How does your Board of Directors measure up against others from across the country?

July 17, 2013

BoardSource, a national leader in board governance, recently released the 2012 Nonprofit Governance Index-Data Report 1. The index identifies trends in board composition, policies, and practices as well as provides a detailed view of the challenges nonprofit boards are facing as they conduct their work. The Data 1 report includes responses from more than 1,000 nonprofit CEOs on their experience in the boardroom.

How does your board measure up against the survey respondents? 

  • On average, boards have 5 committees. The most common committee is the executive committee (79%) followed by fundraising (56%); finance/audit (46%); governance/nominating (38%); and program committees (27%).
  • Only 12% of respondents report less than 75% attendance at board meetings. On average boards meet seven times a year.
  • 69% of respondents reported having 3 year terms for board members. The majority of these respondents report allowing for 2-consecutive terms.
  • Young, next-generation members (under age of 40) represent 14% of board composition.
  • Nearly 75% of chief executives report 90%-100% personal board giving. Despite this positive data, chief executives identify fundraising as the most common area needed for board improvement, and fundraising is the lowest scoring area on the board report card.

Additional data is included in the full report.

Given this data, how does your organization measure up? Interested in learning more about good governance? Join us for one of our Board Governance 101 workshops.