The Art of Good Governance

Legal Duties of the Board of Directors 

An overview of Board structure and legal obligations of a Board.

Good Governance and Board/Staff Relations 

Article by Mel Gill, Charity Village, June 6 2006.

Diversity in Governance 

Ann Decter (editor), Maytree Foundation, 2007.

Three Expert Talks About Good Board Governance 

Blogpost on good board governance and relationships, featuring three Five Good Ideas sessions: Good Governance in Disruptive Times (JoAnne Doyle), Strong Governance for Strong Organizations (Richard Powers) and Successful Board-Executive Director Relationships (Medhat Mahdy and Tim Penner), Maytree, June 6, 2018

Eight Building Blocks of Strong Nonprofit Brands 

By Peter Frumkin, Nonprofit Quarterly, October 2, 2015

Creating Effective Boards 

(for professional presenters) RECORDED WEBINAR, by Sandra Thomson, for Ontario Presents, March 7, 2018

Deserving of Trust: Helping a Nonprofit Board Move Toward Good Governance 

By Dr. Thomas Wolf, Sounding Board: Perspectives On Nonprofit Strategies from Wolfbrown, February 20, 2018

25 Awesome Things Board Members Do 

By Vu Le, Nonprofit AF, June 2016

Nonprofit Boards and the Board Member: A Distinction with a Difference 

By Simone Joyaux, Nonprofit Quarterly, July 2014

Fundraising Capacity 

A helpful checklist to do with your board. Adapted, with special thanks, from Mo Davies, CFRE & Associates (b.1945 – d. 2012)

How to make board reports more effective & less work 

By Ian McLintock, The Charity Excellence Framework, LinkedIn post January 30, 2018

How to make your meetings more effective 

by Ian McLintock, The Charity Excellence Famework, LinkedIn post January 16, 2018

More than Minutes 

By Ann Rosenfield, Hilborn Charity eNews, Aug 2, 2018

Boards adding value 

By Jini Stolk, Creative Trust Blog, April 2017

Good Board Practices Checklist 

11 considerations for effective governance.

Board Engagement Checklist 

Board Self-Evaluation Tool 

A Tool for Improving the Governance Practices of Non-Profit Organizations.

Board Member Work Plan 

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, Sample Yearly Work Plan, 2005/2006 Season

Building on Strength: Improving Governance and Accountability in Canada’s Voluntary Sector 

Panel on Accountability and Governance in the Voluntary Sector, Final Report, February 1999

Is your board structured for impact? 

Online workshop and slides with Ruth McCambridge, Nonprofit Quarterly, October 13, 2017

It’s nearly December: are your board members burned out? Try this 

By Cindi Phallen, Create Possibility, 2018.

Mutual Responsibilities and Roles of Board Members and Staff 

Board and staff roles when it comes to mission, programs and activities, communications and community relations, organizational sustainability and personal growth and fulfilment.

Executive Director Performance Review 

Creative Trust, December 2012,

The Dynamic Duo: The Board Chair/Executive Relationship 

by Sara Wilson, LinkedIn post, April 18, 2016

Volunteer Boards and Executive Directors: A Relationship for Organizational Stability 

By Larissa Silver, Paula Speevak Sladowski, with Robbie Giles, Carmen Drouin and Christopher Jennings, Imagine Canada, 2007.

The Board Chair Experience: Most helpful related leadership roles, functions 

By Ben Youssef, Board Learning, September 19, 2016

From a board member’s perspective: the role of committees 

By Jini Stolk, Creative Trust blogpost, Feb 26, 2014

Struggling with Stagnant Standing Board Committees 

by Mark Light, Nonprofit Quarterly, August 8, 2017

My worldwide mission to destroy all executive committees 

By Simone Joyaux, SOFII, November 15, 2013

Executive Committees as Nonprofit Pestilence 

by Mark Light, Nonprofit Quarterly, April 19, 2017

Much Ado About Nothing? Why Directors Should Think About Committee Governance 

By Lampros Stougiannos, Miller Thomson Social Impact Newsletter, May 17, 2017

Have you ever hesitated to hold board members accountable? 

by Cindi Phallen, Create Possibility, 2019

Succession Planning 

Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums/ Fédération canadien des amies des musées, au courant Winter 2012 newsletter, Pg 3-4.

Building Boards That WorkDeveloping A Board Recruitment Process 

By Wild Apricot.

20 Questions Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations Should Ask About Board Recruitment, Development and Assessment 

Dr. Richard Leblanc and Hugh Lindsay, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, 2010

How Effective Are Your Board Members? 

Article Simone Joyaux, SOFII, April 22 2014.

Problem Boards or Board Problem? 

By William P Ryan, Richard P. Chait, and Barbara E. Taylor, Non-profit Quarterly, Summer 2013.

Board Building: Recruiting and Developing Effective Board Members for Not-for-Profit Organizations 

The Muttart Foundation and Alberta Community Development, Revised Edition, 1997.

Firing Lousy Board Members 

Article by Simone Joyaux, SOFII, November 15 2013.

Using the Whole Talent Pool 

Interview with Shannon Maynard and Robert Grimm (Corporation for National and Community Service) Nonprofit Quarterly, January 19, 2018

Are Two Heads Better Than One? 

By David Leighton and Peter Herrndorf, International Journal of Arts Management, Vol. 4 No.2, Winter 2002, pgs 4-8.

Board Composition: It’s A Question of Balance 

By Dr Lawrence Hunt, NPdirection, August 2, 2016

Understanding Community Relevance 

Discussion Paper By Tandi Williams and Bridget Jones, Australia Council for the Arts, July 2011.

Making the Right Hire: Assessing a Candidate’s Fit with Your Non-profit 

By Bridgestar, 2008

Ambassadors Cheat Sheet – 20 Easy Things Your Board Members Can Do Right Now 

Article by Create Possibility, April 2018.

Nine Ways Nonprofits Can Increase Community Engagement 

By Forbes Nonprofit Council, October 17, 2017

Understanding Programs: A Great Unrecognized Correlate to Board Excellence 

(including in external relations and ambassadorship), by The Editors, Nonprofit Quarterly, November 15, 2017

What’s in a Frame? A Need to Know for Nonprofits 

By Julie Sweetland, Nonprofit Quarterly, February 27, 2018

Who Brands Your Nonprofit? Who Tells its Story and How? 

By Carlo Cuesta, Nonprofit Quarterly, April 9, 2014.

Mission Haiku: the Poetry of Mission Statements 

By Christopher Finney, Nonprofit Quarterly, reposted October 27, 2017

Projecting 

By Jini Stolk, Creative Trust blogpost, August 2013

Five Good Ideas about speaking to a large audience 

Video and Transcript. By Ravi Jain and Dan Watson, for Maytree, May 23, 2018.

Ten Tips for More Powerful Public Speaking 

By Nina Simon, Museum 2.0, March 20, 2018

Sharpening your message for maximum impact, So you’ve got 30 minutes with the Minister… Now what? 

Video and Slides. By Liz Mulholland, for Maytree and the Ontario Nonprofit Network, June 30, 2018.

The elements of ‘executive presence’ 

By Harvey Schachter, The Globe and Mail Report on Business, September 19, 2016

The scope of our impact 

By Jini Stolk, Creative Trust blogpost, March 2017

Why Board Engagement in Advocacy is Essential 

Why organizational values are so awesome and sexy 

By Vu Le, Nonprofit AF, May 2, 2016

Disrupting the Dominant Frame: An Interview with Susan Nall Bales of the FrameWorks Institute 

By Ruth McCambridge, Nonprofit Quarterly, February 5, 2015

Hearts and Minds: The Arts and Civic Engagement 

A report by Nick Rabkin, for The James Irvine Foundation, April 2017