How Are We Doing?: A 1-hour Guide To Evaluating Your Performance As A Nonprofit Board [Paperback]

Gayle L. Gifford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2005

What if your nonprofit board is temporarily suffering from the bug of listlessness? Does it need a full-blown board self-evaluation? You know, the quarter-pound questionnaire where a consultant is called in and months fly by? Not by a long shot. It is likely your board needs a little self-correction, a conversation or two where they ask themselves some revealing questions. That is Gayle Gifford's uncomplicated approach in How Are We Doing?: A 1-Hour Guide to Evaluating Your Performance as a Nonprofit Board. She provides the questions your board needs to ask. Soon the conversation flows, problems are aired, and solutions take shape. It is quick, it works, and it is just what the doctor ordered.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Succinctly identifies all the major questions and issues any board member should address to operate at peak capacity." -- Jeff Masarjian, Executive Director, Armenia Tree Project

"There are few resources that help to inform, instruct, and empower - all in such an easy to use format." -- Bonnie Koenig, Principal, Going International

"Vision, goals, values, strategy, stewardship, decisions, priorities - this is head stuff that will inspire a board to great achievement!" -- Ken Phillips, Head, Organizational Development Department, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

"Well written, concise, and thoughtful examination of the issues that nonprofit board members face." --Ellen Fineberg, Executive Director, Women's Business Center

About the Author

Gayle L. Gifford, president of the Providence, Rhode Island-based company, Cause & Effect, is one of fewer than 100 individuals in the U.S. who hold the advanced fundraising credential, ACFRE, issued by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

She is the author of Meaningful Participation: An Activist's Guide to Collaborative Policymaking and a regular columnist for Contributions magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 105 pages
• Publisher: Emerson & Church Publishers (May 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889102237
• ISBN-13: 978-1889102238
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for busy Board members, October 12, 2005

By 

Bonnie Koenig - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Are We Doing?: A 1-hour Guide To Evaluating Your Performance As A Nonprofit Board (Paperback)

This book will be an invaluable resource for busy Board members who want to focus their efforts on both the practicalities of their job as well as the greater vision which inspired them to volunteer in the first place. The key to this book is in the sub-title - A 1-Hour Guide to Evaluating your Performance as a Nonprofit Board. It is a rare find - simple, straightforward and designed for busy people. Each chapter is just a few pages long and ends with questions for the reader and/or Board collectively to answer. These questions are then summarized at the end in an Evaluation Survey. Sections include Making Our Community Better, Becoming Good Stewards and Building a Great Board. In an easy format to carry with you, it will surely become a staple for many Board meetings.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a "Gotta Have" for Board Members, January 6, 2006

By 

Henry D. Lewis "Henry D. (Hank) Lewis, CFRE" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Are We Doing?: A 1-hour Guide To Evaluating Your Performance As A Nonprofit Board (Paperback)

This is a lot of wisdom in a small space, an easy to read-and-understand approach to determining if a non-profit board is doing what it should be doing. Each brief chapter focuses on one idea, and leaves no doubt in a reader's mind about how to determine what would work best for their organization. I am already using that one sentence, "It's negligent to keep investing money in programs without proof they make a difference," as part of my discussions with clients. This is a book I can, and will, recommend to clients and colleagues, secure in the knowledge that they will thank me for the recommendation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Succint, wise guide for nonprofit boards, February 24, 2008

By 

David C. Thomas "David T" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How Are We Doing?: A 1-hour Guide To Evaluating Your Performance As A Nonprofit Board (Paperback)

We purchased copies of this book for all of our board members after a consultant recommended it and I reviewed it. This is a very quick read (less than an hour), but the book is filled with great passages about the way a good board should function. Thought-provoking questions end each chapter. If you have a non-profit with a board, or you are on such as board, BUY THIS BOOK!