LinkedIn Board Connect: 10 Things Board Candidates Need To Know
Helping nonprofit boards and qualified board candidates to find each other is vitally important, a cause to which I have been devoted for nearly two decades. Nothing powers a board better than talented people who are stirred by the mission, and reaching beyond the narrow circles of the "usual suspects" enriches the nonprofit strategically, culturally and financially. And for candidates who find the right fit, their nonprofit board experiences can be among their most rewarding of their lives.
Yet my concern has been about the randomness and anonymity of the online board-matching process; I have seen too many failed results among candidates and nonprofits who did not know enough about each other. So I welcome LinkedIn Connect, LinkedIn's new nonprofit board-matching service as a significant improvement. The advance via LinkedIn is the ability for candidates and nonprofits to identify the people they know in common, thereby providing opportunities for mutual references.
You certainly want to join the board of an organization where you find the mission meaningful. But be careful not to wind up in a situation that you will regret. You can save yourself and the nonprofit from a bad match by taking a few steps before committing to join a board.
Here are my 10 recommendations to candidates in considering a nonprofit:
See continuation here on the Huffington Post: http://huff.to/SaLRIC
About Korngold Consulting LLC. Founded by Alice Korngold in 2005, the firm’s mission is to develop corporate and NGO/nonprofit leaders and boards for a better world. Korngold Consulting provides strategy consulting services to global corporations on CSR and leadership development, including training and placing hundreds of corporate executives on NGO/nonprofit boards; and board governance consulting services to global, national, and regional nonprofits, including universities and healthcare institutions. Korngold is the author of “Leveraging Good Will: Strengthening Nonprofits by Engaging Businesses” (Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, 2005) and blogs for Fast Company.
