Our gratitude to Irfhan Rawji for stopping by to chat with our charity partners about board governance and some pf the not-so-obvious but still very important things to know.
It was a fun session. Here’s a “Top Ten List” of insights we heard:
- The most forgotten board role: motivating the staff to do great work.
- The CEO and board chair relationship needs to have trust “at marriage level”.
- Always have a vice chair and a succession plan for the chair.
- If a director isn’t showing up, “celebrate them out”. “Thank you for your service, is this still something that excites you? Let’s relieve you of the burden.”
- The #1 fail with directors comes from a positive place: they’re trying to help. So tell them how to be helpful.
- The board must be diverse so the staff team can be diverse: DEI is fundamental, essential, and starts at the top.
- If members vote your board in, make very sure those members are very informed and engaged. It must be easy for them to do the work: they must have the information.
- Focus on brevity and clarity in all your board materials. Make it easy to be engaged.
- A board size of 8-12 is ideal to get all the skills you need. Minimum size is 3.
- All board members need to be donors. If they don’t believe enough to give, why would they expect anyone else to? ($1000 annually minimum)
About Irfhan
An experienced Board Director and Chair, Irfhan is a powerhouse leader, advisor, entrepreneur and visionary. As Managing Partner with Relay Ventures he manages US$700MM in venture capital assets. As Managing Partner with Realize Capital Partners he manages $135MM in social finance funds from the Government of Canada.