About Engage the Board

Engage the Board is a governance consultancy and coaching service dedicated to working with nonprofit organizations and their leaders to build board member engagement, and to develop the governance function to support board member

• Participation
• Knowledge
• Accountability

Engage the Board believes that developing board member engagement improves

• Diverse and inclusive perspectives
• Decision-making
• Effectiveness of the governance function
• Fiscal and organizational accountability

All of the factors work in concert to allow organizations to achieve their mission and vision, e.g. their purpose. At an organizational level, Engage the Board, focuses on working directly with the board, its members, and its leaders to ensure all members are strong and positioned to govern including:

• Leading in a changing environment
• Understanding decision-making
• Improving diverse views
• Ensuring public accountability.

Engage the Board’s approach is not intended to implement a specific governance model but rather to

• Work with the unique characteristics and mission of the organization and its members
• Establish a strong governance foundation
• Position the organization for long-term sustainability.

We believe this includes examining the processes used in governance development and achieving public accountability. Based on our own research, the process applied

• creates a greater understanding of the governance role
• identifies and reduces the bottlenecks
• clafiries board roles and responsibilities.

by utilizing the human capital of the board members and identifying the foundational elements of a strong governance system.

Guiding Principles

Engage the board takes a bottom-up approach, using our Board Café, to build the governance function.  We build upon the unique strengths and abilities of the board membership and its leaders and address the foundational needs of the governance structure. We assume that all members are willing and able to build knowledge and build an accountable governance system, including the role of the individual members, the leaders, the culture, and the processes.  When the system elements are aligned improved decision-making and greater accountability.

Engage the board approaches its engagements with the following focus:

• Address all clients with open, honest intentions—our mission is to improve engagement.
• Appreciate and address the unique differences and challenges of each organization.
• Recognize the human capital potential of the organization’s membership.
• Hold the client (nonprofit organization) accountable to achieve objectives and outcomes identified through the development plan.

We believe that with the right people, the right information, and the right culture, better decisions will be made.