Program Purpose
The not-for-profit sector has grown tremendously in the last 20 years. Nonprofit organizations are tackling society’s most challenging problems and working to improve our world in every corner of society— from medicine and social services to greener technologies and the arts.
Within this expansion, a need has been created for business skills in, but certainly not limited to, marketing, finance, and strategy.
The Net Impact Board Fellows program connects outstanding professionals with the boards of directors of Bay Area nonprofits for apprenticeships in board service. The program offers a high-impact channel for individuals to serve their communities by leveraging their work experience and business knowledge. Board Fellows work with participating host organizations for one year.
The goal of the program is to support the local community by providing it with much needed business expertise while giving working professionals leadership opportunities in their community.
For fellows, the key features of the Board Fellows experience are:
- Participation as a non-voting member of a nonprofit board of directors, including attendance at all board meetings and relevant committee meetings
- Mentorship by a board member at the host organization
- Completion of a limited consulting project focused on a strategic challenge facing the board
Host organizations commit to providing fellows with unparalleled exposure to the challenges and rewards of service in the social sector. In turn, your commitment to the organization’s mission, support toward a meaningful project, fresh perspective, and business expertise can benefit your host organization.
As a Board Fellow, you can expect to:
- Engage with a nonprofit on a strategic level
- Learn about nonprofit management and governance through first hand experience and gain the skills that facilitates future board service
- Develop expertise through a hands-on project for the non-profit organization
- Develop deeper knowledge of specific social issues related to the work of the nonprofit
- Partner with experienced mentors
- Give back to your community!
Expectations of Board Fellows
The Board Fellows relationship is a reciprocal one: you bring a fresh perspective to an organization and a desire to make a positive impact through a project; your host organization brings passion for its mission and deep experience in nonprofit management.
As a Board Fellow, you are expected to:
- Participate in all board meetings and appropriate committee meetings during your term of service. Expected Time Commitment: About 6 hours per month. Will vary by organization.
- Complete a project addressing a matter of concern to the board of directors (deadline for project submission must be agreed upon in the MOU). Present final results to the board, and provide a copy of the presentation to the Net Impact Board Fellows leadership team.
- Invest in the fellowship. The expected time commitment: at least 10 hours per month
- Respond to requests for updates from the Board Fellows leadership team, attend a quarterly conference call with the Board Fellows leadership and complete a detailed evaluation at the end of the year.
What is NOT Expected of You
Board Fellows should not be asked to provide:
- Open-ended consulting assistance. You will be asked to complete a specific project, as stated in the host organization’s application or as agreed upon with the non-profit board. The deadline for this project will be agreed upon in the MOU. Support from the Board Fellows leadership team in scoping your project is available at any time (see page X).
- General office support. Your project will deal with a matter of importance to the board of directors and should not involve substantial office work.
- Fundraising contributions or direct participation in fundraising calls. You might be asked to work on matters related to institutional development, but will not be expected to donate your own funds or to fundraise.
If you feel that a host organization has unreasonable expectations of you in any area, or if you’d like to clarify your own expectations, contact the Board Fellows leadership team.
Click here for more details and the timeline to become a board fellow.
Expectations of Host Organizations
Net Impact Board Fellows presents you with an opportunity to learn about board governance in a hands-on environment, observing and participating in real-world decision-making faced by nonprofits in today’s changing social sector.
To help fulfill these goals, we ask all host organizations to commit to the following:
- Involve Board Fellows in all meetings of the board of directors and relevant committee meetings
- Identify a board member to serve as your mentor, and establish a framework for the mentoring
- By September 25, 2009 finalize with each Board Fellow the scope and timeline for a capstone project addressing a matter of concern to the board of directors, to be completed and presented to the board; the project should call upon your business skills and require no more than 10 hours of work per month of the fellowship
- Complete a detailed post-fellowship review as well as provide ongoing feedback to the Board Fellow leadership about the program.
Email us if your organization might be interested in hosting a board fellow and you want to learn more about the program!
