How to choose your board of directors. - YouTube

Have you thought [about] starting a non-profit, but you're actually not sure if you need a board to get started well today

I'll [be] talking to you about the purpose of a board whether you need it or not

The makeup of your board and then also how to find a great founding board for your something amazing

let's jump right in [so]

[to] get started the [first] thing you need to know is the purpose of a board well

The purpose of a non-profit if you want to go that route the purpose of a non-profit is just so that

You don't have a taxation burden so that [you] can provide programs and services and collect money without the burden of taxation

so that is the purpose of a non-profit the irs needs to know that you're

Handling your funds correctly that you're providing the programs and services that you need and the way to do that is to require each

Nonprofit to have a board now if you just want to raise funds

And you want to give those funds away for charity and that's your sole goal

And you're not really worried about profit

You may want to consider starting a foundation or a for-profit company or business?

That does that with its profit

so um

You have to just get clear about which direction you want to go and what you're really looking to do

with the nonprofit and non taxation version a lot of strings are attached to that so

There are a lot of requirements and one of those requirements is for you to have a board

now when you're looking to make up your board you need to know that [you] have to have a

Greater than 50 percent

disinterested party on your board, so you cannot have

You know family and friends

Related to you that make up more than [50] [percent] of your board that needs to be people who have no

vested [interests] in your in your program besides of fiduciary

[responsibilities] as a director so [it's] really important that you remember that piece because you can have family and friends on your board

but they need to not be employees or staff or

a relative so

In order to make up that 50

That I'm sorry

It needs to be 49% of your board if you're going to have any of those types of people on your board [I]

Hope that made sense [you've] probably done a lot of work already because you're starting a non-profit, and it is a [startup]

So you've done a lot of the legwork, [but] [you] will still need your board to be involved

Doing during that growth phase the startup phase and in the growth phase, so you [need] to make sure that you are

asking people letting them know your expectations on time letting them know your

Expectations as far [as] involvement whether they're a working board or they are just an oversight board

So you'll need to let your your board members that you're requesting or asking no that is a legal requirement that your board has terms

your board has to have a certain amount of time that they're expected to stay on the board and a certain amount of

maximum time that they can stay on the board until they have to renew, so

For me my board has a three-year term now some people stagger those terms

And I think it's a great [idea] if you [have] people that you really want on your board

But you're not sure how much time they could commit so you can have a one year?

term a two year term and a three year term available for people to choose which one they

Which amount of time they can give you and that's important too because you want to make sure that you're acknowledging

That people are busy

And they [may] not be able to give you three years of their time and they may not want to

now if you're just starting out and you

[want] to start your board and you're just not sure where to start my advice would be to start [with] five people that you [are]

That you trust that you know

Believe in what you're doing

That you believe you can trust with making decisions about your organization

you want to get people on there who have expertise in areas that you may not so

You know if you're not good with numbers you might want to get an accountant on there if you are

You want to make [sure] everything is legally sound you may think about adding a lawyer on to your board?

and you have to make sure that they understand the cause and [that] they believe in it and want to see it thrive, so

When you're looking at board members, it's important to have your expectations [job's] duties things that you would expect from them

[list] it out so that it helps you also look for the person and the qualifications you're looking for and then also

It helps the person

Decide if this is the type of board they want to be on another thing

I would recommend is knowing whether you want to have a working board or not

There are a lot [of] people who like to have working boards and they expect their boards to volunteer and events they expect [their] boards

to

help Raise funds

They expect quite a few things from their board and as long as the board [knows] that prior to [getting] started. I think that's okay

I personally don't have a working board. Just because I want my my board members fresh, and I really want them [to] focus on

the guidance of the organization as a director rather than spending the time to

help do the work so I generally find in terms of volunteers to help me with the actual work, but in the

nonprofit, and then I have my board members as

my guiding

entity for me to

Expand and grow the organization, and I think a great founding board

Doesn't necessarily micromanage you if they feel like you can run the organization

[you] really want to make your organization open communication between you and your board it should be a sort of mentoring

relationship so that

You can ask your board members for help they can tell you what they don't understand or what they need help understanding

Or whatever the case

And it should really become

Like their baby as well, so you're the one that's doing the work and in it every day

but they should be there to help support you when you need it, and I would say that is probably one of the

Best types of boards that you can actually have for your organization when you're getting started

you have to also remember that you [are] a [startup] and

If you haven't [received] your 501C3 yet, but you are looking to receive funds

And you're just not sure about how to go about that. [I] also have a video on that

I will link that here as well

Not subscribed and this video helped you please press the like [button] and subscribe

down below and if you know someone who's starting a non-profit or

Starting some sort of business

And I have videos on here that can help them go out and share that with them, and I will see you next week

Thank you so much for watching

you