Free · Certificate included

Nonprofit Governance

Learn how a healthy board governs without slipping into day-to-day management.

32 min Intermediate 7 modules Pass 80%

For: Nonprofit board members

What you’ll learn

Define the board’s governance role versus staff’s
Set up committees, officers, and oversight that work
Recognize the major governance models and the three modes of board work
Govern strategically without micromanaging the executive director

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Course outline

1
What governance actually is
When you join a nonprofit board, people start using the word governance as if everyone already knows what it means.
5 min Quiz Interactive
2
Governance vs. management: the dividing line
The single most important idea in board service is the line between governance and management.
5 min Quiz Interactive
3
Board structure: officers, committees, bylaws
Governance needs structure to function. That structure has three pillars: the officers who lead the board, the committees that do focused work, and the bylaws that…
5 min Quiz
4
The three fiduciary duties
Every board member, in every state, owes the organization three legal fiduciary duties.
5 min Quiz Interactive
5
Governance models: Carver, Chait & more
There’s no single "correct" way to govern.
6 min Quiz Interactive
6
The board and the executive director
If your organization has paid staff, the board’s most consequential management act is also its only one: the board hires, supports, supervises, and evaluates one…
5 min Quiz Interactive
7
Policies, oversight & putting it together
Governance becomes real through policies — the durable decisions a board makes once so it doesn’t have to relitigate them every meeting.
5 min Quiz Interactive

Sources & further reading

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