Many nonprofit CEOs dissatisfied with their boards

A new report from the Urban Institute indicates many CEOs of midsize nonprofits are dissatisfied with the performance of their boards, particularly in regard to fundraising and the way boards monitor their own performance. 

The report, Boards of Midsize Nonprofits: Their Needs and Challenges, found 62 percent of CEOs say their boards do a fair or poor job of raising revenue, while 60 percent assigned similar marks for their boards’ self-assessment activities. Also, more than a quarter of CEOs say their boards do fair or poor in these categories: evaluating CEO performance; planning; monitoring programs and services; community relations; and educating the public about the organization.

The report indicates that although most CEOs rate their board’s performance as good or excellent in most roles, the only area in which a majority of CEOs (53 percent) rated their board as excellent was respecting the boundaries between board and staff responsibilities.

Almost half (48 percent) say their board does an excellent job of financial oversight, but many feel their boards do a poor or fair job in many areas indicating disturbing levels of CEO dissatisfaction with board performance.

Fundraising is a major area of concern – the majority (62 percent) of CEOs characterized their boards as fair or poor in fundraising and monitoring the board’s own performance (60 percent) – but it extends well beyond that into other roles. Survey respondents could choose “not applicable,” rather than rate their boards on any one role and therefore were not forced to rate the board on any duties outside the scope of their board’s responsibilities.

The primary reason for CEOs’ low ratings of board performance appears to be lack of board activity. For instance, the percentage of CEOs that rate their boards as doing an excellent job in monitoring programs rises from 2 percent for boards not actively engaged to a high of 55 percent among boards very actively engaged in monitoring programs.