Type 2 Board governance, or Micromanagosis [Nonprofit Diseases]

People who serve on nonprofit boards are great. They’re doing more than their share of making the world a better place.

But…

Most members of nonprofit boards are not fundraising professionals. There’s nothing wrong with that. But things can go sideways when they board members confuse “governance” with “micromanaging” and don’t have fundraising knowledge to make their managing useful.

Most common symptoms of Type 2 board governance:

• “Let’s have more events to raise funds.”
• “Let’s get a huge donation from Oprah.”
• “Let’s save money by going all digital with our fundraising.”
• “My nephew has a branding agency — he’ll rebrand us for low cost.”

Things that may seem smart — if you don’t know any better. Which most professionals do.

Boards work best when they lead, not when they manage. Or when they bring specific professional knowledge — legal, accounting, etc.

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