The recruitment of non-executive Directors for nonprofit Boards
In 2008, at the request of clients, Windsor extended its service with the recruitment of skills-specific, non-executive Directors and Chairpersons for the Boards of nonprofit organizations.
This formalised a pro bono service the company had been performing for some time. Today, the recruitment of Board members is a service that is offered to the nonprofit sector at an affordable flat rate.
Recruiting a synergistic nonprofit Board.
To have an effective Board, it’s vital that each Director brings special individual, shared and complementary skills, experience and personal characteristics to the table.
Windsor manages risk by evaluating the business first - its goals, mission and the dynamics of its present Board. Defining the Board’s advantages, shortcomings, constraints, meshing of personalities, team spirit, commitment to the cause and functionality lays a foundation for the interviews which will follow.
Once a definitive brief has been drawn up in collaboration with the client, the search for a new Director begins.
To evaluate a candidate’s suitability for any particular Board role, interviews – and there are invariably more than one – are extremely broad but also as probing as sensitivity allows. Windsor has a number of different interview tools and techniques for this process.
Areas explored with potential nonprofit Board members
Other current and past Board Memberships – mainstream and nonprofit
Title, salary and status of current main occupation
Gender and age – anticipated working life as it relates to the balance of the Board
Education, qualifications & specific expertise
Knowledge of the nonprofit’s mission and modus operandi
Community alignment and sense of justice
Time available: geographic location: anticipated preparation for meetings
Congruence, culture, management style and perceived cohesion
Psychological safety and personality
Team and leadership skills: response to organisational change
By no means a comprehensive checklist, this does include many important considerations that were highlighted in the results of the Windsor/QUT research survey The Survey of Nonprofit Board Attitudes and Effectiveness.
These have been incorporated into our interview practice since that time.
To round out the picture, a Windsor Consultant would then explore a person’s emotional maturity, moral values, philosophy, personality, preconceptions and what he/she considers will be their contribution to this cause.
After a considerable number of both official and unofficial checks, a shortlist of candidates recommended for interview will be presented to the client.
