“Serving a nonprofit doesn’t count as real board experience – nonprofit boards only raise money.”
I first heard this from an accomplished director who served on multiple Fortune 500 boards. She was supposed to be inspiring participants in Harvard Business School’s Women on Boards program about our prospects for corporate board service. Instead, her comments made my blood boil! Having served on nonprofit boards for the past 25 years in crucial committee and board chair leadership roles, I gained valuable boardroom experience serving alongside C-level executives. Six months later a nonprofit board colleague became a key reference for my first public board. My nonprofit service counted as proof that I could make the mindset shift from executive to board seat.
Nonprofit board experience can be incredibly fulfilling as an end goal. It can also provide valuable apprenticeship for corporate board service. But not all boards are created equal. If you aspire for it to be a means to a for-profit board seat, be purposeful about your choices and actions.
- Focus on organizations with professional boards. Ideally, the board should have a fiduciary role that involves oversight of the organization, its operations, and financial health (e.g., balanced annual budget, annual returns and allowable draws on any endowments). Members are expected to share their expertise and relationships but there should be a clear separation between management and board roles. No matter how worthy the pursuit, serving as unpaid labor in the hands-on delivery of the nonprofit’s mission is not enough.
- Show up with your A game as a board member. Corporate directors accept a duty of care and duty of loyalty, which means coming well-prepared to participate fully in meetings and acting at all times in the corporation’s best interests. Nonprofit service is no different. Understand expectations and demonstrate your value-add as a board member. It takes real time to be an effective director: pick organizations that fit your passions or where you are intellectually curious so the time is energizing vs. an added chore. My passion for the arts provided a welcome balance to my day job.
- Seek committee roles that are similar to corporate boards. Nonprofit boards can be larger than corporate boards (e.g., 25+ vs. 8-10) – committees are how the real work gets done. Nonprofits will often have two of the three key committees found on public boards: Audit and Nominating & Governance. (Compensation is less common although there is an annual process for CEO evaluation.) The meeting cadence (e.g., budgeting, quarterly monitoring) and tools used (e.g., board skills matrix, candidate pipeline) provide transferable learnings.
- Volunteer for special projects or other board leadership roles. Your impactful committee service might earn you the opportunity to lead one of the above committees – or even chair the board. Lean in if you are asked to do so. But don’t sit back just because you aren’t. Create your own opportunity to lead. I once volunteered to review RFP responses for a long-term arts planning effort. That led to my being asked to co-chair the Blue Ribbon Committee comprised of top business and community leaders and, over the next decade, to serve on and chair the boards of two prestigious non-profits involved in the planning effort (including one depicted iconically above).
- Get to know your fellow board members. Nonprofit boards can provide great networking opportunities but think of that as a by-product of board service rather than your primary objective. If you focus first on driving value for the nonprofit, others will see you in action and know what you are capable of doing. Take advantage of your shared interest in the nonprofit to broaden the dialog naturally and learn more about their other interests and professional pursuits. My co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee became a friend and mentor. When I shared my decision to leave consulting, he recommended me to the CEO of a public company where he served as lead independent director. My subsequent time in the C-suite there built the foundation for my current roles as director for two public and a large private company.
Nonprofit boards can provide a great apprenticeship for understanding the role of an independent director and building valuable skills and networks that further for-profit board aspirations. While search firms will still bucket you as an aspiring vs. experienced director, you can more confidently discuss how you would add value as a board member and draw upon the strength of your network to surface opportunities and referrals. Along the way, you will have made the world better by advancing the mission of the nonprofit.