What are the basic responsibilities of nonprofit boards?
By: BoardSource
Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards
1.Determine mission and purpose. It is the board's responsibility to create and review a statement of mission and purpose that articulates the organization's goals, means, and primary constituents served.
2.Select the chief executive. Boards must reach consensus on the chief executive's responsibilities and undertake a careful search to find the most qualified individual for the position.
3.Support and evaluate the chief executive. The board should ensure that the chief executive has the moral and professional support he or she needs to further the goals of the organization.
4.Ensure effective planning. Boards must actively participate in an overall planning process and assist in implementing and monitoring the plan's goals.
5.Monitor, and strengthen programs and services. The board's responsibility is to determine which programs are consistent with the organization's mission and monitor their effectiveness.
6.Ensure adequate financial resources. One of the board's foremost responsibilities is to secure adequate resources for the organization to fulfill its mission.
7.Protect assets and provide proper financial oversight. The board must assist in developing the annual budget and ensuring that proper financial controls are in place.
8.Build a competent board. All boards have a responsibility to articulate prerequisites for candidates, orient new members, and periodically and comprehensively evaluate their own performance.
9.Ensure legal and ethical integrity. The board is ultimately responsible for adherence to legal standards and ethical norms.
10.Enhance the organization's public standing. The board should clearly articulate the organization's mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community.
References
•Richard T. Ingram, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, Second Edition (BoardSource 2009).
Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
PND - News - Report Calls for National Effort to Help Youth Navigate Path to Employability
Report Calls for National Effort to Help Youth Navigate Path to Employability
Despite billions of dollars spent on education reform efforts over several decades, American high schools and colleges are failing to prepare millions of the county's young people to lead successful lives, a new study from the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education finds.
The report, Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century (52 pages, PDF), argues that the nation's strategy for education and youth development has been too narrowly focused on an academic, classroom-based approach, which in turn has produced only incremental gains in achievement and attainment.
To remedy the situation, the authors recommend the development of a broader school reform effort that embraces multiple pathways to help young people successfully navigate their personal development. According to the report, only 30 percent of young adults successfully complete the preferred pathway to success — attending and graduating from a four-year college. The report further argues that American employers need to play a greatly expanded role in supporting the pathways system and providing additional opportunities for young adults to participate in work-based learning related to their programs of study, and that the nation needs to develop a new social compact in which every young adult will be equipped by their mid-20s with the education and experience needed to lead a successful life as an adult.
Supported by Accenture, and the DeVry, GE, Pearson, Irvine, Kellogg, and Nellie Mae Education foundations, the two-year study found that the percentage of teens and young adults with full-time jobs is at its lowest level since the end of World War II.
"We are the only developed nation that depends so exclusively on its higher education system as the sole institutional vehicle to help young people transition from secondary school to careers, and from adolescence to adulthood," said Robert Schwartz, academic dean and professor at HGSE, who heads the Pathways to Prosperity Project. "Unless we are willing to provide more flexibility and choice in the last two years of high school, and more opportunities for students to pursue program options that link work and learning, we will continue to lose far too many young people along the path to graduation."
“Report Calls for National Effort to Get Millions Of Young Americans Onto a Realistic Path to Employability.” Harvard Graduate School of Education 2/02/11.
Despite billions of dollars spent on education reform efforts over several decades, American high schools and colleges are failing to prepare millions of the county's young people to lead successful lives, a new study from the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education finds.
The report, Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century (52 pages, PDF), argues that the nation's strategy for education and youth development has been too narrowly focused on an academic, classroom-based approach, which in turn has produced only incremental gains in achievement and attainment.
To remedy the situation, the authors recommend the development of a broader school reform effort that embraces multiple pathways to help young people successfully navigate their personal development. According to the report, only 30 percent of young adults successfully complete the preferred pathway to success — attending and graduating from a four-year college. The report further argues that American employers need to play a greatly expanded role in supporting the pathways system and providing additional opportunities for young adults to participate in work-based learning related to their programs of study, and that the nation needs to develop a new social compact in which every young adult will be equipped by their mid-20s with the education and experience needed to lead a successful life as an adult.
Supported by Accenture, and the DeVry, GE, Pearson, Irvine, Kellogg, and Nellie Mae Education foundations, the two-year study found that the percentage of teens and young adults with full-time jobs is at its lowest level since the end of World War II.
"We are the only developed nation that depends so exclusively on its higher education system as the sole institutional vehicle to help young people transition from secondary school to careers, and from adolescence to adulthood," said Robert Schwartz, academic dean and professor at HGSE, who heads the Pathways to Prosperity Project. "Unless we are willing to provide more flexibility and choice in the last two years of high school, and more opportunities for students to pursue program options that link work and learning, we will continue to lose far too many young people along the path to graduation."
“Report Calls for National Effort to Get Millions Of Young Americans Onto a Realistic Path to Employability.” Harvard Graduate School of Education 2/02/11.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Partnership to Foster Innovative, High-Growth Firms in U.S.
Partnership to Foster Innovative, High-Growth Firms in U.S.
February 1st, 2011 |
As part of President Obama’s national strategy to stimulate economic growth and the creation of quality jobs, the White House announced the launch of the Startup America Partnership.
Chaired by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, CEO of Revolution LLC and chairman of the Case Foundation, the Partnership will receive launch funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Case Foundation, and act as an independent private-sector alliance intended to dramatically increase the development, prevalence and success of innovative, high-growth U.S. firms. Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, will serve as a founding board member of the effort.
The Startup America Partnership will work closely with the White House to advance the goals of its Startup America initiative. The Partnership will bring together top entrepreneurs, start-up firm funders, CEOs, university presidents, foundations, and other leaders to help entrepreneurial companies start or grow. Partners (including corporations, foundations, startup funders, CEOs and others) will contribute funds to existing proven models or develop new programs and efforts to help entrepreneurs.
“America’s story has been forged in large part by entrepreneurs who have against great odds created innovative products and services that have changed the world – and created millions of jobs,” said Steve Case. “Our nation once again looks to these creative risk-takers to unleash the next wave of American innovation, and I am pleased that President Obama has made supporting and celebrating entrepreneurs a major priority of his economic strategy. I am honored to chair the Startup America Partnership, and look forward to working with the White House to champion the creation of new start-ups, and help accelerate the growth of speed-ups.”
“We are pleased to help lead this partnership,” said Carl Schramm. “At Kauffman, it is our mission to develop and fund programs to support entrepreneurs, and to help educate policymakers about the role entrepreneurship and innovation play in our society. This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy.”
To date, more than a dozen firms and organizations have joined the Startup America Partnership. They include the following commitments:
■Increased corporate investment and support for startups from companies such as Intel, HP, IBM, Facebook, and others, including:
■Intel Capital will commit $200M of new investment in U.S. companies. Senior Intel leadership will also serve the Startup America Partnership and share best practices from years of successful programs designed to support Intel portfolio companies.
■IBM will invest $150 million in 2011 to fund programs that promote entrepreneurs and new business opportunities in the United States.
■HP is investing more than $4 million in 2011 in the HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs (HP LIFE), a global program launched in 2007 that uses educational and technology outreach aimed at helping entrepreneurs and small business owners create and grow commercial opportunities.
■As part of Facebook‘s ongoing commitment to encourage entrepreneurs, the company will launch Startup Days, a new series of 12 to 15 events around the country designed to provide entrepreneurs with access to expertise, resources and engineers to help accelerate their businesses.
■To foster entrepreneurship through higher education, as part of its overall $50 million commitment to entrepreneurship, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation has announced a $5 million expansion of the Blackstone LaunchPad program piloted at two Detroit colleges. Based on a model created by the University of Miami, LaunchPad will be replicated over the next five years in five other distressed regions around the country.
■The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education for at-risk high school students from low-income communities, is launching new programs supporting young entrepreneurs and their teachers. Ernst & Young LLP will honor NFTE youth entrepreneurs at regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award® galas across the country, bringing important attention to the next generation of young entrepreneurs. The Pearson Foundation is working with NFTE to build its Digital Teacher Network, a free online community for teacher collaboration and training that will be used not only by NFTE’s 5,000 certified teachers but also by any educator interested in entrepreneurship. Google is sponsoring two new efforts in NFTE’s Bay Area programs: The Flat Classroom Exchange will allow local educators to team-teach the NFTE program in real time and leverage each teacher’s individual expertise, while the Makers Class project will integrate NFTE’s curriculum with invention and engineering lessons. New Markets Education Partners is providing NFTE with seed capital to launch in 2011 an interactive, online business planning course and social network connecting mentors, teachers and students.
The Startup America Partnership will continue to marshal private-sector resources to spur entrepreneurship in the U.S. with a focus on three key areas:
■Acceleration and Scale: Replicate successful community-based entrepreneurship accelerator programs; encourage increase in experienced mentors to support startups and encourage partnerships with large companies to serve as customers or funders of current firms.
■Education: Identify resources to help expand high-impact entrepreneurship education throughout the country
■Commercialization: Increase the number of colleges and universities committed to commercialization outcomes, through efforts that include clearing the path to market for primary research, supporting the extension of successful accelerator programs, and spurring regional ecosystem development, faculty engagement, and streamlined technology licensing.
For more information about the Startup America Partnership and to see a full list of partner commitments, visit www.startupamericapartnership.org and follow the Partnership on twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica.
February 1st, 2011 |
As part of President Obama’s national strategy to stimulate economic growth and the creation of quality jobs, the White House announced the launch of the Startup America Partnership.
Chaired by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, CEO of Revolution LLC and chairman of the Case Foundation, the Partnership will receive launch funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Case Foundation, and act as an independent private-sector alliance intended to dramatically increase the development, prevalence and success of innovative, high-growth U.S. firms. Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, will serve as a founding board member of the effort.
The Startup America Partnership will work closely with the White House to advance the goals of its Startup America initiative. The Partnership will bring together top entrepreneurs, start-up firm funders, CEOs, university presidents, foundations, and other leaders to help entrepreneurial companies start or grow. Partners (including corporations, foundations, startup funders, CEOs and others) will contribute funds to existing proven models or develop new programs and efforts to help entrepreneurs.
“America’s story has been forged in large part by entrepreneurs who have against great odds created innovative products and services that have changed the world – and created millions of jobs,” said Steve Case. “Our nation once again looks to these creative risk-takers to unleash the next wave of American innovation, and I am pleased that President Obama has made supporting and celebrating entrepreneurs a major priority of his economic strategy. I am honored to chair the Startup America Partnership, and look forward to working with the White House to champion the creation of new start-ups, and help accelerate the growth of speed-ups.”
“We are pleased to help lead this partnership,” said Carl Schramm. “At Kauffman, it is our mission to develop and fund programs to support entrepreneurs, and to help educate policymakers about the role entrepreneurship and innovation play in our society. This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy.”
To date, more than a dozen firms and organizations have joined the Startup America Partnership. They include the following commitments:
■Increased corporate investment and support for startups from companies such as Intel, HP, IBM, Facebook, and others, including:
■Intel Capital will commit $200M of new investment in U.S. companies. Senior Intel leadership will also serve the Startup America Partnership and share best practices from years of successful programs designed to support Intel portfolio companies.
■IBM will invest $150 million in 2011 to fund programs that promote entrepreneurs and new business opportunities in the United States.
■HP is investing more than $4 million in 2011 in the HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs (HP LIFE), a global program launched in 2007 that uses educational and technology outreach aimed at helping entrepreneurs and small business owners create and grow commercial opportunities.
■As part of Facebook‘s ongoing commitment to encourage entrepreneurs, the company will launch Startup Days, a new series of 12 to 15 events around the country designed to provide entrepreneurs with access to expertise, resources and engineers to help accelerate their businesses.
■To foster entrepreneurship through higher education, as part of its overall $50 million commitment to entrepreneurship, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation has announced a $5 million expansion of the Blackstone LaunchPad program piloted at two Detroit colleges. Based on a model created by the University of Miami, LaunchPad will be replicated over the next five years in five other distressed regions around the country.
■The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education for at-risk high school students from low-income communities, is launching new programs supporting young entrepreneurs and their teachers. Ernst & Young LLP will honor NFTE youth entrepreneurs at regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award® galas across the country, bringing important attention to the next generation of young entrepreneurs. The Pearson Foundation is working with NFTE to build its Digital Teacher Network, a free online community for teacher collaboration and training that will be used not only by NFTE’s 5,000 certified teachers but also by any educator interested in entrepreneurship. Google is sponsoring two new efforts in NFTE’s Bay Area programs: The Flat Classroom Exchange will allow local educators to team-teach the NFTE program in real time and leverage each teacher’s individual expertise, while the Makers Class project will integrate NFTE’s curriculum with invention and engineering lessons. New Markets Education Partners is providing NFTE with seed capital to launch in 2011 an interactive, online business planning course and social network connecting mentors, teachers and students.
The Startup America Partnership will continue to marshal private-sector resources to spur entrepreneurship in the U.S. with a focus on three key areas:
■Acceleration and Scale: Replicate successful community-based entrepreneurship accelerator programs; encourage increase in experienced mentors to support startups and encourage partnerships with large companies to serve as customers or funders of current firms.
■Education: Identify resources to help expand high-impact entrepreneurship education throughout the country
■Commercialization: Increase the number of colleges and universities committed to commercialization outcomes, through efforts that include clearing the path to market for primary research, supporting the extension of successful accelerator programs, and spurring regional ecosystem development, faculty engagement, and streamlined technology licensing.
For more information about the Startup America Partnership and to see a full list of partner commitments, visit www.startupamericapartnership.org and follow the Partnership on twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica.
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