Board service adds value to business careers

By Professor Jerry Lindman, J.D.

Serving on a board of directors of a nonprofit is a unique opportunity for young business professionals to give back to their community while advancing their careers.

Nonprofits are required by law to have a volunteer board of directors. The board of directors has the ultimate responsibility for the proper management, strategic direction and overall well being of the organization. Boards hire and oversee the chief executive. Research clearly demonstrates that nonprofits with talented and engaged board members are more successful in achieving their mission.

Business professionals are highly sought after to serve as board members because of their workplace experience and management skills. Marketing, public relations, finance, project management and strategic planning (to name a few), are skills nonprofits sorely need. Most professionals take these skills for granted, but they are valuable to nonprofits. Also, the board experience offers young professionals opportunities to grow or diversify their skill sets.

Serving on a nonprofit board allows you to give back to a cause you value, while developing leadership and team building skills, providing management oversight and, most importantly, networking with many other business professionals volunteering in the same capacity.

Nonprofits, faced with increasing accountability standards and performance expectations, actively seek skilled, committed professionals to serve on their boards.

Here are some tips on joining a nonprofit board:

• Start by studying the roles and responsibilities of a nonprofit board of directors
• Look for opportunities on the board of a nonprofit whose mission you are passionate about
• Identify a management role on the board that matches your professional skills and experience
• Remember that nonprofits are uniquely different from businesses largely because of their mission (rather than profit) focus

In order to promote board service, United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Lawrence Technological University have joined forces to offer a series of low-cost workshops to help people become effective board members. The program is called BoardWALK, and includes a series of seven workshops, each covering a key area of board management.

Sessions are offered monthly on Lawrence Tech's Southfield campus. Topics range from legal accountability to strategic planning to financial oversight. For more information on the BoardWALK workshop series, visit www.uwsem.org/boardwalk.

Consider this your invitation to join us.

Professor Lindman is director of the Center for Nonprofit Management at Lawrence Technological University, a program of the Graduate College of Management, offering graduate education and community outreach programming focused on advancing professional leadership at charitable, nonprofit organizations. For more information, email lindman@ltu.edu

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