Baylor professor addresses local group

By Deanna Brown

Daily Sun

The general consensus following the most recent training sponsored by Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services is that many local board of directors are woefully undertrained.

Dr. Gaynor Yancey with the School of Social Work at Baylor University addressed a crowd of roughly 30 board members, executive directors and board presidents at True Value conference room Thursday morning. Despite the unrest outside the windows, Yancey kept the attention of all who attended this third training in a series, sessions brought about by a weakness noted in the United Way needs assessment done in recent years.

Yancey has her master’s degree in social agency management, and her doctorate in social welfare policy.

“We are here today to discuss ‘What is my role if I’m a board member? Or if I’m an executive director?’ If we understand the roles of board members and executive directors, we should be able to function more efficiently.”

Attendees of the training, which was titled “Give, Get, or Get Off!”, were asked to write what they believed the role of a board member to be, and likewise, an executive director. Very few came close to being the same roles at the conclusion of the training.

“You have the ‘3 G’ Boards, where you give money, get money, or get off the board,” Yancey said. “There are the ‘3C’ boards, where you bring cash, clout and contacts, and then you have your ‘3W’ boards, which are people with wealth and wisdom who will work.

“The role of the board is to govern — they are not there to give consent.”

Yancey mentioned that in the last 15 years, there has been more pressure from social agencies on their board of directors to raise funds. A working board is one where the members do things for the board between meetings.

“The president of the board must not meddle in the job of the executive director,” she said. “It could result in ill health of the agency. An unhealthy relationship between the executive director and the board may result in hurting the very people you are there to help.”

Outlining board member responsibilities was another topic Yancey covered, while also stating that is generally not the job of the board to manage day-to-day operations, provide direct service, hire and supervise staff, or assign work to the staff.

One thing stressed by Yancey is that serving on a board should not just be a resume builder, because the stakes are too high. There is definite responsibility that comes from serving on a board, since the board is the legal entity of that organization.

Yancey said all board members should be familiar with their own by-laws. If your board doesn’t have any by-laws, consulting with an attorney and preparing a set of by-laws is recommended.

“All board members should have an orientation, no matter the size of the board,” she said. “The president of the board and the executive director should work together to see that each board member receives educational training once per year.

“The most important thing I can stress is that legal and fiscal matters reside with the board, not with the executive director. “

Board members should have specific term limits, and the by-laws should specify whether a board member may serve consecutive terms or not. A budget must be adopted by a board of directors every single year, and it must be recorded in the minutes that the board has done so.

“The president of the board should evaluate the executive director,” she said. “He can seek the input of anyone (staff, clients, etc.) in the preparation of that evaluation.”

Each attendee took away a manual with information regarding board service, complete with a recruitment letter for new board members.

Mary Peterson Child Care Center had the most members of their board of directors present, and received a gift certificate from the Cotton Patch, as did the United Way, who came in second place.

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Deanna Brown may be contacted via e-mail at deanna@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Sound Off” on this story? E-mail soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com.