Free · Certificate included
Board Member Essentials
Serve with confidence — the legal duties, oversight, and rhythms every nonprofit board member needs.
What you’ll learn
- Name and apply the three legal duties of every board member: care, loyalty, and obedience
- Tell the difference between governing (board) and managing (staff) — and stay on your side of the line
- Read a budget and a Form 990 well enough to ask the right oversight questions
- Show up prepared for board meetings, fundraising, and a healthy partnership with your executive director
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
What a board actually does
Congratulations — someone trusted you enough to ask you onto their board.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 2
The duty of care
The first of the three legal duties is the duty of care.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 3
The duty of loyalty
The duty of loyalty means you put the organization's interest ahead of your own personal or professional interests.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 4
The duty of obedience
The third duty — the duty of obedience — requires you to keep the organization faithful to its mission and within the law.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Financial oversight & the Form 990
You do not need to be an accountant, but financial oversight is a core fiduciary job.
7 min Quiz Interactive - 6
Fundraising & the give-or-get expectation
Boards are responsible for ensuring the organization has the resources to pursue its mission — and that includes fundraising.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 7
Board meetings & Robert's Rules
The board does most of its formal work in meetings, and many nonprofits run those meetings using Robert's Rules of Order — a parliamentary procedure first published…
5 min Quiz Interactive - 8
Recruitment, terms & the executive director
A board is only as strong as the people on it and the partnership at its center.
5 min Quiz Interactive
Sources & further reading
- BoardSource — Legal Duties of Nonprofit Board Members
- National Council of Nonprofits — Board Roles and Responsibilities
- National Council of Nonprofits — What to look for when reviewing the IRS Form 990 before filing
- Internal Revenue Service — Form 990, Part VI and Schedule L: Board review of return
- BoardEffect — Robert's Rules of Order Cheat Sheet for Nonprofits
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