Beef up your Board
Theatre vs. Nonprofit
As a business, the theatre produces and sells seats to plays. In that way, our business model and capital structure are similar to such disparate industries as universities and airlines – we create a product and our customers have to fill a chair which we maintain in order for them to enjoy our service.
The reporting and accountability burdens of nonprofits have increased drastically in the last decade, and will continue to increase. As the nation relies more and more on nonprofits to provide services once provided by the for-profit and government sector, the burdens will continue increase. In the last few years, congress has added numerous layers and requirements to the application for 501c3 status, and is in the process of restructuring the tax return forms that nonprofits fill out.
These changes have placed a level of responsibility on boards and individual board members that did not exist a generation ago. Today’s and tomorrow’s board must be savvy, proactive, and forward-thinking. The people with the dedication and capacity to meet the demands of a modern nonprofit board member are few and far between.
Competition
The success or failure of a nonprofit starts and ends with its board, and the nonprofits that will succeed in competing for the resources necessary to fulfill their missions are not the ones that write the most successful grants or raise the most money; the most successful nonprofits will be those that compete for, attract, and retain the most skilled and dedicated board members.
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