What Do Boards Do Anyhow?
Photo by Rebrand Cities from Pexels
I have sat on several boards in this Movement, including as a board member for Mercy For Animals in Canada, and as the founding board member and President of Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, home of Esther the Wonder Pig for 6 years.
If your organization is a nonprofit, usually denoted as a 501c3 in the US, or a registered charity in Canada, then you will (or should!) have a Board of Directors.
In my many years of being a board member, and in my current role of consulting to boards in our Movement regarding matters of board governance, one of the most common findings I encounter is that board members often don’t understand what it really means to sit on a board, and also, many don't take their role as seriously as they should. And, when this happens, it hurts animals.
What is also often misunderstood in our Movement is that charitable organizations (those that are able to issue tax receipts to donors) are fully accountable to the general public for all aspects of their operations. Charities are not ‘owned’ by their founder, their executive director, or even their Board of Directors - they exist to serve the general public. And, the ultimate responsibility of this service sits with the Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors is the body that is legally, ethically, and financially responsible for the organization, and for ensuring that the organization is meeting their obligations to the public, and to you. And, in our last couple of blogs I discussed one of the most important roles that boards should play - ensuring a healthy and respectful workplace for all employees. Without a healthy workplace we simply cannot serve the animals to the best of our abilities.
While the Board of Directors has many responsibilities, I will provide a ‘Top 10’ list.
The Board of Directors is responsible for the following, while maintaining the highest ethics, and a duty of care and loyalty to the organization:
Determining the mission, vision, and purpose of the organization.
Ensuring that the organization is effectively carrying out its mission, vision, and purpose.
Hiring the executive director.
Supporting and evaluating the performance of the executive director including setting compensation.
Constantly monitoring, assessing, and if necessary, amending the mission, vision, and purpose.
Ensuring the financial health of the organization (involved in fundraising).
Providing financial oversight.
Ensuring that the Board is carrying out its duties and regularly assessing its own performance.
Ensuring that the organization complies with all aspects of the law, including employment laws.
Working to constantly monitor and build the reputation of the organization with the general public.
Remember, the organization that you work for is a public organization - not a secret club. The Board of Directors is responsible to you too as a member of the general public, and as an employee.
You should know who the board members are and how to contact them, you should know what each of their roles and responsibilities are (e.g. their individual job descriptions), and their work should be fully transparent to you. You should be able to ask for copies of minutes of board meetings (parts of which many need to be redacted on occasion) and copies of job descriptions, you should know what their goals are as a board, you should know how they hold one another accountable, you should have access to the board by-laws, and you should feel free to reach out to any member of the board at any time in connection with any of the above matters - remember, your Board works for you!
I want to help to empower you to be the best activist you can be. Please reach out with any questions and I’ll try to answer them in future blogs, anonymously of course!
Always for the Animals,
Krista
This blog series is provided for general information purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice or opinions of any kind. No one should act, or refrain from acting, based solely upon the materials provided on this website, any hypertext links or other general information without first seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice.
The intention of this blog is to promote the longevity and engagement level of the activist community within the Animal Advocacy Movement (AAM). The majority of the advice will be geared towards employees within the AAM in Canada and the United States, but may be applicable to other countries. All information provided assumes that the employee works within a non-unionized environment.
Krista spent the first 15 years of her career in human resources including as the Vice President of HR for one of the largest tech companies in the world. Krista then founded a boutique employment law firm in Toronto where she consulted to employers across Canada and the U.S. for a decade. To pursue her true passion, Krista sold her practice to lead Mercy For Animals in Canada where she led twelve undercover investigations into factory farms and slaughterhouses. Today Krista consults with animal protection organizations across North America on matters of organizational development. In addition to holding five degrees and designations in human resources, she is pursuing her doctorate focused on the employment experiences of animal rights activists.