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Board Member Orientation: The Concise and Complete Guide to Nonprofit Board Service
Finally! Board member orientation is truly simplified.
Serving on a nonprofit board can be an incredibly rewarding experience for the properly prepared board member. This book is for the generous and busy people who agree to give of their time and talents by serving on nonprofit boards. Nonprofit boards often fail to do a good job of board member orientation for a variety of reasons. It takes a significant amount of time and effort to plan and conduct quality board member orientation programs, and every time a new board member arrives, it’s time to do it again! Because of the challenges associated with providing quality board member orientation, many nonprofit organizations do not do it at all, leaving their board members to wing it. This book provides help and support to the truly great men and women serving on nonprofit boards whose service makes a positive difference in the lives of countless people every day.
A One-Hour Read
This book is a concise and appropriately comprehensive guide to nonprofit board service designed especially for new board members. It is a quick read, (about one hour), yet it addresses with accuracy the most significant elements of board service, such as mission, responsibility, duty, risk, liability, and board meeting dynamics.
Hooey Alerts!
Watch for Hooey Alerts! where the author identifies and dispels common myths and legends about nonprofit board service. There are many sources of false or misleading information about the nonprofit board service environment. A perfect example is the often vaguely-worded and intimidating assertion or implication that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed by Congress in 2002 applies to nonprofit organizations in a manner similar to how it applies to publicly-traded companies. (It does not.)
Board Member Orientation in a Simple 3-Step Process
The Simple Board Member Orientation Process Using This Done!
Serving on a nonprofit board can be an incredibly rewarding experience for the properly prepared board member. This book is for the generous and busy people who agree to give of their time and talents by serving on nonprofit boards. Nonprofit boards often fail to do a good job of board member orientation for a variety of reasons. It takes a significant amount of time and effort to plan and conduct quality board member orientation programs, and every time a new board member arrives, it’s time to do it again! Because of the challenges associated with providing quality board member orientation, many nonprofit organizations do not do it at all, leaving their board members to wing it. This book provides help and support to the truly great men and women serving on nonprofit boards whose service makes a positive difference in the lives of countless people every day.
A One-Hour Read
This book is a concise and appropriately comprehensive guide to nonprofit board service designed especially for new board members. It is a quick read, (about one hour), yet it addresses with accuracy the most significant elements of board service, such as mission, responsibility, duty, risk, liability, and board meeting dynamics.
Hooey Alerts!
Watch for Hooey Alerts! where the author identifies and dispels common myths and legends about nonprofit board service. There are many sources of false or misleading information about the nonprofit board service environment. A perfect example is the often vaguely-worded and intimidating assertion or implication that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed by Congress in 2002 applies to nonprofit organizations in a manner similar to how it applies to publicly-traded companies. (It does not.)
Board Member Orientation in a Simple 3-Step Process
The Simple Board Member Orientation Process Using This Done!
- GenresLeadership
97 pages, Paperback
First published February 3, 2011
150 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 12, 2021
A good, basic intro for new Board members.
September 11, 2021
This is a concise and effective tool for nonprofit boards. The book is barely 70 pages long, and if that’s too much of a time commitment for your board members, there are executive summaries in bullet points for each chapter.
This is not comprehensive, and not for the non-profit expert, but this is probably the best and easiest book to read before considering service on a non-profit board.
There is also a great template for board orientation at the end of it. I recommend boards provide this book along with any orientation for new board members.
This is not comprehensive, and not for the non-profit expert, but this is probably the best and easiest book to read before considering service on a non-profit board.
There is also a great template for board orientation at the end of it. I recommend boards provide this book along with any orientation for new board members.
March 6, 2019
Brief but solid overview
I read this in under 2 hours but added a few things to my task list to look up for make sure were spelled out more accurately in our documentation. Good quick reference but nothing in depth.
I read this in under 2 hours but added a few things to my task list to look up for make sure were spelled out more accurately in our documentation. Good quick reference but nothing in depth.
April 17, 2020
Entirely as promised.
Michael Batts has produced a concise and thorough set of nonprofit board guidelines. Although a full range of technical details are included, he is practical enough to emphasize that objectives don't always require formality. Every nonprofit board or board member is LIKELY to benefit from this book.
Michael Batts has produced a concise and thorough set of nonprofit board guidelines. Although a full range of technical details are included, he is practical enough to emphasize that objectives don't always require formality. Every nonprofit board or board member is LIKELY to benefit from this book.
February 15, 2022
Great Starting point
This book helps you to understand what your non-profit boards responsibilities are. Very insiteful. Read this on Amazon Kindle it was a good read and easy to follow.
This book helps you to understand what your non-profit boards responsibilities are. Very insiteful. Read this on Amazon Kindle it was a good read and easy to follow.
April 26, 2018
Super concise overview of nonprofit board service. Read in one hour.
August 19, 2019
A+ for breadth and brevity.
March 24, 2020
This book is great introduction to new board members or those thinking of joining a board. A quick and easy read while also providing key items.
June 7, 2021
A solid book for new board members. A very quick overview.
October 13, 2021
A good primer for beginners
This was a quick and easy read. It reinforced much of what I knew and gave me other areas for further thought and questions.
This was a quick and easy read. It reinforced much of what I knew and gave me other areas for further thought and questions.
April 19, 2022
Helpful. Made lots of highlights; need to take some notes to hold onto.
March 10, 2024
I'm joining a new board and this caught my eye while preparing for orientation.
I was really impressed with the brevity combined with the level of detail Batts managed to fit in under 100 pages.
If I were running Board orientation programs, I would give issuing this book to new members serious consideration as prep. The last section of the book outlines exactly how to do this within orientation design.
Nothing to do with this book, but note to self in the moment...
On one hand, I like to think that the more I read, the lower the opportunity cost of any book I get through or even DNF. I'm realizing though that the more I read, the more books I buy, and my ever growing (anti) library essentially increases the opportunity cost of reading more books as I appear to buy 3-5 books for every one I read.
WTR-617
I was really impressed with the brevity combined with the level of detail Batts managed to fit in under 100 pages.
If I were running Board orientation programs, I would give issuing this book to new members serious consideration as prep. The last section of the book outlines exactly how to do this within orientation design.
Nothing to do with this book, but note to self in the moment...
On one hand, I like to think that the more I read, the lower the opportunity cost of any book I get through or even DNF. I'm realizing though that the more I read, the more books I buy, and my ever growing (anti) library essentially increases the opportunity cost of reading more books as I appear to buy 3-5 books for every one I read.
WTR-617
August 19, 2015
For those interested, this book is basic. It is also good (as much as such a book could be). So, in summary, it's basically good.
August 20, 2015
Really helpful, useful resource for new and old board members of a nonprofit.
October 29, 2019
I will be reading it again! and i will be asking my fellow Board Members to read it to.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews