Get Involved with Charitable Boards
Volume 11, Number 48
Issue 544
One of the best things that I did to help the development of my accounting firm was to agree to sit on the Board of a medical charity for a local hospital. I completed two, two-year terms on that particular board. During that time, I met several doctors who greatly expanded my knowledge of both the way boards work and how highly-educated people work hard to direct their passions towards charitable causes. Serving on that foundation was the best “tip club” that I could ever had devoted my time to.
In Richmond, as in life, it is not always what you know, it is who you know. Though I devoted more time to that board than money, I had an excellent return on my investment, personally and professionally because I was able to “hang out” with people smarter than me, something I always like doing, because smart people teach me things. I felt good about what I did on that board and how I did it. During the time that I served, the charity grew much more public and came out of the woodwork. Though the votes were not always unanimous and I was often on the opposite side of the popular vote, the Board valued my contributions and appreciated me. To this day, contacts that I made there continue to generate my accounting firm business.
After being baptized for charitable service as a board member by the hospital medical charity’s board, I was asked to be on the board for an educational committee a religious organization, the advisory board of a local bank and the associates’ board of a college. I have enjoyed multiple terms on each of these boards and chaired committees and even led as Chair. I love serving because, yet again, I get to hang-out with smart people who teach me things.
My fellow board members also bring me their accounting business and then they bring me their friends’. Being a board member doesn’t cost, it pays, in a plethora of different ways, personally and professionally. It (giving time to the charities to attend board meetings) is far better than any BNAÔ group because I give to the community at the same time that I receive from the community.
In addition to volunteering time, a good board member also brings their own resources to the board of contacts that the charity can then use. A good board member also brings their checkbook and gives generously to the charity on whose board they are honored to sit. So when you receive the honor of being asked to serve on the board of a charity, make sure that you realize that time commitments and financial commitments go hand-in-hand.
I found that the biggest problem that a successful board member will face is that you have to learn to decline other charities’ invitations to be on their boards. Being a board member on two or three boards is about one person’s limit. Accepting invitations to become a board member for more boards will make you ineffective, both on the new boards and you old ones. You will be spread too thin. Once you start spreading your resources thin among too many boards, you cease to be an effective board member.
My advice to all entrepreneurs is that they should choose two charities of a different nature and agree to become a board member. These should be charities that capture your fire, your passion and your enthusiasm—charities that you won’t be afraid to work hard for and give generously to. You’ll spend your first year getting acclimated to the charity’s mission and the personalities on its board. You’ll get effective starting in your second year. Make sure that at some point, you leave the board. You must have an exit plan. If the charity doesn’t have one for you—create one yourself by brining it up at board meetings. If you’ve served too long or if you feel you are ineffective in any way, you have a duty to resign. I have done that before; there is not any shame in resigning if you think you should move on, for the good of yourself and the charity. There needs to be a finite end to service so that incumbency will not breed laziness or lack of interest.
My advice to all charities is that you should put businesspeople “with means” on your board. Make sure that you, as a board, are passionate and energetic and that there is a constant forward momentum—this is what entrepreneurs want. Always make sure that things are fun. Always make sure that goals are set and exceeded. Entrepreneurs don’t like to fail.
One of the best things that I ever did to take my accounting firm to an extreme level of success was to accept my first invitation to serve on a charitable board.
One of the other great things that I did was make sure, when the time came, to let my term expire or to resign when I could no longer be an effective board member. I didn’t want to hold a seat that could be given to another deserving person.
I’ve given thousands and thousands of dollars in money to charities on whose boards I’ve sat and hundreds and hundreds of hours of time. I’ve been repaid several times over by the contacts that I’ve made and the relationships that my fellow board members led me to.
Giving generously to charities that you support by being on their boards and holding leadership positions doesn’t cost—it pays…and pays generously.
David B. Robinson, CPA
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