Local Leaders Demonstrate Their Commitment to Nonprofit Missions

Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) surveyed our local nonprofit organizations and asked the question: “What do you need more than money?” Their response was two-fold: Volunteer Recruitment, which TTCF is answering through Give Back Tahoe’s online volunteer module, and Board Leadership. TTCF responded to this need by developing and delivering October’s four-part workshop series on Board Governance.

TTCF has successfully facilitated similar workshops in the past, but this time approached the topic of Board Governance as a series that specifically targeted board members in our community.  We worked with executive directors throughout the process of crafting and promoting the series, asking for their feedback to assess our assumption on several elements.  At series end, each executive director received the resources from workshops their board member(s) attended.

We approached the breadth of board governance information by blending several resources and interweaving the most valuable pieces into four (4) three-hour workshops hosted at Sierra College’s Truckee campus.  Workshops were delivered in three parts:  Theory, Practice and Interactive Application.

Three panelists presented at each workshop based on their particular expertise and breadth of experience. These twelve experts share 259 years of board service and knowledge between them.  The workshops were organized under four topics:

• Board Responsibility and Culture
• Financial Stewardship
• Effective Planning
• Fundraising

A total of 79 unduplicated individuals representing thirty-four agencies attended at least one workshop, and twenty-seven agencies were represented at all four workshops.  The participants had board experience spanning anywhere from a number of months to a number of decades.

At the end of the sessions, each attendee completed a feedback survey.  The enthusiasm was palpable.  From this, TTCF will craft and deliver future workshops that serve the needs of our nonprofit organizations and elevate our community to higher standards of service.

Janet Zipser Zipkin, a seasoned board member who previously sat on the Truckee Donner Land Trust and currently serves on the Truckee River Watershed Council board, wrote to TTCF:

“Of course it was valuable to new board members, but for those with more years of experience it was a reminder of elements of good board practices, and presented new perspectives and processes so essential to keeping up with the changing nonprofit world.  The panels were particularly valuable. Nothing can beat hearing pearls of wisdom from people you respect and admire.  TTCF found a need and filled it, and we are a stronger nonprofit community for their efforts.”