An Intentional Approach to Land Trust Board Development

Presented by Henrietta JordanTrailmarker Associates

Imagine: What if the board you serve

on was THE board that transformed the

organization, that took it to a new level of effectiveness,

that future boards looked back on and said, “that was the board that made all the

difference”?

Board development = the creation of a highly effective

board of directors.

What are the attributes of a highly effective

board?

A highly effective land trust board understands that its role is to govern the organization through the creation and implementation of good policies and the making of sound decisions

that advance the land trust’s mission.

Board members come to board meetings prepared to have substantive discussions

and make decisions in a thoughtful and deliberative

manner. 

They are active between meetings

as committee members, task/project leaders, volunteers, fundraisers, and ambassadors

for their organizations.

If they have staff, they work in partnership

with the executive director, providing vision, guidance,

direction, and financial resources.

They recruit and engage new board members

who represent the community the land trust serves and provide them

with the training and experiences they need to

assume leadership roles in the organization.

They have outgrown their dependence on the founder and share responsibility for

building institutional knowledge, setting direction,

planning, and evaluating programs and their own performance as a board.

They operate with transparency and

scrupulously manage conflicts of interest and

conflicts of loyalty.

They are curious, open to challenges and

differences of opinion, flexible, and committed

to the well-being of the

organization and the achievement of its goals.

They are willing to risk trying new things and

things they didn’t think they’d want to do, like

fundraising, negotiating with landowners, public speaking, and writing

grant applications.

They understand that just as a land trust is a steward of land, they are stewards

of their organization. They plan for their own

succession and intentionally create a

foundation of effectiveness for future boards.

Other attributes?

Wow. How do we build a board

like that?

First things first.

Make building an effective board your top priority.

If you can accomplish this primary goal, realizing all your other ones will be a

piece of cake

Assess where you are now: board self-evaluation and

board member self-evaluation.

Plan! Set goals for board

development, just as you set goals for programs and

fundraising.

Assign responsibility for board development to a

committee—and don’t saddle its

members with too many other jobs.

Develop a board member job description that clearly states your expectations for engagement,

meeting attendance, committee work, training,

and financial support.

Develop a board manual with organizational history, board and staff

directory, bylaws, statement of vision & values, goals and plan, description of

programs and conserved lands, budget info, description of funding sources, minutes of

board meetings for the past 6 months or so, policies and procedures, information on Land

Trust Alliance, MLTN, and the Learning Center, and outreach info such as brochure,

newsletter, recent press articles, links to website and social media.

Prune dead wood. If they’re not accomplishing

anything, they’re probably looking for

an exit anyway.

Bring in new members who represent the

community you’re trying ‘to serve.

Other ideas?

Where do we find those

new board members?

Ask: Why would they want to engage

with your organization?

Young parents – activities for kids.

Schoolteachers – educational programs.

New residents – want to get involved in

the community and meet people.

Hiking, birding, fishing, other outdoor groups who have a stake in what you’re doing.

Environmentally conscious residents concerned about

saving open space/preserving community

character/protecting water quality/sequestering

carbon/promoting local foods and farms, etc.

Church groups – people interested in

“creation care.”

College and university instructors:

GIS mapping, community and urban

planning, environmental policy, natural resource planning and conservation, agriculture, etc.

Singles – looking for a social outlet and

opportunities to meet people.

Other ideas?

Board members want to feel that their

time is well-spent.

The most important tool you can give them:

information necessary for good decision-making.

The “how” as well as the “what”:

bylaws, board manual, policies, guidelines, etc.

In the agenda: “Board action needed. . .

”

Committee reports in writing.

“What are you asking me to do?”

(i.e. review, comment, decide, advise?)

In-service mini-trainings

Opportunities to go to Rally

Recognition

Other ideas?

Financial literacy:

All board members need to be able to read and understand the budget, the statement of activities (profit/loss) and the statement of financial position

(balance sheet).

Assume they don’t know and provide an annual in-service on financial statements.

Develop accounting procedures that

provide for sufficient segregation of duties—

and follow them.

Review the audit (or financial review) and

Form 990 carefully and ask questions!

Fiduciary responsibility means

YOU are the watchdog. If you don’t

understand, ask questions!

Land conservation literacyAll board members need to

understand why and how they undertake conservation

projects and what the land trust’s ongoing stewardship

responsibilities are.

Training (and policy): •Using project selection criteria•Exercising due diligence in investigating potential projects •Legally sound transactions•Recordkeeping•Understanding IRS and state requirements, stewardship and defense funding

• Baseline documentation• Monitoring conservation

restrictions and preserves• Enforcing conservation restrictions• Amending conservation restrictions• Developing management plans for

fee properties• Resolving fee property issues such

as trespass, dumping, ATVs, etc.

Personnel management literacy

Job descriptions

Workplans

Personnel policies

Supervision and evaluation of theexecutive director

Understanding of federal and state

labor laws and fair employment

statutes

Understanding of payroll taxes, unemployment compensation,

workers comp, & disability insurance requirements

Establishing appropriate compensation

(salary, benefits, etc.)

Planning literacyWhat do you need for a

strategic plan? A Cadillac or a Ford?

Ford = 3-5 year plan with history of organization,

mission, vision, goals, and strategies. Action steps for each strategy with “point person” and timetable.

Budget.

Annual workplans for board, committees, staff

Process for evaluating, fine-tuning

Managing conflict

We all bring our “stuff” wherever we go.

“Board members behaving badly” – an inevitable

growing pain of an organization.

President or chair MUST intervene.

“Let’s have lunch”

Pay more attention to the folks who are pulling their weight and doing the work than to those who are only

complaining.

What do your bylaws say?

The process of “firing” a dysfunctional board member

will be painful but the sweet peace that follows

makes it all worth it.

Now what?

What will YOU do first to make your board more

effective?

You CAN have the board you would love

to be a member of!