I want to piggyback onto what Pam has said.  This same
concept of rotating board members on and off was
something they taught in the Fund Raising Certificate
Program at UCLA.


--- Pamela Sezgin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Marilyn and Listers,
>
> Most small and medium-sized museum boards with whom
> I work have rotating terms for board members.
> Ideally, you would want about 1/3 of your members to
> rotate off at a time so that the majority of the
> board are "old" members who have an idea about what
> is expected and how to accomplish things.    Usually
> a term of 3 years is best.   Members of the
> Executive Committee, however, may have a different
> term length, (e.g., 4 years) or be required to serve
> in a series of offices such as holding a term as
> Vice President prior to being elected President.
> Also it may be a good idea to have the outgoing
> President serve on the Executive Committee (ex
> officio -- non-voting) for a year until the new
> president gets his/her wings).
>
> Even "good" board members should rotate on and off
> due to the fact that people's personalities change
> and power corrupts!   You also want to have policies
> and procedures that are fair and consistent so that
> people will want to serve on your board and so that
> you attract community-minded, actualizing board
> members (as opposed to attracting self-promoting,
> opportunistic, or laissez-faire types who only care
> about resume building).
>
> The "good" board members can be retained as
> committee chairs, as volunteer fund-raisers on the
> development committee, or they can serve a series of
> terms (2 at most before they rotate off to do
> something else).
>
> The reason rotation is a good idea is that it
> theoretically keeps the board working as a whole,
> rather than having it be dominated by one or two
> extremely powerful people who may not act in the
> interests of the museum.
>
> You may wish to take AAM's seminar for CEO's on
> governance.  I did and it was well worth the tuition
> and time.   Also, the Nonprofit Center in Washington
> D.C. prints good publications
> on the "how-to" of nonprofit governance.
>
> Cordially,
>
> Pamela Sezgin



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