Board Chair – Not Just A Pretty Title Anymore…

Under the “no good deed goes unpunished” department, the PTA at my children’s school noticed how adept I was at directing their annual fund drive, and asked me to consider running for PTA President next year.

My immediate response was not just “Are you kidding, I have two kids and a full-time+ job!!” – which is the case for many parents – but also “I’m already a Board Chair, and one cause for sleepless nights is enough.”

And then I started thinking about the relative strains of running a nonprofit vs. running a nonprofit board.

By agreeing to take on the top voluntary position in another nonprofit, clearly I’m a sucker for the social good…but somebody’s got to do it. So which one is more nerve-racking? It’s been a constantly shifting toss-up over the past year.

There’s something about being responsible for a domain you can’t quite control – your team (fellow board members) are all volunteers, and the staff doesn’t really work for you – that makes chairing a nonprofit board a very delicate balancing act. And in this day and age when nonprofits across the country are struggling with very difficult decisions based on scarcity, especially stress producing.

Wistfully, I thought back to the days when staff seemed totally capable of running the joint and as board chair it felt like all I had to do was provide a patina of respectability (show up at meetings, testify at hearings to bring the weight of the board into the room, etc.). Now I’m integrally involved in judgment calls on cash flow, fund development strategy, and shifting political relationships.

And to add to the burden, not only do I run a nonprofit, but it’s a nonprofit that coaches other nonprofits on governance and fundraising concerns. So it’s a particularly fraught position for me – but I’m not alone.

For all of us who steer our own nonprofits, this is an especially tricky pathway to navigate – because we know how we run our own castles, and this isn’t ours. We might be the chair, but we’re not the boss. And because we’re steeped in board-staff best practices, we do in fact hesitate to wade into the day-to-day, even if we know how to do it “better.”

It makes me respect my own board chair, who is also a nonprofit leader, even more for keeping her hands off when she could clearly wade in and improve the product – and cut off my authority in the process. Gee that’s a difficult line to walk.

Having a leadership commitment in the nonprofit sector in a dual capacity leaves me feeling guilty a lot of the time – I wish I could pour my creative resources into my board service as much as I do my nonprofit, but there’s only one of me. And then of course there’s those pesky family obligations. Which brings me back to the PTA.

I respectfully declined the top leadership post but offered to head up the nominating committee – because I know what it means, and what it takes, to lead. And I’ll help to find the right folks to do so.

Nostalgically yours for the old days (or what I remember of them with rose-colored glasses)…