Jerrie Clarke <[log in to unmask]> ... The Board President and I decided
we should talk about it. ... In >fact his greatest concern, and he said
that of the rest of the Board, was that they hasve no idea what I do as
>curator. ...
========================================
The question in Jerrie's original subject line has a flip side i.e. "What
does a Board do anyway?" In my experience, they often do not know.
The most succinct description of Board members' duties I have seen is "Give
money, get money or get out!"
That is too blunt for most board members so I favour the 2-1/2 page document
"YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS" from the Institute of Nonprofit Organizations,
1977, Management and Fund Raising Centre (I have a copy but there is no
address). Many Board members do not understand their role, and knowledgeable
staff can help to teach them if the Board members have open minds.
I found that Boards usually listen most to an outsider, even if this person
says the same thing as their own employee (Curator). Human nature I suppose.
Some points from the document "YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS" :
- "A Board of Directors is a formal policy-setting group."
- "The policy makers do not have direct responsibility for operations or
programs unless there are no staff. Instead they approve or reject major
suggestions made by staff.... It is important to give up the notion of being
in charge when they cross from the policy to the operations area. Here they
work for and with the staff." [My comment - This IS harder to do than it
sounds especially if they are on an ego and/or power trip.]
- "All people recruited to a policy-making group (a Board of Directors)
should be well oriented to your organization before they take on their
responsibilities."
- "Board members must have a job description."
I found that having a manual for each Board Member was VERY useful. It
contained things such as museum policies, current budget, job descriptions,
organization chart, overview of the collection, board structure and duties,
brief history of the museum etc. I believe that all of my Board members
welcomed it.
The worst Board scenario I faced (many years ago) was when a retired coal
miner was elected as President the first night he showed up at the
historical society meeting (no one else wanted the job). He had a fit when
he was later told that the Board was expected to raise $25,000 per year -
which included my salary and all of the the operating expenses of the
museum. He refused to work to raise money for the Curator's wages, telling
me to go out and find it myself. Correction on that, the worst Board
experience was when a successor of his laid me off, and then hired himself
into my job! Don't worry though, I was only unemployed for a day, and within
48 hours I had a job offer as an Executive Director of a larger institution
at 25% more pay, $100,000 budget and with several staff.
--
Colin Macgregor Stevens
Museum Curator
Burnaby Village Museum
6501 Deer Lake Avenue
Burnaby, BC, V5G 3T6, CANADA
Phone: (604) 293-6500 FAX: (604) 293-6525
Business e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Museum Webpage:
http://www.burnabyparksrec.org/villagemuseum/villagemuseum.html
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