Since I relocated Dear Murgatroyd from a Facebook group to this website, the requests for my assistance have been piling up and so I'll try and dig through the emails and pull from the Archives in order to provide entertaining content for my tens of fans.
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Dear Julie: I have a legacy board member who has been with our organization since the early days and despite our bylaws being very specific about term limits and requiring breaks between terms on the board, the rules don't seem to apply to this person. They manage to bully the rest of the board into doing a resolution each year to allow them to stay on the board and yet they are super toxic and cause 75% of the drama. Help!
Dear Reader: You are not alone. Nonprofits the country over have this same board member who won't leave. They are a bit like the person who won't take the hint and leave at the end of a dinner party. Unfortunately, you're going to have to be directly indirect. You need an official GTFO walker out the door person and that's got to be your Board Chair.
1. Announce to the Board that you need to update the bylaws to address the new FASB guidelines for nonprofits and to ensure compliance with your state's nonprofit corporations act. Ask your board chair (who you've briefed in advance) to appoint a committee that you've previously selected and get to work. Create a document that shows that board members A, B and Dear Murgatroyd are rolling off the board at the end of 2018 and that you'll need to recruit and appoint/elect new board members by X date. (Put a gap of 3 years in between terms, please.)
2. Create an event in the fall to "honor the contributions of A, B and Dear Murgatroyd" to your organization. Throw a cocktail party, send out lovely invitations and include your biggest donors. Make sure to invite the family of Dear Murgatroyd and for the love of all that's holy, make sure there's a nice plaque or maybe a certificate. Make sure you write your board member's speech about how A, B and Dear Murgatroyd have served blah blah blah and you all hope that they will continue to donate, provide financial support and share your good works.
3. Ask board chair to appoint an "Advisory Council" and let you pick the members. These are donors, former board members and key volunteers who you invite to breakfast once a year and tell them what you're all up to and then ask for their advice. (Ask for advice, get money. Ask for money, get advice.) This is the time to be gracious to Dear Murgatroyd and let them get a polite round of applause for their service to your organization.
4. Remind all new and current board members that they are partly responsible for recruiting new board members to your organization's board so that you have new blood, if you will. Foster a culture of managed turnover and you won't get stuck with Dear Murgatroyd again.
And with that, what say you?
As always, send your questions and conundrums to DearMurgatroyd@gmail.com.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Julie: I have a legacy board member who has been with our organization since the early days and despite our bylaws being very specific about term limits and requiring breaks between terms on the board, the rules don't seem to apply to this person. They manage to bully the rest of the board into doing a resolution each year to allow them to stay on the board and yet they are super toxic and cause 75% of the drama. Help!
Dear Reader: You are not alone. Nonprofits the country over have this same board member who won't leave. They are a bit like the person who won't take the hint and leave at the end of a dinner party. Unfortunately, you're going to have to be directly indirect. You need an official GTFO walker out the door person and that's got to be your Board Chair.
1. Announce to the Board that you need to update the bylaws to address the new FASB guidelines for nonprofits and to ensure compliance with your state's nonprofit corporations act. Ask your board chair (who you've briefed in advance) to appoint a committee that you've previously selected and get to work. Create a document that shows that board members A, B and Dear Murgatroyd are rolling off the board at the end of 2018 and that you'll need to recruit and appoint/elect new board members by X date. (Put a gap of 3 years in between terms, please.)
2. Create an event in the fall to "honor the contributions of A, B and Dear Murgatroyd" to your organization. Throw a cocktail party, send out lovely invitations and include your biggest donors. Make sure to invite the family of Dear Murgatroyd and for the love of all that's holy, make sure there's a nice plaque or maybe a certificate. Make sure you write your board member's speech about how A, B and Dear Murgatroyd have served blah blah blah and you all hope that they will continue to donate, provide financial support and share your good works.
3. Ask board chair to appoint an "Advisory Council" and let you pick the members. These are donors, former board members and key volunteers who you invite to breakfast once a year and tell them what you're all up to and then ask for their advice. (Ask for advice, get money. Ask for money, get advice.) This is the time to be gracious to Dear Murgatroyd and let them get a polite round of applause for their service to your organization.
4. Remind all new and current board members that they are partly responsible for recruiting new board members to your organization's board so that you have new blood, if you will. Foster a culture of managed turnover and you won't get stuck with Dear Murgatroyd again.
And with that, what say you?
As always, send your questions and conundrums to DearMurgatroyd@gmail.com.
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