Katie Is Thankful For This Opportunity

I cannot believe it is already Week 10! I have enjoyed learning about the ins and outs of nonprofit organizations and have gained so much valuable knowledge from the Board Immersion Program. Having this experience has really allowed to me to think about what I would like my future with nonprofits to be like and how I envision working with nonprofits in the future. This experience has confirmed my more recent revelation that while I would still like to attend graduate school to become a Physician Assistant, I would only be happy in my life by remaining significantly involved in the nonprofit sector. I could see myself working as a PA in a clinic for a low-income area or underserved population. If I continue my path to work in pediatric oncology, I would love to get well connected with nonprofits that support the cause. I would enjoy working with nonprofits in some capacity with my future career, but I know for a fact that my personal life will involve volunteering for nonprofits that I am passionate about.

Throughout the course of the quarter, I have reaffirmed my future career goals (in a partial non-specific way). I have truly enjoyed learning about the role that a board plays in the success and future of a nonprofit organization and this is definitely very appealing to me. I think it is extremely beneficial to learn how to strategically plan for the continued success of a nonprofit organization and this is very appealing to me. I have learned a lot from the guest speakers we had the chance to talk with and from the readings. I am not sure I would say I was necessarily ‘surprised’ by anything specific, but I definitely was interested in the inner workings of how the board works with the executive director and other employees. I was also very interested in the more specific ways to make a nonprofit more impactful on the community/population it is serving.

With Thanksgiving finally here in a few short hours, I guess it seems appropriate for me to say one of the many things I am thankful for in my life. And the one that makes sense to say here is how thankful I am to be a student at The Ohio State University. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend school out of state and the opportunities I have had are absolutely incredible…the Board Immersion Program being one of those opportunities. After interning with a few nonprofits, this experience has allowed me to see the other side of the organizations and find a different way to continue work with nonprofit organizations in my future. And for that, I am incredibly thankful.

Quote of the Week: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” William Arthur Ward

In the future, I plan on working for a nonprofit. I don't have much of a vision of what that will exactly look like because there are so many different kinds of things that I could do. I imagine that I wouldn't be working too much with accounting or finance since I have no skills in those areas. It also depends on whether I work for a big or small nonprofit. I could definitely work with the budget if I were in a small nonprofit because as we've learned in class, there are so limited employees, that anyone paid could have a hand in the finances of the organization.

So even though we've learned so much about nonprofits, I'm not sure exactly how I see myself working within a nonprofit yet. I don't think I could be the executive director, but I definitely would want a big role within the nonprofit, nonetheless. We also didn't learn much about larger nonprofits. I'd like to learn more about United Way and bigger nonprofits like the ones we learned about in Forces For Good to maybe get a bigger sense of what kind of job I'd like to go after in the nonprofit world.

Everything we've learned this quarter supports my goals for the future because it directly relates to my career hopes. As far as what appeals to me most, I would have to say that working in a bigger nonprofit seems more like what I would be likely to do because I don't think I could handle the stress of that the small staff on a small nonprofit would have. It surprised me that the board and the staff often don't see eye to eye. I would've thought that since they have the same mission, they would often have the same goals and ways of reaching those goals.

Final Blog Prompt

Now that you have learned all about nonprofit organizations, the inside and the out, reflect on the following questions: How do you envision working with nonprofits in the future? What role do you want them to play in your career/personal life? What have you learned this quarter that matches or supports your goals from the future? What appeals most to you? What did you learn that surprised you? 

Post 6 (Sorry for the delay)

Each time that speakers like Cheryl and Dr. Gilbride-Brown come and share at our class, I truly learn a great deal about the non-profit world. Their honesty and personal experiences are invaluable supplements to the texts that we read. That being said, I learned a great deal from the two of them about the responsibilities of board members, specifically relating to the duties of care, obedience, and loyalty.

To me, duty of compliance/obedience  (staying focused on the mission and maintaining strong financial oversight all specifically for the purpose of upholding the integrity of the organization) seems so basic that it could actually be taken for granted. Cheryl and Dr. G-B mentioned the case of the Grove City food pantry’s embezzlement scandal, which was particularly interesting to me because I suppose I naively assumed that because community-serving nonprofits begin with benevolent intentions, that board members are free from the greed, corruption, and temptation of the private sector.

Duty of care refers to the basic involvement and participation of board members. It was interesting to hear from both of them about what duty of care and participation meant in the contexts of their own boards. For example, the idea that financial contribution and attendance to fund-raising events was expected was something that I had not thought about. They also discussed in detail how they manage the lack of participation and engagement and how to manage the dynamic of people “burning out” or never really being energized because they are required by their bosses to serve on the board. Additionally related to duty of care is the element of fiscal responsibility.

Finally, duty of loyalty refers to the “evangelism” that we studied in Forces for Good, meaning that board members promote the mission, objectives, and interests of the organization when around their close friends, at public events, etc. This is very important because so much funding is generated through tapping these networks, and each public event can serve as an opportunity to make new donor relationships--which means that the org. can do more.

Again, while the idea behind these “cares” seems pretty standard, I learned the most from their personal anecdotes and experiences.

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.

Duties

Molly Ellender

I really enjoy hearing Cheryl and Dr. Gilbride-Brown speak because of the clear honestly they are portraying towards us. I feel much more included as a member of the board since they are telling us the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is like they are really taking us seriously and want us to fully understand everything that goes on. This being said, I think it is clear that no matter what ugly things they do tell us about, it is obvious that is is completely worth it for them to continue their work in non-profit. I am constantly surprised by the amount of politics involved when we talk about new aspects of the board. I had no idea how much it truly controlled the decisions, members, and board dynamics.

Duty of care - I think the only way to truly be able to commit everything that is expected of you on a board is to 100% feel passionately about the cause in which your non-profit works. All of the duties that are expected of a member are a lot. Unless it is something that runs deeper than just feeling good about yourself for working for a greater good, it might be hard to be fully invested.

Duty of obedience - I think this is the duty that surprised me the most just in the sense that it wasn't something I had really thought about. It does seem like each member of the board would have to fully understand the legal regulations of the board or their decisions couldn't be made to the best of their ability. This is where the passion needs to come into play because outside work and research probably has to be done by each member to fully understand all of the legalities.

Duty of loyalty - To me loyalty is something that is deeply important in anything that I do. It would only make sense that complete loyalty should be shown to the entire non-profit so all actions portray a positive light and therefore gain the respect and support of the community.

Another thing that really surprised me was Dr. Gilbride-Brown and the financial contributions expected of the board members. I guess in my mind it kind of seemed like board members might not have to contribute as much financially since they are so important in making the non-profit successful, but it makes sense that their support is needed and should be part of their duty. Each speaker/topic presented to us in class makes me think deeper into the way that these boards are run and makes me excited to keep learning about the problems boards face daily.

Board Duties Reflection: Andrew Wharton

I felt that I had multiple takeaways from our discussions with Cheryl and Dr. Gilbride-Brown. I felt that their introspective approach to their involvement on their respective boards allowed the class to get a firm grasp on the intangible details that are too often lost in the fine print. The thing I was most surprised to discover was the legal duties board members have to each other, their boards, and the state. I know the last thing I thought about when joining the board was what legal risk I could be exposing myself to by signing up for the BIP. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard there was such a thing as “board insurance” as there is for every other facet of our lives but you would rather be with than without I guess. The duties part did not surprise me too much but I thought it was nice that they were explicit rather than implicit for our sake:

Duty of Care: You have to have a certain level of engagement in the organization and its mission. If you are not a contributor of time, talents, and wealth, a seat on the board is probably not for you. It was very interesting to note how devoted both Cheryl and Dr. Gilbride-Brown have been with their organizations and how much outside effort they put back into their organizations. Like everything else in life, if its not worth doing right, its not worth doing at all.

Duty of Loyalty: In today’s world trust is everything. Everywhere you go people are looking for pristine levels of trust that are accrued through long bouts of loyalty. As a board member, it is your duty to the organization to promote honest financial objectives, not slander the organization, and to uphold what most would consider a natural level of faithfulness in any duty your perform on behalf of, or outside the board.

Duty of Obedience/Compliance: It is your duty to understand all rules and regulations and abide by them. Just like sports, life is difficult when you don’t follow the rules and loops back to a degradation of duty of loyalty as well.

The key point in all of these duties is that being a member of any board is a serious and revered position that should be managed with care. You are holding people’s dreams, visions, and typically lives in the balance through your decisions and actions on the board. This is why being a board member, while it is an exciting opportunity, must be regarded with all seriousness as well.