Colorado Nonprofit Association

Training: How to Prepare a Board Development & Transition Plan

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Many Executive Directors and Development Staff struggle to engage board members in fundraising, and in some cases, in meeting the minimum financial, legal and general requirements of their role as outlined in the Three D’s – Duty of care, Duty of loyalty, and Duty of obedience. In this session you will learn how to create a Board Development Plan that is a guide to building a strong board structure for the future that aligns with your mission, vision, values and goals as outlined in your strategic plan. The session will help you answer the following key questions for your organization:

• Which stage are you in a Nonprofit’s Board Life Cycle?
• What are best practices for your organization (board composition, board member roles, term limits, fundraising goals, size of board, etc.) for your organization based on where you are in your life cycle?
• What kind of tools, resources, research and data points do you need to build the case in your board development plan for significant change to your board of directors?
• What investments and structures are necessary to maximize board engagement and ensure successful leadership?
• How do you transition ineffective board members off the board?

PRESENTED BY:

Dana Bacardi, Senior Vice President of Philanthropy at Strat Labs

Dana Bacardi has 15 years experience in the nonprofit sector where she has specialized in several aspects of fundraising as VP of Development and later as VP of National Expansion with a national non-profit organization supporting families and children facing critical illness. Helping to grow the organization from the ground up, she has hands-on experience with everything from donor engagement, corporate sponsorship strategy and community events, to board development, grant writing, and major fundraising campaigns. Dana graduated with a Business Management and Communications degree from Bentley University in Boston. She began her career in the tech and wireless industry in Boulder, Colorado before moving into the non-profit sector in 2007. Dana is goal oriented, results driven and passionate about bringing people together for a greater good.

Melissa Shane, Vice President of Philanthropy at Strat Labs

Melissa Shane has extensive knowledge in the nonprofit sector with over 22 years of experience in fundraising, board development and management, philanthropic investment, nonprofit case support, and donor strategy. The last fourteen years of her career have been in- house at a large elite university and Illinois’s most extensive hospital system. She began her career in public affairs consulting in Washington DC and Chicago, where most of her clients needed expertise in nonprofit strategy and cause marketing campaigns, sprinkled in with a bit of politics and corporate foundations.