As a Professional Do-Gooder and the new PiP Intern there are a couple of things that I bring to the team: a passion for the nonprofit sector, and a “fresh” (which means young) perspective. Here’s an article on leaving a board with my own personal spin. To highlight the child in me (who just gained adult status 3 years ago), I’ve included some of my favorite childhood exit lines. Thanks for everything that you do (even when that includes walking away)!
We all know how relationships end. Sometimes there’s fighting, sometimes there are things left unsaid, and sometimes it’s a mutual split with people who have drifted apart. The same thing can happen with a Board. It’s good to know when to join a Board, but once on one, it’s more useful to know when to leave it. If you separate at the right time, you can avoid a messy break up.
Here are 13 revised reasons to resign from an article written by Gene Takagi in the Nonprofit Quarterly.
1) If you’re there for yourself and not the organization’s cause, you should make like a tree and leave. You should be there for public and not personal gain.
2) If you have some kind of material financial stake in a transaction with the nonprofit–particularly a stake that would be harmful if publicly known–then you should make like your money and change.
3) If your personal values disagree with the organization’s values, make like a lightening and bolt.
4) If you can’t help but throw a tantrum when the Board acts in a way contrary to your vote, you should make like a drummer and beat it.
5) If you try to play the enforcer and your organization still can’t follow the law (or its own governing laws/documents/policies), you should make like a missile and cruise.
6) If you lack important information–about the mission, current activities, results, or the performance of the Executive Director–you should make like a tire and hit the road.
7) If you aren’t consistently looking over the organization’s financials–since you have the fiduciary responsibility (and liability)–you should make like a banana and split.
8) If your tush doesn’t actually fill the seat on your board because you never attend meetings, you should make like a bread truck and haul your buns. You have to be present to participate in the planning, deliberation and governance.
9) If the only contribution you make is to show up at meetings, you should make like a jacket and zip.
10) If you don’t seriously consider how the organization can improve in pursuing its mission, you should make like a dog and flea.
11) If you’re still the class clown and you can’t play well with others, it’s time to stop disrupting and causing contention. You should make like an airplane and take off.
12) If you confuse being on the Board with being the boss and try to interfere with operations and the executive team, you should make like traffic and jam.
AND A PiP EXTRA…
13) If you don’t understand that giving of your time is not the same as making a personally meaningful monetary gift (and if you don’t agree that there should be 100% Board giving), you should make like stockings and run.
All joking aside, holding a position on a Board is a serious but rewarding responsibility. You have the opportunity to leave this world better than you found it, but you can only take advantage of that opportunity if you’re fully engaged and you have the right fit with the organization. It’s okay to admit that this isn’t the right time for you to serve, and it’s okay to say that you aren’t with the right nonprofit. Wait for the right seat to be open, and don’t be afraid to leave. Thanks for all you do to make this sector stronger (even if sometimes that means leaving)! Make like a hat, move on ahead, and as always, let us know if there’s any way that we can help!