Hi Joy,

Naturally, everyone who has replied assumes the ideal situation: Board members
should be and are willing to sacrifice in service to a worthy, nonprofit
museum.  They should be, but are not always able as - dum dum dah! (big drum
roll) THEY HAVE PERSONAL LIVES.  ;-)

As someone suggested, your Board could adopt a "absence" policy, that missing
___ (number) of meetings (annually or consecutively) means dismissal from the
Board.  The chairperson or president or your Board could give a personal
telephone call or have a private meeting with this member, and request - for
the sake of the Board and well-being of the Museum - a rearrangement to
his/her schedule.

However, there are no universal solutions.  Each museum (or nonprofit) has
unique circumstances.  If you are hard pressed to attract and keep Board
members active, you could:

(1) allow Board members to deliver reports in writing (to be read in their
abscence)

(2) You could require a certain number of Board members be present for certain
discussions/votes . . . and delay issues until the required number are
present.  [For time-sensitive issues, the Board could elect to meet again -
soon - for discussion and a vote.]

(3) You could, depending upon governance regulations, reduce the number of
Board members.  Less people on the Board means easier coordination of
meetings.

Best wishes, sincerely,

Jay Heuman
Assistant Curator of Education
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art
Utah State University (Logan)
www.artmuseum.usu.edu
t 435-797-0165


>Has anyone had any experience with board members who are not able to
>attend board meetings for a period of several months? I have a board
>member who plans to take a course and the course times conflict with our
>board meeting times. This board member is supposed to give a report at
>each meeting. I'm concerned about setting a bad precedent among other
>things. Has anyone had to deal with this before? Is this something that
>the board should discuss and decide on?
>Joy Houle

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