Blog 6

Cheryl and Dr. Gilbride-Brown came and spoke with us about board responsibilities. They also spoke of the legal duties of nonprofit boards: duty of care, duty of obedience, and duty of loyalty. What did you learn about these duties? What surprised you? What do you think of these duties?

It was a very great learning experience to talk to Cherly and Dr. Gilbride-Brown and I feel like I gained a more clear view for the responsibilities of a board member.

we talked about three duties: duty of care, duty of obedience and duty of loyalty.

Duty of care:

it is about involvement of board member. it includes financial contribution, attending board meeting and actively contributing ideas.

Duty of loyalty is about being faithful for the organization. I think it goes hand in hand with duty of care. Daily involvement sometimes can be very demanding in terms of time and energy. What motivate the board members to move on is their passion for the cause that the organization represents. Truly believe in what you are doing makes one's work much easier and enjoyable.

Duty of obiendience/ compliance

it is more of a bottom line kind of duty for a board member and which people don't usually think about. It is to always think in terms of the organization's best interest and to maintain organizational integrity and have a clear understand of the federal and local legal regulation and abiding by them.

What we talked in class gives me a better understanding for duties of a board member and the daily work and problems board members are facing is much more complicated and detailed. These duties are the guideline with which they navigate themselves through every tough decision and prioritize their daily work.

Overall the discussion in class gives me a refreshed view of the role of a board member here are the points which surprised me or impressed me the most:

1. Even though financial support is an very important expectation from a board member however there is much more to be expected of a board member than just writing checks or bring in social connections. they have to really get involved in the decision making process attend the board meeting and fundraising actives on a regular basis. they have to really contribute their ideas and cares about the cause the organization works.

Cheryl, whose organization i ll be working with, is a very good example of a caring board member. from the meeting with her and later the meeting with Berine. I learnt that she is a highly involved board member. she is not only serving her financial duties well but also is engaged actively in detailed daily issues. She does everything she can to reduce overheads of daily operations and try her best to do outworks that will benefit the organization. She provides everybody a clear direction where the organization is going and consistenly making changes according to the environment and designing programs that fit into the organization's mission. When she was talking it was not the least sounds that an burdensome obligation to serve on a board and it s more of like something she really enjoy. I also really impressed by her honesty by her saying if you don't feel like you are passionate about this organization please don t work for it.

2.maintaining integrity sounds like a duty which need no more mention and most board member will not violate the bottom line. I was kind of surprise to hear that there are really embezzling members on some board and the loss they caused is quite large relative to the entire budget.

what i have never know prior to this discussion is Being a board member can expose one to legal risk. i aware that serving on a board it s a lot more than an opportunity to building networks to make one feel good about themselves, but a serious commitment which can help so many people with their lives and if not handle with care can lead to very serious consequences.

3 what also impressed me is a board member is not only asked to be faithful themselves but are also required to build a trust within the organization. it becomes very important to draw the line between a duties of board members and managerial members. even though board member expected to be devoted and involved, but too much interference with daily managerial duties will create unnecessary trust issues within the organization. this can cause loyal members lose their faith for the board and even for the this organization as a whole.