Setting up your First Nonprofit Board

𝐻𝑒𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒!
𝑆𝑜, 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠: 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 4, 2005, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑖𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡. 𝐾𝑃𝑀𝐺 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝐼 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑥 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.

Fast forward six months, and I got promoted to head the whole shebang, with the Board Chair as my mentor. Each trustee had my back, and together, we crushed our fundraising goals and tackled every challenge that came our way.

Now, if you’re thinking about starting your own nonprofit, you might be wondering where to even begin.

Trust me, I get it.

It can be overwhelming.

Before diving headfirst into the nitty-gritty of starting an organization, consider all your options. Maybe teaming up with an existing organization or setting up a fiscal sponsorship could be a better fit for you. But if you’re set on starting fresh, the first step is to assemble a killer founding board.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

Esther Amunga

𝙎𝙠𝙞𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨 – 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚. 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨.

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑏𝑖𝑔. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢.

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡.

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡.

Esther Amunga

𝐼𝑓 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎, 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑘𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑠. 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 – 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑.

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑏𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑆𝑜, 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒!

With kind regards and gratitude,

Esther Amunga, MNA, ACNP, CNP, GradPR
Nonprofit and Professional Fundraising Consultant, Coach, Trainer & Speaker