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Starting a Nonprofit: Must-have Board of Directors roles - YouTube
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Do you know where I can find some board
members? Every nonprofit needs committed
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skilled passionate board members whether
you're starting a non-profit or growing
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an existing nonprofit organization. Board
members are the amazing volunteer
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leaders of your organization. But when
you're starting out or trying to get to
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the next level in making an impact how
do you know what kind of board members
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you need and where to find them
that is what we will talk about in this
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video welcome back my name is amber
Melanie Smith and if this is your first
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time thank you so much for visiting my
youtube channel I am a non-profit
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founder former board member executive
director full-time working for the
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nonprofit that I founded many years ago
I'm also a speaker on social impact
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leadership and service and I make these
youtube videos every week sometimes more
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often if you're lucky on social impact
nonprofits and more putting together an
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awesome board of directors is a huge
part of successfully starting and
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running an organization and it is a
confusing process for many so we're
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gonna break it down talk about how you
know what kinds of board members you
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need and how to find them just if this
video is helpful to you please subscribe
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show me some love
like this video share with your friends
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and ring that bell so that you can get
alerts next time I post a video I am all
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about helping aspiring changemakers
whether that means you are in the
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nonprofit space social enterprise or
some other change making path I really
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want to help you with tips and
strategies to help you make an impact
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because living a life of purpose is what
it's all about so let's get into these
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questions how do you know what kind of
board members you need and where on
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earth can you find them so nonprofits
are required by law and by your bylaws
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to have a board of directors and it's
often not really a good idea to just
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recruit your family or your friends to
be on your board trust me on this one
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it's rare to find a board of directors
on any
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profit organization that agrees on
everything you really don't want those
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business disagreements to ruin your
family or your friendships so you just
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really want to focus on recruiting board
members who have these specific skills
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and connections to help your
organization achieve its goals over the
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next couple of years so let's get into
eight must-haves board member roles that
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you should have in your organization and
just as a quick note yes some of those
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roles can overlap you don't necessarily
have to have eight board members I know
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lots of organizations that run on four
board members and some that run on 50
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board members really depends on what
your state's laws are in terms of the
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minimum number of board members that you
can have also your own bylaws as an
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organization so your bylaws should be
setting the range of appropriate number
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of bylaws and of course you can always
amend those if you decide you need to
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grow the number of board members you
have and depending on the size of your
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organization a very large Board of
Directors can either be a really good
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thing because it means lots of
connections and potential avenues for
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fundraising or it could be really
cumbersome difficult challenging thing
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that means nobody can ever get anything
done so you just need to think about the
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appropriate number of board members for
you at your current stage of growth in
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your organization
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let's get right into it the top four
roles you typically need are often
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called members of the executive
committee so these are the board members
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who are I guess you could say in charge
so we're talking about a chairman of
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vice-chairman a secretary and a
treasurer it is very common for most
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organizations to have all of these
things and in fact in some case having
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all four of these roles might be
required by your bylaws so if you if
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that is true for you you need to make
sure that these spots are filled with
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the right competent board members at all
times in some cases some of these roles
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can overlap and in other cases that's
not really appropriate for example you
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couldn't really have someone who's both
your vice chairperson and your
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chairperson that would not make any
sense but your vice chair could possibly
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also be your secretary the chairman is
typically charged with developing the
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agenda for board meetings sending that
out to board members in advance and
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leading board member conversations at
those meetings the vice chair or
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possibly Chair Elect will assist with
this role and would typically be the
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person who's next in line for that role
when the Chairman's term in your board
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is up the secretary is making sure that
appropriate and accurate records for
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your organization are being kept so your
organization needs to be taking up
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minutes at its board meetings I know it
sounds super boring but it's really
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important so you have a record of all
votes that have been discussed and voted
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upon and you know noting that certain
policies have passed because of those
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votes and then of course your treasurer
is overseeing your financial status and
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providing reports to the rest of the
board on that status regularly okay so
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those are the basics but there are four
other types of board members that I
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would highly recommend an organization
especially a newer organization that's
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just starting up have as it is getting
things going so here are those four
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roles so one critical role you want when
you are starting an
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profit organization and as you're
growing is someone who is very
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experienced or skilled and knowledgeable
in the specific issue or cause that your
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organization is addressing so depending
on your cause it could be a fellow
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nonprofit professional someone who's
done similar work in the past it could
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be someone like a social worker who
knows what it's like to serve certain
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clients it could be a doctor let's say
it's a medical organization or hospital
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doctors make sense on the board they can
advise on you know appropriate program
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strategies in order to be successful so
you want to basically have people on
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your board who know how to execute the
programs that your organization is
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executing this is especially important
if you are a newer nonprofit
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organization that has no staff yet
because someone's got to know what
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they're doing in terms of running those
programs and making sure that you are
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effectively measuring whether those
programs are successful we're all doing
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this we're all part of nonprofits
because we want to make an impact in the
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world
so again emphasizing and the last thing
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I'll say about it emphasizing the
importance of having someone who has
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experienced tackling the specific issue
that your organization is trying to
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address the next role you really want to
have on your board especially as a newer
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organization and there's no really good
title for this role um just board member
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who has this skill and this skill is
someone who's very socially connected
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someone who has a lot of business
connections possible funding connections
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basters you want to look for your social
butterfly someone who's comfortable
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talking to lots of people out there
networking and just someone who knows
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everyone that's the person you want
someone with all those connections is
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going to be really critical in making
introductions to the rest of the board
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members to possibly ask for donations or
sponsorships or apply for grants it will
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lead to speaking opportunities you can
raise awareness about your cause but
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this person can open a lot of doors for
you so they are a critical role
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especially for a newer organization then
type of board member you really want on
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your board especially when you're
starting up but really all the time no
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matter what size your organization is
it's at least one preferably multiple
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people with fundraising experience in
nonprofits now the idea is not that this
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person or this group of people will be
solely responsible for your
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organization's fundraising the entire
board and staff and technically all your
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volunteers everyone in the organization
should really be helping with
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fundraising to some degree but having
someone experienced and how fundraising
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works can at least provide training and
guidance and leadership to the rest of
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the board members staff or volunteers
who might feel a little anxious or
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squeamish about fundraising this person
or these people can train those folks on
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how to do it how to do it with
confidence and that is really important
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finally you want to have a board member
who specializes and has some experience
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with marketing and public relations this
is going to be really really important
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in crafting your organization's
messaging your story getting media
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coverage and all of these things will
help you gain supporters to gain
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volunteers gain donors and raise
awareness about what you do so that you
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can reach more people as you grow as an
organization so in summary the eight
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roles that I think are critical to have
for an organization of any size but
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especially newer organizations our
Chairman Vice Chair secretary treasurer
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program expert socially connected person
fundraising expert and marketing expert
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now no matter what role a board member
is playing with your organization all
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board members should be trained and
practiced talking about your
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organization's mission your
organization's story how and why they
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decided to get connected to your
organization all board members will be
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helping develop your future budgets
developing your fundraising plans and
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all board members are especially charged
with helping with fundraising for the
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whole organization all board members
regardless of role should be out there
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networking speaking
publicly on behalf of your cause and
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making introductions to staff volunteers
or other board members who might help
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your cause be furthered okay so where do
you find these magical board members
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let's talk about that
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here's the thing it might seem or feel
like good board members are hard to find
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but I am telling you that they are out
there I have seen them I have met them I
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work with some of them myself don't fire
me and a lot of people want to serve on
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a board of directors for a cause that
they care about and are actively seeking
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those opportunities in fact it is a
proven strategy for advancing your own
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career and just having a lot of success
and feeling good about your life so
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people definitely are interested in
being board members where can you find
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them here is my top list there are
organizations out there across the
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United States whose goal is to help you
find volunteers or sometimes even
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specifically volunteer board members so
you want to figure out where your
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nearest volunteer center or executive
Service Corps is and reach out and learn
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how you can tap into their networks of
potential volunteers or board members
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looking for a place to serve there are
also some great board resource websites
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like board source there are even board
matchmaking services online where people
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who are interested in finding a board to
serve on enter in their profile tell you
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all about themselves and then you can
peruse who they are and tell them about
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your cause and see if they might be a
good fit so Google will do some
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searching online there are some great
resources there for that a couple of
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years ago linked in also introduced a
new feature where you could indicate on
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your LinkedIn profile that you were
looking for non-profit board
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opportunities and I think that you can
actually search for people in your area
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who have checked that box so check out
who in your area has checked the box on
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LinkedIn and you can see their skill
sets right there so that is a great
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asset I would highly recommend in most
cities there is a Chamber of Commerce or
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a plethora of business networking groups
I would attend some of those groups
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meetings and do some networking put out
there that you are looking for board
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members and just talk to a lot of people
at those spaces because those are often
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the business professionals that are
looking for board service
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this idea seems like a no-brainer but
you would not believe how often we
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forget that our own volunteer base as a
non-profit is an amazing resource for
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finding board members because the people
who are already volunteering for you in
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some way
love your cause already they are giving
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you their most precious asset their time
and so they are amazing candidates who
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might have the skill sets that you are
looking for for your board so I would
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reach out put the word out to your own
volunteer mailing list or network and
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see who comes back who might be
interested in devoting their time to you
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in a higher leadership capacity as a
board member and the final idea is also
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possibly not that intuitive and that is
to ask other nonprofits in your area if
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they have any board members that they
might recommend some of them might have
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board members whose term is ending with
them who they think could be a good fit
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for you there are some amazing
networking groups out there for
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nonprofits in every community
I recommend the young nonprofit
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Professionals Network or many states
also have a center for nonprofits these
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resources might also be great for you
know crowdsourcing those ideas and
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asking your fellow nonprofits about
awesome individuals out there who might
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be looking for board service I am going
to leave some of the links to these
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resources down below in my description
so be sure to check that out and I hope
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this really has helped you out in
thinking about what kinds of board roles
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you need to be planning for as you start
or grow a nonprofit organization that's
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all I got once again my name is Amber
Melanie Smith and I make these videos
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here on YouTube weekly so don't forget
to subscribe give me a thumbs up like
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that video and ring the little bell so
that you can get alerts next time one of
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my videos goes live also if you were on
Facebook don't forget to check out my
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Facebook group change the world or bust
it is a group where myself and fellow
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changemakers whether they are in
nonprofits or business or volunteering
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or just getting started figuring all
that out people who just want to make a
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difference and change the world all
talking together on some of the issues
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of today and how we can
an impact so I hope you will join me
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there thank you so much for joining me
until next time bye
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