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 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).