Govern with Clarity.
Lead with Confidence.
Practical training for directors who set direction, protect their organizations, and verify performance without micromanaging management.
Lessons Every Board Director Should Watch
A practical walk through board service: a director’s duties and fiduciary judgment, the three jobs of the board, budgets, meetings, and the policy manual. Watch free, in order or by topic.
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Choose the format that fits your board, from free recorded lessons to live and customized instruction.
Free Video Lessons
Video Series
A practical video program on board responsibility, fiduciary judgment, authority, strategy, safety, audit, budgets, and meetings.
Watch the LessonsSeptember 16 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific
Live Webinar
Ten basic, practical lessons to help directors manage their organizations and avoid trouble.
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Board Training
Request a live Zoom program, in-person workshop, facilitated retreat, or governance session.
Request TrainingMany boards
are active.
Few are effective.
This board training is presented by the California Center for Nonprofit Law. Drawing on extensive experience advising nonprofit boards and leaders, the program turns complex responsibilities into practical guidance directors can use in the boardroom.
More board-governance resources are available on the firm’s blog.
Strategy
Set the ten-year vision, work it back to a three-year plan, and turn that into next year’s budget.
Safety
Oversee personnel, property, legal compliance, and finances, without micromanaging the staff who run them.
Audit
Trust the executive, but verify the system against the plan and the budget the board approved.
The 40 / 40 / 20 Rule
Stop using board meetings to listen to reports. The most effective boards do the reading beforehand and spend their time together on the work that actually requires the board, engaging the operators and deciding.
Before the meeting
Each director reads the reports in advance, not in the room. The reading is preparation, not the meeting.
Engaging in session
Two-thirds of the meeting is spent questioning the key operators about the reports already delivered.
Deciding
The final third is spent carefully considering the pending motions and voting them up or down.
Because most of the work happens before the room is called to order, the in-session meeting itself is only about 60% of the process, split between engaging on reports and deciding on motions.
Watch & Read the 40 / 40 / 20 Lesson