Life as a New Board Member

November 16, 2007 | Leadership, Philanthropy

This week I was voted onto the board of directors for the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, a nonprofit that blends my love of poetry and the arts in an afterschool program for African American youth living in the poorest sections of Washington, DC. The mission of the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, based at Charles Hart Middle School in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast D.C., is to unite parents, teachers and professional writers-in-residence to transform the lives of youth through self-expression and the power of the written word. As a new board member, I’ve already chosen a committee to work on: fundraising, which is what I do in my day job. But the great thing about serving on the Workshop’s board is that I will get a chance to try my hand at individual fundraising, which I have not yet done very much of in my nonprofit career so far. So you know I wouldn’t be doing my board duty if I didn’t encourage readers to support the DC Creative Writing Workshop by donating online or sending a big fat check to: D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, Inc. 601 Mississippi Ave SE, Washington, DC 20032. Bonus if you donate before the end of the year to get a nice tax break from Uncle Sam!

After one board meeting, you can bet my head is still reeling with all of the information presented, but I want to share my observations so far on being a new board member:

Food is a key ingredient if you want people to show up for evening board meetings – the board member who hosted us at her lovely home treated us to a nice catered dinner that made us feel even better about leaving straight from work for a 2-hour meeting
It’s important that board committee chairs communicate about the agenda well in advance of the meeting so everyone’s on the same page and well-prepared during the meeting – everyone has busy schedules so it’s best to request information for reports, etc. as early as possible
Board meetings are a great time to ask questions of the staff that attend, but make sure they have a purpose so time doesn’t get taken away from the agenda – time really flies during the meetings once you get into them
When you agree to do something or send out information to other board members, try to do it right away
Always try to remember what your role is to the organization – as a volunteer you want to help where you are needed and not create more work for the staff
No matter what committee you are on within the board, it is still your responsibility to ask your contacts and friends to financially support the organization

I think this is going to be a great experience in so many different ways and I’ll keep sharing here, especially on the progress in my leadership journey. Want to join a nonprofit board yourself? Here’s how I did it.

Did you enjoy this post? Subscribe and automatically receive new ones!