Tiny Essentials of an Effective Volunteer Board - A Review

Tiny Essentials of an Effective Volunteer Board is a pocket-size guide to board development, recruitment, and management (The White Lion Press Limited, 2006, ISBN 0-9518971-8-7, 83pp). This little book will make any American who is a fan of public television smile and maybe even giggle.

Burnett is British and his little book is written with the elan of the wonderful British imports we see on public television such as Mystery and Masterpiece Theater.

The book is actually a narrative of the search by a newly appointed board chairman for the keys to effective boards. He sets out to interview the CEOs and Board Chairs of other nonprofits in the hope of insight.

In his travels he and we meet the somewhat slimy Arthur, a nonprofit CEO who controls his board and whose voice drips with disrespect for his board members. We meet Lady Bountiful (really the Honourable Camilla ffoulkes-Lanningham), the chair of trustees of an unfortunate organization. And, finally, a dynamic duo of CEO and Chairman who can finally enlighten us and our hapless hero.

The charm of this little book is both its pearls of wisdom and its British voice. The first provides us with an outline of all the "essentials" of board governance; and the latter entertains us, especially if we are Americans and appreciative of British ways.

The principles set out in Burnett's little book are exactly those that any new board member or the founder of a new nonprofit should know. In addition, there are some bonuses that we enjoyed.

One of those is the suggestion to keep retired board members, and even retired staff members, engaged with the organization. Burnett calls these "friends in high places," and advocates setting up a formal structure to keep these precious resources involved. The idea is to prevent the loss of organizational memory and to tap an abundance of experience and expertise.

Another bonus idea is that of "absent audiences." Our model nonprofit in the book sets two extra places at board meetings. These two empty chairs represent the nonprofit's "beneficiaries" and the organization's "donors." The board is thus reminded of these key audiences when deliberating and making decisions.

Throughout the book, Burnett includes information on board diversity, board recruitment, board committee structure and more. In addition, there is a list of "The 21 Key Aspects Of Good Governance."

You don't really need a huge encyclopedia of nonprofit theory to set up a good board. This little book of essentials provides all the basics any organization needs to establish an effective and sensible board that will support the mission and the staff.