October 11, 2011
The bad economy has worn out many of the trustees who sit on charity boards across the nation, say nonprofit executives and consultants who advise boards.
Nonprofits have been putting greater demands on their trustees for the past four years just as many board members have been facing financial pressures of their own.
BoardSource, a Washington group that advises nonprofit boards nationwide, says the economic crunch has caused a spike in the number of charity leaders seeking its help to get trustees to do more. And with severe shortfalls among state and local governments that provide a sizable chunk of many charities’ budgets, the demands on nonprofit board members are likely to increase.
“I am on two boards myself right now, and just asking friends to support things has become harder,” says Carol Weisman, a St. Louis consultant who works with nonprofit boards. “They have a grown child out of work or they’re helping their daughter keep her house from foreclosure. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve heard that 'charity begins at home’ as the explanation for why someone can’t give now. It does not seem to be getting any better.”
In New York, “we are seeing burnout, and we are finding it more difficult to find people to serve on boards,” says David M. LaGreca, head of Governance Matters, a nonprofit that provides board recruiting and consulting services to charities in the metropolitan area.
Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy, October 2, 2011
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