Richard Manners
A highly successful entrepreneur who passionately believes in contributing his time, experience, and expertise to governing nonprofit organizations, Rich Manners – a member of this blog’s CEO Advisory Committee – has served on a number of nonprofit boards over the years. He is also a founding member of the Florida Association of Nonprofit Organizations.
In this highly informative and thought-providing podcast that Rich recorded for extraordinaryceo.com, he makes clear that it’s not just a matter of his being chosen to fill a board seat. On the contrary, he consciously chooses whether to join the board. Doing his due diligence before accepting an invitation to join a nonprofit board, among other things he reviews the nonprofit’s mission, its bylaws, its finances, and the board’s committee structure to determine the likelihood of making a real difference as a board member.
Rich also explains why he has on rare occasions resigned from nonprofit boards over the years, principally because he felt that these boards were so staff-driven and so unengaged in shaping high-stakes decisions that his precious and all-too-finite volunteer time was being wasted. As Rich observes in the podcast, governance is a matter of “serious people doing serious business,” and if a board isn’t going about its business seriously, then Rich isn’t inclined to stick around.
If you want to help your nonprofit attract – and retain – top-notch board members who can make a powerful contribution, Rich’s podcast is must listening:
You might also want to listen to the podcast that another member of this blog’s CEO Advisory Committee, Katie Burnham Laverty, President and CEO of the Society of Nonprofits, recorded on the characteristics of “board-savvy” CEOs that she’s observed over the years – the kind who are able to build positive, productive, and enduring partnerships with their boards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRUUrXwz0NA.
