only to give yourtime as a board member which is
not just meetings but the workdone between meetings and the
preparation but you're alsowilling to give your treasure to
that organization, that youbelieve in it so much that
you're going to make it one ofyour top three financial
priorities.
That is a very differentrelationship and something
(24:58):
that's powerful and in a lot ofways, makes the world go round
and can't be appreciated enoughif people were not making sure
these not-for-profitorganizations were around with
their extraordinary boardcommitments.
I'd say the other two thingsthat I would highlight in terms
of what's different between thecorporate board side and the
nonprofit board side is you knowit is you know that fundraising
(25:21):
role which can take whichstarts with contributing but can
take many different forms rightso that there's more of an
active role in the financialhealth of the organization, the
mission-driven focus.
Right so the board members fornot-for-profits are more
concerned with the communityrather than shareholders.
(25:42):
Right so their responsibilityis to how the nonprofit
organization is keeping itsstatus, how it's serving its
constituency.
And lastly, I think you know wekind of touched on this earlier
, keith, talking about thedivide between presidents and
board members or chiefexecutives and board members,
but I think there's also thatkind of fuzzy divide, depending
(26:06):
on how small your nonprofit is,between board members and staff
or governance and management,because the smaller the
nonprofit is, the more the boardmay be called upon to do
certain activities or tasks thatyou might otherwise rely on
your larger staff basically todo, and that is another level of
(26:28):
commitment and need that isvery, very different from the
corporate board world.
Keith Greer, CFRE (26:33):
And when you're talking about board
members joining and not beingpaid for their service, but
they're volunteering andoftentimes paying to volunteer.
How can nonprofit leaderscultivate a culture of
engagement and accountability onthose boards when they're
paying for the privilege ofbeing there and ensuring that
all members are activelycontributing to the
(26:54):
organization's mission beyondjust attending the meetings, if
you can even get that out ofthem?
Phelosha Collaros (27:00):
Right, right, no, it's a very interesting
relationship, which I think goesback to not every donor should
be on your board.
First of all, right, it can beanother risk to the organization
when your donors that don'thave maybe the perspective and
(27:22):
fortitude to deal with difficultissues are on your board,
because it can encourage anorganization not to bring
difficult issues to their board,and that's what they're there
for.
So if you have donors that youfeel should not be grappling
with the organization's issuesof sustainability and endurance
or other issues that a governingboard might need to address,
(27:43):
having to do with policy oranything like that, then they
really shouldn't be your boardmember.
Find another way to engage andinspire that high net worth
individual who's giving youmoney, so you don't create a
board culture of not talkingabout the truth of what's going
on with your organization.
So I would say that's numberone.
(28:03):
It starts with those clearexpectations and picking the
right board members to be onthat board in the first place,
and the onboarding process thatwe just talked about as well, to
make sure that they'reempowered and informed to take
on that role.
And then I would say, when boardmembers deviate from those
expectations that you laid out,as in your job description and
(28:24):
in the onboarding process, thenthey need to be addressed right.
So, again, like you said, whenit's donors it can be
uncomfortable, but one of thebest solutions to having a board
member counseled is to haveanother board member do it,
because they're also a donor.
We would leverage, like ourchair of the board or our
(28:46):
leadership and our trustee andgovernance committee to have
those conversations.
Certainly, a president can havethose conversations and, as the
stakes get lower, somebody likemyself, a board professional,
can have those conversations.
But you do need to bring thingsto people's attention.
Sometimes it's just an honestoversight or the board member's
very busy and they need thatreminder.
(29:09):
I would say like 80% ofaccountability boils down to
gentle and relentless reminders.
Keith Greer, CFRE (29:17):
Very similar to fundraising.
Phelosha Collaros (29:19):
Exactly, exactly.
And then I'd say the otherthing I'd talk about in terms of
a significant step for us interms of increasing engagement
and accountability which many ofour listeners may not know
about, but I really encouragethem to check it out is our
relationship with theAssociation of Governing Boards.
So you can find them at agborg.
(29:41):
I'll note for your listenersspecifically that they have a
wealth of resources not only forboard governance but also for
that intersectionality betweenboards and fundraising
professionals, such as thedevelopment committee or
advancement committee, how toconstruct that, what the
expectations should be.
So I think it's really worthchecking out for fundraising
(30:02):
professionals who have boardadjacent responsibilities, or
maybe even staffing anadvancement or development
committee, to utilize AGB as aresource to know more how to do
that, set that up, you know,guide it and how to separate
what a board's oversight role inthe fundraising and development
spaces and what the staff'srole and the president's role in
(30:25):
the oversight of the actualoperations and management of the
development or advancementspace.
I think it's really important.
I would also say, hugeadvancement for us with them was
they now do our annual trusteesurvey.
So we used to do this surveyin-house Okay, and it was better
(30:47):
than nothing, but it wasobvious that people weren't
entirely forthcoming when wewould ask them improvement
questions, right, like questionsaround what's not working or
you know what, uh what theywould like us to do instead.
Um, it's the the kind of moredifficult questions on the
survey were the least answeredor the least early answered.
(31:10):
So, going to AGB AGB was ableto anonymize our trustee survey
for us so we can ask, we canrate all of our different goals
on a dimension where we see theboard rankings, both
individually and collectively,and see how we're really, how
(31:31):
they really think we're doing,in addition to verbatim comments
that are now very candid, andthat's helpful, because when you
get candid comments and you getcandid rankings, you can really
assess what needs to be fixed.
I'll point out a couple ofthings that a survey assesses
leadership and shared governance, institutional sustainability
and board performance.
(31:51):
So having that feedback inwriting and those scores, that's
a way to really see with cleareyes where your issues are
versus.
What can sometimes happen iscertain board personalities get
dismissed and not takenseriously as if this is a global
concern.
I'll give you one example, if Imay.
(32:11):
Yeah, so we had had a couple ofboard members that for years
were complaining that they feltthat our board was kind of
homogenizing ideologically andthose concerns were dismissed
Like no, no.
For St John's it's reallyimportant to have, you know,
diverse ideological diversityand identity diversity.
(32:33):
As a school it's important tous and so when we did our last
AGB survey, in addition to allthe other kind of demographic
questions, we're able to askthat people might not be
comfortable sharing with,identifying information like
disability, sexual orientation,things that now a lot of grant
making organizations actuallyare asking you in terms of the
composition of your board, areyou having that kind of
(32:56):
diversity?
We put in a question aboutself-described political
identity on a scale from highlyliberal to highly conservative,
and we thought this is anotheridentity question that we can
ask and get some candid feedbackon in terms of all of our
demographics.
And sure enough we hadhomogenized and so that's not
(33:18):
consistent with the values ofour organization where we want
people from all of thosedifferent ideological and
political perspectives, becauseit's in that difference than an
organization, especially likeours, can prevent having blind
spots.
When you have all thesedifferent voices at the table,
many different dimensions ofdiversity, you're going to be
able to better serve yourstudents better welcome your
(33:40):
families and better provide theeducation that you claim to
provide in our case.
So those kind of metrics for anorganization to be accountable
are very valuable.
And then that kind of data forthe trustee of governance
committee and for the executiveof the committee of the board to
say hi, this is actually thedata.
So we're going to ask ourtrustees to be more accountable
(34:03):
to improving this data and we'regoing to ask the board to be
more accountable to proving thisdata where we see deficiencies,
and we're going to put togethera plan to do that so you can
develop something actionableonce you know where the data is
showing you.
You need improvement.
Keith Greer, CFRE (34:17):
Yeah, and so thank you for bringing up the
AGB, which is the Association ofGoverning Boards.
Is that right?
Yes, that's correct.
Yes, okay, we'll provide a linkto them in the show notes as
well, just in case anybody wantsto check them out.
Excellent, but I wanted to getyour take on something also.
With board members coming on,should there be a clear
(34:37):
expectation that they are goingto be fundraisers for the
organization, or does noteverybody need to play that role
?
But if they do, how dononprofits effectively
communicate and support thisexpectation without overwhelming
them, because so many peopleare terrified of fundraising.
Phelosha Collaros (34:55):
No, I know, I mean, I think it's.
So.
I think the first challengethat organizations have in
relation to their board andfundraising is to redefine what
fundraising means to the boardin the way that fundraising
actually means it.
But for some reason nobody, nolay person, thinks of this right
.
So you'll know this, keith,better than anyone Fundraising
(35:18):
is not just the ask for money.
It is for at least four thingsright the identification, the
cultivation, the ask and thenthe stewardship.
And so when you see fundraisingas that whole continuity of
activities, it's very easy forthe board to find their place
somewhere you know.
Help us identify supportersthat's completely doable.
Help us cultivate them that canbe as little as advocacy or
(35:42):
talking up the organization toyour networks.
It could be hosting an event inyour home or your office where
the organization can gettogether donors and potential
donors.
It can be on the stewardshipside.
It can be just how they engagewith the community or your
constituents at events to raiseconfidence in the organization,
(36:03):
to create a welcomingenvironment and a culture of
mutual support and excitementfor the organization's future.
So there's so many rolesbesides the ask that a board
member can play.
But they don't know that.
They hear fundraising and theythink that you're going to have
them go ask people for money.
Now, it's also not, I think, inthe best interest of staff
(36:24):
members to have any board membergo ask people for money,
because they don't have thatskill, so when you find those
board members who have thatcapability, or you are making an
ask of a transformational sizethat you need somebody else
who's given a transformationalgift to be there, then bring in
(36:44):
your chairman of the board,bring in that board member who's
a donor to be there at thatmeeting and to help encourage
this person to really seriouslyconsider that ask from a
peer-to-peer perspective.
As well as the staff memberthat's there, whether it's a
president or an advancement vicepresident, have them be part of
the ask.
But I think it's really rareunless you're working at the
(37:07):
level of a true kind ofvolunteer organization where
they're going to there's,they're going to go out, they're
going to be trained tofundraise and go out and do that
.
That's great, Give themtraining.
Otherwise it's more like how doyou plug in that board member
to the full continuity offundraising activities at the
level of their skill and theorganization's need and just
opening that app aperture ofwhat fundraising means?
(37:28):
I'm going to give you a veryspecific, if I can, Keith, a
very specific example of onethat even surprised me.
Yeah, so we brought on a boardmember who tremendous expertise,
diversity.
She was just such a fortuitousfit for our board.
She was very clear during theinitial discussions that she
would make us one of her topthree philanthropic priorities.
(37:49):
But that wasn't going to meetthe average of what a lot of our
other board members get.
But she said I will get, I willget, I'm going to.
I may not be able to give itthe highest amount, but I'm
going to get you some othermoney.
And what she did was she gave apro bono seminar to another
individual's work in exchangefor that individual, who is a
(38:11):
grant writer, who had expertisein a specific grant to write a
grant proposal for St John's, toget a grant.
That's like $300,000 a year forthree years.
So it was like this pro bonoexchange where she went ahead.
She did her workshop, which ishighly valued.
The person whose organizationgot the workshop, who is a
(38:34):
really extraordinary grantwriter, wrote a grant for us and
here we are now being awardedthat grant, and so that's the
kind of participation andfundraising that you don't often
think of.
How can your board memberreally help you access resources
, maybe in a way that youhaven't been able to access them
before?
Keith Greer, CFRE (38:52):
So true, and I think I lost my microphone so
I might have switched in theprocess here.
I love that story and kind oftalking about how the different
ways that people can engage withfundraising beyond actually
making the ask is such animportant piece of it.
But once a board member is onboard, what are some strategies
to maintain their long-termengagement and keep them
(39:14):
passionate about theorganization's work?
Because sometimes when peoplesee the inner workings they can
tend to lose that enthusiasm too.
Phelosha Collaros (39:23):
Yeah, I mean, a real governing board is going
to ask a lot of a board memberin terms of grappling with
serious issues, dealing with,maybe, financial stressors and
strains, dealing with policystressors and strains.
It can be hard work andsometimes it can feel
(39:44):
overwhelming, you know right.
And I think that the firstthing I would say is just to
make sure to celebrate thepositive news with them.
Don't get so drowned in thebusiness of a board meeting or
the business of the board thatyou're not taking those moments
to talk about what's goingreally well, to celebrate
(40:07):
successes with the board, tomake them feel part of those
successes and just to make sureto bring some levity in their
experience, right.
So that can be as simple as youknow.
Have that cocktail receptionafter the board meeting gets out
, you know, let them decompress,let them have, you know, a
(40:30):
glass of wine with you, withtheir fellow board members, and
just really make sure that theyhave that camaraderie.
So we talked a lot aboutcollaboration, but I think the
other side of that iscamaraderie, and creating events
to help them feel that sense ofcamaraderie with their fellow
board members and with thepeople that they're working with
(40:51):
at the organization can helpthem sustain those relationships
through the difficult times.
Keith Greer, CFRE (40:58):
I think what you were saying about
celebrating the successes is soimportant because with our board
, so often we're bringing tothem the challenges and the
problems and that can get veryoverwhelming when that's all
that you're dealing with.
But having those relationshipskeeps you on board and engaged a
little bit better.
But then making sure thatyou're celebrating successes
(41:20):
makes it so that it's not adrudge to show up to the board
meeting and to continue leadingit all the time.
Phelosha Collaros (41:28):
Absolutely, and I think that's where our
mission engagement sessionreally has also brought a new
sense of fun.
I remember when our chair firstintroduced us it started to
take on a little bit moresubstantive issues.
But when the chair firstintroduced us he said my rule is
that it's fun, yeah.
So, bringing that engagementsession in and having the
(41:51):
funniest one that we've done iswe actually had them draw and
adults.
Drawing is hilarious, but artis part of our curriculum.
It is not a, it is not anelective, it is a required part.
You were going to draw, you'regoing to draw in labs, and what
they did was they had them drawmagnolia leaves, magnolia leaves
(42:13):
and I remember some of theboard members faces when they
heard that's the activity theywere doing, because adults are.
So you know, we're just kind ofso embarrassed about things we
don't feel we're talented about,but they did it.
They were like, okay, this is.
And I told them it's going tobe fun.
I don't know if they believedme going in, but coming out you
know they just really hadrelaxed.
They really were reflecting onhow our curriculum stretches
(42:34):
students in a way that maybeother schools don't and that
sometimes it's fun to just playaround with something you're not
good at.
That's not your expertise andit's not you know some kind of
value you're bringing to theirorganization.
But it's just showing up andbeing there and being together
and, you know, just laughing athow bad you or somebody else in
that room is drawing and theydeserve that.
(42:58):
They deserve that experience.
Keith Greer, CFRE (43:00):
Absolutely, and so, as we're kind of getting
ready to wrap up here, whatadvice would you give to
nonprofit leaders to ensure thatserving on their boards is an
impactful and meaningfulexperience for every member and
so it doesn't become just a lineon their resume of something
that they did?
Phelosha Collaros (43:16):
You know, in addition to some of the things
we've touched on in terms ofsetting them up for success and
make sure they have a mentor,and then making sure they are
engaged not just in the businessof the board but in the mission
of the institution and they'refeeling that kind of camaraderie
and that sense of success, Ithink the last thing I would
probably add is just have thatpersonal relationship.
(43:38):
If you're the boardprofessional at your
organization or if you're anadvancement professional or
development professional thatintersects with the board a lot,
build a personal relationshipwith your board members.
I mean they are humans.
Build a personal relationshipwith your board members.
I mean they are humans.
They want to feel appreciatedon a personal level, not just
kind of kudos to the board, butthey need to have that
(44:00):
connection.
And it's those little things.
It's onesies with your logo atthe birth of a child and it's
flowers when they're sick orwhen one of their loved ones
passes away, or it's just thattext message when you're
thinking about them or justchecking in to see if they're OK
if they miss a meeting.
Yeah, they're humans who careand they share your concern for
(44:25):
your organization and for yourconstituents that you're trying
to serve.
So there should be thatfundamental basis of a
connection between you and thatboard member.
So don't shy away from makingthem feel personally, important
to you and important to theorganization, which is, at the
end of the day, not verydifferent from a lot of what you
(44:47):
should be doing with yourdonors.
Keith Greer, CFRE (44:49):
Right, absolutely Well.
I am so thrilled that you arehere with us today and to be
able to share your expertise onboard governance and leadership.
I think it's going to be areally valuable conversation for
a lot of people that are tuningin, so thank you for being here
and thank you for being a partof it.
Phelosha Collaros (45:03):
Thank you, Keith.
It was a lot of fun and Ireally enjoyed it and I look
forward to talking again.
I know I and I look forward totalking again.
Keith Greer, CFRE (45:09):
I know I can't wait for our next lunch.
It's going to be fun.
I know Exactly so much fun.
Phelosha Collaros (45:16):
You too, bye, bye.
Hey, there, hi, and welcome back ambitious
fundraisers.
Today we're diving into a topicthat can make or break the
success of your nonprofitmanaging your board.
Let's face it, your board ofdirectors has the potential to
be your organization's greatestasset or its biggest challenge.
So how do you recruit, engageand empower a board that's truly
aligned with your mission andready to roll up their sleeves?
(00:27):
That's exactly what we'reunpacking in today's
conversation.
We'll tackle some of thetoughest questions around board
management.
How do you identify boardmembers who are more than just
their financial capacity?
What makes a truly great boardmember, and how can you
cultivate a culture ofengagement and accountability
that keeps your board inspiredand active long-term?
(00:47):
Grab a notebook and settle in.
You're not going to want tomiss this one.
So let's talk fundraising withour special guest, Phelosha
Collaros.
I'm thrilled to welcome today'sguest, Phelosha Collaros, to the
show.
Phelosha serves as the VicePresident for Board Governance
and Strategic Outcomes at StJohn's College, which has
(01:08):
campuses in Annapolis, maryland,and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In this role, she's at the helmof the college's governance
structure, ensuring strongcommunication and policy
management with the Board ofVisitors and Governors.
Beyond that, Phelosha is aconnector, building meaningful
relationships with individualsand organizations who share a
passion for lifelong learning, amission St John's College is so
(01:31):
well known for.
Before stepping into this role,she served as the college's
vice president for advancementand alumni relations, and she
also brings a wealth ofexperience from her time as the
foundation director for theAmerican Society of Radiologic
Technologists.
With degrees in business andpublic administration from
Walden University andcertification as a Quality
(01:51):
Improvement Associate, Pheloshabrings both expertise and heart
to every facet of her work.
Phelosha, welcome to Let's TalkFundraising.
I'm so excited to have you here.
Phelosha Collaros (02:02):
Oh, Keith, I'm so excited to be here.
Thank you so much for theinvitation.
I'm looking forward to ourdiscussion today.
Keith Greer, CFRE (02:08):
Absolutely, and I just kind of want to jump
right in and many nonprofitleaders search for potential
board members based on theperson's capacity to give.
The belief is that if they getinvolved on the board, that they
will naturally want to supportthe organization with an
increase in their ownphilanthropy.
What do you think of thisstrategy?
How does it fall short, andwhat is a better way to approach
(02:28):
identifying board members whoare truly invested in the
organization's mission?
Phelosha Collaros (02:34):
Yeah, I think that the answer to why it falls
short is a simple one, but thecontext on what to do about it
is probably much more complexand we'll spend some time on
that.
I think that the short answeris you know, just because
somebody has financial capacity,it doesn't guarantee that
they're going to be missionaligned with your organization.
It doesn't guarantee anyengagement or commitment.
(02:57):
So financial capacity is anindication of financial capacity
.
Keith Greer, CFRE (03:02):
Full stop, and that's it.
Phelosha Collaros (03:03):
That's it period.
Financial capacity, full stop.
That's it Period.
So if you really are trying tounderstand, you know how do you
go around that shortcoming.
I think first we have to behonest with ourselves of what
drives that right.
Why are we doing this in ourorganizations?
Because we are and I think thatis the complicated context
because many, if not most,nonprofits you know context,
(03:27):
because many, if not most,nonprofits you know, have deep
financial needs and the board isusually a very strong piece of
the puzzle on how thosefinancial needs are met.
So I think for many of us,financial capacity really is a
significant part of theconversation of how we are going
to compose our board so that wecan meet the needs of the
people we're serving.
So, knowing that constraint,knowing that information and
(03:49):
knowing that it is also truethat transformational gifts,
campaign gifts, they are indeedinfluenced positively by board
membership, either by alreadybeing a sitting board member or
by kind of merging as somebodythat's an appropriate leader for
the board.
So those things are tiedtogether.
So if we're going to take forgranted that we need board
(04:10):
members to give their meaningfulphilanthropy and we're going to
take for granted that major andtransformational gifts are
positively impacted by boardphilanthropy, by board
membership, by boardphilanthropy, by board
membership.
How do we say okay, thatgranted.
How do we not fall into thetrap that we're pursuing the
wrong people for boardmembership based on financial
(04:32):
capacity?
And I think what's most helpfulfor me is to draw one very
bright, specific line, and thatis that the gift conversation
should happen before anybody isappointed to board membership.
Keith Greer, CFRE (04:47):
Hope is not a strategy Exactly.
Phelosha Collaros (04:50):
If you just hold that line right, we're
going to have the giftconversation before somebody is
appointed to board duties.
Then you have that moment whereyou're able to really assess
that commitment and that desireto actually support the
organization at a higher level.
So hope is not a strategy.
(05:10):
Putting someone on the boardbecause you hope they're going
to give no, that is the line.
I would encourage people tokind of reboot the way they look
at bringing on people withfinancial capacity to the
organization, not, as you know,like an open floodgate, but as
stages of a board pipeline.
So you have your kind of idealimmediate recruitment situation.
(05:34):
And that is where you havesomeone with financial capacity
who has a history ofphilanthropic donations to your
nonprofit and they also have theinterest and the skills and
abilities to serve on a board.
That's your short-termrecruitment timeframe.
Right, they've already signaledthe financial commitment.
They've already stood out fortheir expertise or for their
(05:55):
volunteerism.
That's someone you're going tomove along very quickly.
And you have kind of theshort-term recruitment not
immediate but short-term andthose are people that their
giving is maybe new or it's kindof minimal, but they have all
these other indications ofcommitment right, they volunteer
for your organization in asustained way.
(06:15):
They're a particularconstituent.
That's important, right.
They could be a parent of astudent who's attending your
institution.
They could be a regular at alot of different events that the
organization puts on gatherings.
They're a real strongparticipant.
So you have this indication ofengagement.
Strong indication of engagement.
Weaker indication ofphilanthropy.
But that's a good short-termrecruitment prospect because you
(06:39):
can draw on that engagement andhave the conversation about
whether they're willing toincrease their philanthropic
commitment and then kind of putin your long-term pipeline
people who have not given toyour organization.
They have high financialcapacity and you see that they
give to organizations like yoursat a significant level.
(07:00):
So they're interested inaffinities in terms of mission
engagement and that is somethingto build on.
But your next action is not tofigure out how to get them on
the board.
Your next action is to figureout how to deepen the connection
between them and your specificorganization.
Keith Greer, CFRE (07:16):
Yeah, and I think that's such an important
point to mention that it's notjust about the financial
commitment, but it's about thatconnection.
How much do they actually careabout you?
Because something that couldlook like a big gift to us as
fundraisers might be reallyinconsequential to them and it's
really a lack of interestthat's not getting them to give
it that bigger level.
So I think that's a reallyimportant piece to point out,
(07:37):
but you've been working withboards for as long as I've known
you, which I think is going onlike 10 or 15 years at this
point it's kind of wild, but inyour experience, what are the
key qualities or characteristicsthat make someone not just a
good but a great board memberfor a nonprofit organization?
Phelosha Collaros (07:55):
Yeah, that's an excellent question.
I find that there's a lot ofcommonalities.
So I've had the privilege ofworking with three different
types of boards, right?
So an elected board, so boardof directors that's actually
elected from membership.
A board of trustees, which iskind of self-appointed in an
organization and more kind oflike a I would say like an
(08:17):
advisory council type of board,so board members who are chosen
for their connection to theorganization with a different,
like, for example, corporatesponsorship type of role.
And so all of those are.
They're very different in termsof the individual reasons why
you're going to bring peopleonto a board.
But there's some significantlystrong commonalities and I would
say you know, the first one isreally mission alignment.
(08:38):
Right, that they do have thatinterest, that engagement with
the mission, that they're reallylooking for furthering the
cause or the vision of theorganization and they're not in
it for personal gain.
I think that's very important.
It's not a soapbox for them orthey're coming in with some type
of agenda.
They really believe in theorganization, they really
believe in the mission and thepeople you're trying to serve.
(09:00):
The second one, I think, isaccountability.
Really great board members.
They show up, they're there atthe meetings, they're prepared
for those meetings, they've readthe things in advance that
they're supposed to read,they're prepared to ask
intelligent questions.
They're kind of getting belowthe surface because of their
(09:21):
continuity of engagement andaccountability.
And that is really important.
And I would say, you know,right now we're reassessing our
governing documents at St John'sCollege and one of the
questions we're asking is shouldwe have a different type of
group that are not working boardmembers, that are not governing
board members, of folks that wewant to acknowledge or keep
close to the organization butnot just give them that title?
(09:43):
Because the accountability ofbeing a governing board member
to do the work, to do thereadings, to show up, is not the
same as someone you want to putin because they have affluence
and influence and you just wantthem to be in your orbit.
So kind of making sure thedifference between somebody you
want to engage and a great boardmember is somebody who's going
to bring that accountability.
The next one I'd say is astrategic mindset.
(10:05):
They really have to get beyondthe day-to-day and think
long-term, like what is thesustainability, what is the
enduring part of thisorganization that we're going to
steward into the future?
And that can be sometimes hardfor some board members who get a
little fixated on maybesomething that's happening right
now or a specific thing thatthey might be concerned about in
(10:27):
the moment.
Really, taking that long viewis critical for board members,
and a great board member canconnect the short-term things
that are happening with thatlong-term view of how we're
going to be successful.
And I think the final thing Iwould highlight is they really
need to have a collaborativenature right.
So boards function as acollective and they bring that
(10:49):
collective wisdom to the tableand they can only act for their
organization as a collective,not as individuals.
So in order to be effective asa board member, you have to know
how you're going to work withthe other board members, how
you're going to work with thestaff, how you're going to work
with the chief executive orpresident at the organization
and how you're going to interactwith stakeholders.
In a way.
That's all very positivereaffirming keeping
(11:15):
accountabilities where they needto be kept, but also moving
things forward together, reallyreducing any type of unnecessary
friction, which is not adifference of opinion, but it is
like anything that will dragthe organization back from
because somebody wants to act asan individual as opposed to
part of a group, a collectivethat is stewarding this
(11:35):
organization together.
That's going to hold someoneback from being a great board
member.
But once they master that skillof working in committees, in
working groups, with presidentsand staff, then they're a very
powerful actor for theorganization.
Keith Greer, CFRE (11:50):
I wish you could just share that message to
all potential board members oflike.
You're part of a group here.
This is not about you and yourinterest.
It's about what is best for theorganization.
That's such an important one.
But I really liked what youwere talking about how you're
evaluating a potential new kindof structure to bring in people
who might not want to be part ofthe organizational influence or
(12:13):
organizational management, butthey still want to have some
kind of influence and be able toshow their commitment and their
passion, and I think that's areally important thing, because
not everybody wants to do theheavy lifting that a board
necessarily has to do, and noteverybody's qualified to do it
either, but they can still bepassionate about supporting it
in other ways.
Phelosha Collaros (12:32):
Exactly.
I mean, every board member hasa fiduciary responsibility for
the organization, right?
So that means you ought toreview the 990.
You ought to review thefinancials.
If that is not for you, youought not to be on a board.
Right, right Find out other waysto volunteer and hopefully the
organization can provide thoseways for you to be involved in
events or in other type of taskforces or advisory groups, you
(12:58):
know, so that we can, you know,tap into your talent and your
passion, but not have the samestringent requirements that a
governing board needs to meet.
Keith Greer, CFRE (13:06):
So, as you're kind of looking at these two
introducing this new structure,what strategies do you recommend
for recruiting board memberswho are not only influential or
financially capable, but alsodeeply aligned with the
organization's mission andvalues?
Phelosha Collaros (13:20):
Right.
So you know, I think, that tofind these mission aligned board
members you really do have tohave like a strategic
relationship driven approach.
Right?
So that means you're going toneed to, you know, identify the
skills that you're looking for,open up your networks and, just,
you know, make sure that youare finding the right fit for
(13:43):
your organization at the currenttime.
Right, so there you know, as anorganization grows and evolved,
and especially if you're youknow some, a place like St
John's college that's beenaround you know decades, with a
new program and it's the thirdoldest school in the country you
know that there's going to be alot of changes, that the
organization is going to facechanges to the external
environment and that's going tochange who you need on your
(14:05):
board.
So what we've done is we'veactually worked through the.
We have a trustee andgovernance committee and they're
not only charged with the boardpipeline and kind of nominating
candidates for election to theboard, but they're also recently
taken on a project, whichthey've completed, to create two
seminal documents.
One is a board compositionguideline for internal use by
(14:29):
the Trustee and GovernanceCommittee, where they looked at
who are we looking for at thistime in our current landscape at
the college.
When we look at the overallcomposition of the board, what
do we want that overall makeupto be, very concretely, in terms
of skills and demographics andprofessional background and
(14:50):
constituency relationship to thecollege.
What is that rounded picturethat we want?
When we look at the full board,to say we were able to achieve
as a composition, full boardcomposition, so that guideline
is for internal use.
And then we have an externaldocument that we can share with
all of our board members, all ofour staff members and any
potential trustees, which ismore like a job description.
(15:13):
So it's a leave behind.
You can have a conversationwith somebody about the board.
You can leave it behind withthem.
If somebody says, oh, I'd liketo help you find board members,
we give it to them and so thatthey really have a concrete
sense of who we're looking for.
You know, really, without thattype of clarity, which is the
first step for an organization,you need to ask people to open
(15:37):
their networks and to recommendand nominate board members.
You're going to get much morehigh quality candidates because
they are going to be looking forwho you're looking for.
Keith Greer, CFRE (15:46):
And so once you have those people that
you've identified and you'rebringing them into the fold
you've had that conversationabout giving is part of being on
the board.
How do you approach onboardingnew board members, and what does
an effective onboarding processlook like to ensure they're
fully engaged from the start?
Because if they are startingoff on the wrong foot, it's very
(16:08):
easy for things to go astray.
So how do you get there?
Phelosha Collaros (16:11):
That is so true and I think you know, all
of us can relate a little bit toan experience of being
somewhere and something startshappening and you think this is
not what I expected.
No, this is not what I signedup for.
So you do not want your boardto have that experience, a board
(16:35):
member to have that experience,because I'm sure basically all
organizations have a cap on howmany board seats they have.
So if you put someone in aboard seat, that means somebody
else didn't have that seat, andso you want to make sure that
there's complete alignmentbetween the person who took that
seat and what theirexpectations are and what your
expectations are of them, and sothat I think that starts yeah,
that starts with the firstconversation when you're
inviting them to the board, andthen it's just reinforced all
(16:58):
through this onboarding process.
I also have to say, keith, thatI really liked that you used
the term onboarding and notorientation, because that was a
real kind of revelation for usgoing through the pandemic and
coming out the other side ofthat.
Prior to the pandemic, we had anorientation.
It was like two hours theafternoon before the board
(17:21):
meeting started.
We gave them their binders, wewalked through the materials and
we asked for questions and andthat was it.
And then you know, have a greatweekend, guys.
You know, um, what the pandemicdid, was it?
It just really disrupted thenotion that you can take for
granted that your board cultureis going to transfer between new
(17:41):
board members and sitting boardmembers.
That's gone now.
So you have to be a lot moreintentional on how are you going
to acclimate board members totheir role and to how the board
functions and how to beproductive contributing board
member, member and how to havethat high, highly effective
board.
So we completely changed ourmindset from having an
(18:04):
orientation to having anonboarding program and now we
have several, several steps tothat basically.
So it starts once somebody iselected, they get a welcome
email from the organization thatreally lays out what their year
of onboarding is going to looklike and you know what kind of
resources that are going to bemade available to them.
So after that email, thenthey're going to get a packet in
(18:26):
the mail that's going to havetheir board handbook.
That's going to contain awelcome letter from the chair, a
welcome letter from thepresidents, laying out the
strategic priorities of theorganization at this time.
It's going to have anorganization chart.
It's going to have thedescription of all the
committees, a description of ourpolity document and, I think
(18:48):
really very importantly, adescription of the individual
trustees' roles andresponsibilities and the board's
roles and responsibilities andas distinguished from the roles
and responsibilities of thepresident, because that's
something that can be a littleconfusing for new board members
is what are the nuances betweenthe dividing lines between the
board and the executive of theorganization?
Keith Greer, CFRE (19:10):
So that comes to them yeah, what's that
difference between governing andoperations?
Phelosha Collaros (19:13):
Exactly 100%.
So that comes to them for apre-read and then we do an
orientation.
At the orientation, it is thenew board members, the chairman
of the board, the presidents andthe leadership of trustee and
governance and myself.
So we'll go through all theirquestions that they've now
accumulated since theirpre-reads and then they're
assigned a mentor, and thatmentor, who's a sitting board
(19:35):
member, will have a sidebarconversation with them, either
in person, depending on locality, or online prior to the first
board meeting, and we'll checkin with them at every board
meeting, if not after everyboard meeting, to see how that
experience is going to see whatquestions they have.
I mean, really, in terms of thebest thing you can do with this
(19:55):
onboarding process is make sureto catch deviations early,
right.
So, someone's not having a goodexperience or they're confused,
they're going to start todisengage in that first year.
So what are you setting up tomake sure that disengagement
does not happen in that firstyear?
And then I would say, the finalthing that we do is not just
for new members, but it's such apowerful piece of onboarding
but we keep it for all boardmembers and that is a mission
(20:17):
engagement session.
So every board meeting now andthis was a brainchild of our
sitting chairman of the board,we take two hours out of the
board weekend to have a sessionthat reconnects the board
members with the mission of theorganization.
So, from you know, being acollege, they have done a lab.
They've, you know, done a labthat students would do.
(20:38):
They've done a languagetutorial that students would do.
They've, you know, done a labthat students would do.
They've done a languagetutorial that students would do.
They've also done a kind of animmersive experience into public
safety, like what's the day inthe life of a public safety
officer and how does thatimprove the student experience
They've done, you know, we arenot known for our sports.
We're not the St John's CollegeUniversity of the basketball
(20:58):
fame but you know what doesathletics mean to the program?
What does the whole body, mind,spirit, trifecta mean for the
education of a whole human?
And this coming board meetingwe'll be devoting those two
hours to strategic visioning andplanning so that mission
engagement session you can have.
Prior to this, a board meetingwas a series of committee
(21:19):
meetings and an executivesession and a plenary session.
So you just did.
You know finance and audit andall that that's important.
But to have that moment to stepback as a full board and really
reengage with the mission hasbecome such a powerful piece of
both onboarding new members andalso keeping kind of a board
culture going over time.
Keith Greer, CFRE (21:42):
I really like what you were saying there
about making sure that you havethe culture of the board really
well established, becauseculture eats strategy every day.
Right, absolutely, if theculture's off, it's going to
fall apart, and I think that's athing that so many nonprofits
forget to focus on, not onlywith their staff recruitment,
but especially with their boardrecruitment and their board
(22:02):
leadership, and so having afocus on that, I think, was
really important.
But I also want to make surethat I heard you correctly you
guys do a full year ofonboarding.
Phelosha Collaros (22:12):
Yes, it is a full year and so the orientation
is just the start of it.
But the mentorship we reallylean on the mentorship to carry
the heavy lift of the onboardingfor the rest of the year.
So it is those constantcheck-ins at the board meeting
or right after the board meetingthat really keeps them engaged
in that onboarding process andthe mission engagement sessions
(22:32):
that we do at every meeting.
Keith Greer, CFRE (22:34):
I think that's so important.
In so many places youronboarding or your orientation
is literally a one-hour preludeto the meeting, and then that's
it.
That was us, you're expected tofully engage at the highest
levels, but you also have someboard members that come from
very influential organizationsfor-profit organizations and so
(22:55):
what are some of the keydifferences between serving on a
nonprofit board versus afor-profit board, like maybe
that of a bank?
How should nonprofit leadersleverage these differences when
they're recruiting new members?
Phelosha Collaros (23:07):
Yes, I think the number one thing that pops
into my mind when you ask thatquestion is something that
recently happened at the college.
We had some students organizingto increase the pay of work
studies, and so St John'sfinancial aid is very generous.
We actually our last capitalcampaign, which we completed
(23:28):
very successfully the FreeingMinds campaign was specifically
initiated to roll back tuitionfor 10 years.
So we really do takeaffordability seriously.
But parents and families andstudents are still struggling to
afford the cost of highereducation.
So we understand that that'sreally relevant and see what we
(23:51):
can do about those issues as aphilanthropy dependent
institution.
But when the students came toadvocate for increased wages,
they one of them said why can'tyou take the money that you're
paying the board members andjust give it to the students
instead?
Which was a real teachingmoment because, hey, there's a
key difference between corporateboards and nonprofit boards.
(24:13):
You know they, we do not payour board members.
You know they pay us for theprivilege of serving on the
board.
You know, sometimes millions ofdollars.
So that kind of fundamentalswitch of of the, the, the
organization being some, youknow a corporation being
something.
That's kind of paying you foryour expertise to an
(24:34):
organization that you are sopassionate about, that you're
willing not only to give yourtime as a board member which is
not just meetings but the workdone between meetings and the
preparation but you're alsowilling to give your treasure to
that organization, that youbelieve in it so much that
you're going to make it one ofyour top three financial
priorities.
That is a very differentrelationship and something
(24:58):
that's powerful and in a lot ofways, makes the world go round
and can't be appreciated enoughif people were not making sure
these not-for-profitorganizations were around with
their extraordinary boardcommitments.
I'd say the other two thingsthat I would highlight in terms
of what's different between thecorporate board side and the
nonprofit board side is you knowit is you know that fundraising
(25:21):
role which can take whichstarts with contributing but can
take many different forms rightso that there's more of an
active role in the financialhealth of the organization, the
mission-driven focus.
Right so the board members fornot-for-profits are more
concerned with the communityrather than shareholders.
(25:42):
Right so their responsibilityis to how the nonprofit
organization is keeping itsstatus, how it's serving its
constituency.
And lastly, I think you know wekind of touched on this earlier
, keith, talking about thedivide between presidents and
board members or chiefexecutives and board members,
but I think there's also thatkind of fuzzy divide, depending
(26:06):
on how small your nonprofit is,between board members and staff
or governance and management,because the smaller the
nonprofit is, the more the boardmay be called upon to do
certain activities or tasks thatyou might otherwise rely on
your larger staff basically todo, and that is another level of
(26:28):
commitment and need that isvery, very different from the
corporate board world.
Keith Greer, CFRE (26:33):
And when you're talking about board
members joining and not beingpaid for their service, but
they're volunteering andoftentimes paying to volunteer.
How can nonprofit leaderscultivate a culture of
engagement and accountability onthose boards when they're
paying for the privilege ofbeing there and ensuring that
all members are activelycontributing to the
(26:54):
organization's mission beyondjust attending the meetings, if
you can even get that out ofthem?
Phelosha Collaros (27:00):
Right, right, no, it's a very interesting
relationship, which I think goesback to not every donor should
be on your board.
First of all, right, it can beanother risk to the organization
when your donors that don'thave maybe the perspective and
(27:22):
fortitude to deal with difficultissues are on your board,
because it can encourage anorganization not to bring
difficult issues to their board,and that's what they're there
for.
So if you have donors that youfeel should not be grappling
with the organization's issuesof sustainability and endurance
or other issues that a governingboard might need to address,
(27:43):
having to do with policy oranything like that, then they
really shouldn't be your boardmember.
Find another way to engage andinspire that high net worth
individual who's giving youmoney, so you don't create a
board culture of not talkingabout the truth of what's going
on with your organization.
So I would say that's numberone.
(28:03):
It starts with those clearexpectations and picking the
right board members to be onthat board in the first place,
and the onboarding process thatwe just talked about as well, to
make sure that they'reempowered and informed to take
on that role.
And then I would say, when boardmembers deviate from those
expectations that you laid out,as in your job description and
(28:24):
in the onboarding process, thenthey need to be addressed right.
So, again, like you said, whenit's donors it can be
uncomfortable, but one of thebest solutions to having a board
member counseled is to haveanother board member do it,
because they're also a donor.
We would leverage, like ourchair of the board or our
(28:46):
leadership and our trustee andgovernance committee to have
those conversations.
Certainly, a president can havethose conversations and, as the
stakes get lower, somebody likemyself, a board professional,
can have those conversations.
But you do need to bring thingsto people's attention.
Sometimes it's just an honestoversight or the board member's
very busy and they need thatreminder.
(29:09):
I would say like 80% ofaccountability boils down to
gentle and relentless reminders.
Keith Greer, CFRE (29:17):
Very similar to fundraising.
Phelosha Collaros (29:19):
Exactly, exactly.
And then I'd say the otherthing I'd talk about in terms of
a significant step for us interms of increasing engagement
and accountability which many ofour listeners may not know
about, but I really encouragethem to check it out is our
relationship with theAssociation of Governing Boards.
So you can find them at agborg.
(29:41):
I'll note for your listenersspecifically that they have a
wealth of resources not only forboard governance but also for
that intersectionality betweenboards and fundraising
professionals, such as thedevelopment committee or
advancement committee, how toconstruct that, what the
expectations should be.
So I think it's really worthchecking out for fundraising
(30:02):
professionals who have boardadjacent responsibilities, or
maybe even staffing anadvancement or development
committee, to utilize AGB as aresource to know more how to do
that, set that up, you know,guide it and how to separate
what a board's oversight role inthe fundraising and development
spaces and what the staff'srole and the president's role in
(30:25):
the oversight of the actualoperations and management of the
development or advancementspace.
I think it's really important.
I would also say, hugeadvancement for us with them was
they now do our annual trusteesurvey.
So we used to do this surveyin-house Okay, and it was better
(30:47):
than nothing, but it wasobvious that people weren't
entirely forthcoming when wewould ask them improvement
questions, right, like questionsaround what's not working or
you know what, uh what theywould like us to do instead.
Um, it's the the kind of moredifficult questions on the
survey were the least answeredor the least early answered.
(31:10):
So, going to AGB AGB was ableto anonymize our trustee survey
for us so we can ask, we canrate all of our different goals
on a dimension where we see theboard rankings, both
individually and collectively,and see how we're really, how
(31:31):
they really think we're doing,in addition to verbatim comments
that are now very candid, andthat's helpful, because when you
get candid comments and you getcandid rankings, you can really
assess what needs to be fixed.
I'll point out a couple ofthings that a survey assesses
leadership and shared governance, institutional sustainability
and board performance.
(31:51):
So having that feedback inwriting and those scores, that's
a way to really see with cleareyes where your issues are
versus.
What can sometimes happen iscertain board personalities get
dismissed and not takenseriously as if this is a global
concern.
I'll give you one example, if Imay.
(32:11):
Yeah, so we had had a couple ofboard members that for years
were complaining that they feltthat our board was kind of
homogenizing ideologically andthose concerns were dismissed
Like no, no.
For St John's it's reallyimportant to have, you know,
diverse ideological diversityand identity diversity.
(32:33):
As a school it's important tous and so when we did our last
AGB survey, in addition to allthe other kind of demographic
questions, we're able to askthat people might not be
comfortable sharing with,identifying information like
disability, sexual orientation,things that now a lot of grant
making organizations actuallyare asking you in terms of the
composition of your board, areyou having that kind of
(32:56):
diversity?
We put in a question aboutself-described political
identity on a scale from highlyliberal to highly conservative,
and we thought this is anotheridentity question that we can
ask and get some candid feedbackon in terms of all of our
demographics.
And sure enough we hadhomogenized and so that's not
(33:18):
consistent with the values ofour organization where we want
people from all of thosedifferent ideological and
political perspectives, becauseit's in that difference than an
organization, especially likeours, can prevent having blind
spots.
When you have all thesedifferent voices at the table,
many different dimensions ofdiversity, you're going to be
able to better serve yourstudents better welcome your
(33:40):
families and better provide theeducation that you claim to
provide in our case.
So those kind of metrics for anorganization to be accountable
are very valuable.
And then that kind of data forthe trustee of governance
committee and for the executiveof the committee of the board to
say hi, this is actually thedata.
So we're going to ask ourtrustees to be more accountable
(34:03):
to improving this data and we'regoing to ask the board to be
more accountable to proving thisdata where we see deficiencies,
and we're going to put togethera plan to do that so you can
develop something actionableonce you know where the data is
showing you.
You need improvement.
Keith Greer, CFRE (34:17):
Yeah, and so thank you for bringing up the
AGB, which is the Association ofGoverning Boards.
Is that right?
Yes, that's correct.
Yes, okay, we'll provide a linkto them in the show notes as
well, just in case anybody wantsto check them out.
Excellent, but I wanted to getyour take on something also.
With board members coming on,should there be a clear
(34:37):
expectation that they are goingto be fundraisers for the
organization, or does noteverybody need to play that role
?
But if they do, how dononprofits effectively
communicate and support thisexpectation without overwhelming
them, because so many peopleare terrified of fundraising.
Phelosha Collaros (34:55):
No, I know, I mean, I think it's.
So.
I think the first challengethat organizations have in
relation to their board andfundraising is to redefine what
fundraising means to the boardin the way that fundraising
actually means it.
But for some reason nobody, nolay person, thinks of this right
.
So you'll know this, keith,better than anyone Fundraising
(35:18):
is not just the ask for money.
It is for at least four thingsright the identification, the
cultivation, the ask and thenthe stewardship.
And so when you see fundraisingas that whole continuity of
activities, it's very easy forthe board to find their place
somewhere you know.
Help us identify supportersthat's completely doable.
Help us cultivate them that canbe as little as advocacy or
(35:42):
talking up the organization toyour networks.
It could be hosting an event inyour home or your office where
the organization can gettogether donors and potential
donors.
It can be on the stewardshipside.
It can be just how they engagewith the community or your
constituents at events to raiseconfidence in the organization,
(36:03):
to create a welcomingenvironment and a culture of
mutual support and excitementfor the organization's future.
So there's so many rolesbesides the ask that a board
member can play.
But they don't know that.
They hear fundraising and theythink that you're going to have
them go ask people for money.
Now, it's also not, I think, inthe best interest of staff
(36:24):
members to have any board membergo ask people for money,
because they don't have thatskill, so when you find those
board members who have thatcapability, or you are making an
ask of a transformational sizethat you need somebody else
who's given a transformationalgift to be there, then bring in
(36:44):
your chairman of the board,bring in that board member who's
a donor to be there at thatmeeting and to help encourage
this person to really seriouslyconsider that ask from a
peer-to-peer perspective.
As well as the staff memberthat's there, whether it's a
president or an advancement vicepresident, have them be part of
the ask.
But I think it's really rareunless you're working at the
(37:07):
level of a true kind ofvolunteer organization where
they're going to there's,they're going to go out, they're
going to be trained tofundraise and go out and do that
.
That's great, Give themtraining.
Otherwise it's more like how doyou plug in that board member
to the full continuity offundraising activities at the
level of their skill and theorganization's need and just
opening that app aperture ofwhat fundraising means?
(37:28):
I'm going to give you a veryspecific, if I can, Keith, a
very specific example of onethat even surprised me.
Yeah, so we brought on a boardmember who tremendous expertise,
diversity.
She was just such a fortuitousfit for our board.
She was very clear during theinitial discussions that she
would make us one of her topthree philanthropic priorities.
(37:49):
But that wasn't going to meetthe average of what a lot of our
other board members get.
But she said I will get, I willget, I'm going to.
I may not be able to give itthe highest amount, but I'm
going to get you some othermoney.
And what she did was she gave apro bono seminar to another
individual's work in exchangefor that individual, who is a
(38:11):
grant writer, who had expertisein a specific grant to write a
grant proposal for St John's, toget a grant.
That's like $300,000 a year forthree years.
So it was like this pro bonoexchange where she went ahead.
She did her workshop, which ishighly valued.
The person whose organizationgot the workshop, who is a
(38:34):
really extraordinary grantwriter, wrote a grant for us and
here we are now being awardedthat grant, and so that's the
kind of participation andfundraising that you don't often
think of.
How can your board memberreally help you access resources
, maybe in a way that youhaven't been able to access them
before?
Keith Greer, CFRE (38:52):
So true, and I think I lost my microphone so
I might have switched in theprocess here.
I love that story and kind oftalking about how the different
ways that people can engage withfundraising beyond actually
making the ask is such animportant piece of it.
But once a board member is onboard, what are some strategies
to maintain their long-termengagement and keep them
(39:14):
passionate about theorganization's work?
Because sometimes when peoplesee the inner workings they can
tend to lose that enthusiasm too.
Phelosha Collaros (39:23):
Yeah, I mean, a real governing board is going
to ask a lot of a board memberin terms of grappling with
serious issues, dealing with,maybe, financial stressors and
strains, dealing with policystressors and strains.
It can be hard work andsometimes it can feel
(39:44):
overwhelming, you know right.
And I think that the firstthing I would say is just to
make sure to celebrate thepositive news with them.
Don't get so drowned in thebusiness of a board meeting or
the business of the board thatyou're not taking those moments
to talk about what's goingreally well, to celebrate
(40:07):
successes with the board, tomake them feel part of those
successes and just to make sureto bring some levity in their
experience, right.
So that can be as simple as youknow.
Have that cocktail receptionafter the board meeting gets out
, you know, let them decompress,let them have, you know, a
(40:30):
glass of wine with you, withtheir fellow board members, and
just really make sure that theyhave that camaraderie.
So we talked a lot aboutcollaboration, but I think the
other side of that iscamaraderie, and creating events
to help them feel that sense ofcamaraderie with their fellow
board members and with thepeople that they're working with
(40:51):
at the organization can helpthem sustain those relationships
through the difficult times.
Keith Greer, CFRE (40:58):
I think what you were saying about
celebrating the successes is soimportant because with our board
, so often we're bringing tothem the challenges and the
problems and that can get veryoverwhelming when that's all
that you're dealing with.
But having those relationshipskeeps you on board and engaged a
little bit better.
But then making sure thatyou're celebrating successes
(41:20):
makes it so that it's not adrudge to show up to the board
meeting and to continue leadingit all the time.
Phelosha Collaros (41:28):
Absolutely, and I think that's where our
mission engagement sessionreally has also brought a new
sense of fun.
I remember when our chair firstintroduced us it started to
take on a little bit moresubstantive issues.
But when the chair firstintroduced us he said my rule is
that it's fun, yeah.
So, bringing that engagementsession in and having the
(41:51):
funniest one that we've done iswe actually had them draw and
adults.
Drawing is hilarious, but artis part of our curriculum.
It is not a, it is not anelective, it is a required part.
You were going to draw, you'regoing to draw in labs, and what
they did was they had them drawmagnolia leaves, magnolia leaves
(42:13):
and I remember some of theboard members faces when they
heard that's the activity theywere doing, because adults are.
So you know, we're just kind ofso embarrassed about things we
don't feel we're talented about,but they did it.
They were like, okay, this is.
And I told them it's going tobe fun.
I don't know if they believedme going in, but coming out you
know they just really hadrelaxed.
They really were reflecting onhow our curriculum stretches
(42:34):
students in a way that maybeother schools don't and that
sometimes it's fun to just playaround with something you're not
good at.
That's not your expertise andit's not you know some kind of
value you're bringing to theirorganization.
But it's just showing up andbeing there and being together
and, you know, just laughing athow bad you or somebody else in
that room is drawing and theydeserve that.
(42:58):
They deserve that experience.
Keith Greer, CFRE (43:00):
Absolutely, and so, as we're kind of getting
ready to wrap up here, whatadvice would you give to
nonprofit leaders to ensure thatserving on their boards is an
impactful and meaningfulexperience for every member and
so it doesn't become just a lineon their resume of something
that they did?
Phelosha Collaros (43:16):
You know, in addition to some of the things
we've touched on in terms ofsetting them up for success and
make sure they have a mentor,and then making sure they are
engaged not just in the businessof the board but in the mission
of the institution and they'refeeling that kind of camaraderie
and that sense of success, Ithink the last thing I would
probably add is just have thatpersonal relationship.
(43:38):
If you're the boardprofessional at your
organization or if you're anadvancement professional or
development professional thatintersects with the board a lot,
build a personal relationshipwith your board members.
I mean they are humans.
Build a personal relationshipwith your board members.
I mean they are humans.
They want to feel appreciatedon a personal level, not just
kind of kudos to the board, butthey need to have that
(44:00):
connection.
And it's those little things.
It's onesies with your logo atthe birth of a child and it's
flowers when they're sick orwhen one of their loved ones
passes away, or it's just thattext message when you're
thinking about them or justchecking in to see if they're OK
if they miss a meeting.
Yeah, they're humans who careand they share your concern for
(44:25):
your organization and for yourconstituents that you're trying
to serve.
So there should be thatfundamental basis of a
connection between you and thatboard member.
So don't shy away from makingthem feel personally, important
to you and important to theorganization, which is, at the
end of the day, not verydifferent from a lot of what you
(44:47):
should be doing with yourdonors.
Keith Greer, CFRE (44:49):
Right, absolutely Well.
I am so thrilled that you arehere with us today and to be
able to share your expertise onboard governance and leadership.
I think it's going to be areally valuable conversation for
a lot of people that are tuningin, so thank you for being here
and thank you for being a partof it.
Phelosha Collaros (45:03):
Thank you, Keith.
It was a lot of fun and Ireally enjoyed it and I look
forward to talking again.
I know I and I look forward totalking again.
Keith Greer, CFRE (45:09):
I know I can't wait for our next lunch.
It's going to be fun.
I know Exactly so much fun.
Phelosha Collaros (45:16):
You too, bye, bye.
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