Board self-assessment questionnaire

Mission and strategic direction

Whether the board can say what the organization is for, and whether its decisions follow from that rather than from whatever came up that month.

1. The board has a clear, shared understanding of our mission.

   Agreement scale

2. The board spends enough of its time on long-term strategy rather than operational detail.

   Agreement scale

3. Board decisions are consistently tested against our strategic priorities.

   Agreement scale

4. The organization has a current written strategic plan.

   Yes or no

5. The board spends more time reviewing what has already happened than deciding what comes next.

   Agreement scale

Financial oversight

Whether board members understand the finances well enough to ask a hard question. Reading a statement and following one are different things.

1. I understand our organization's financial position well enough to govern it.

   Agreement scale

2. The board receives financial information early enough and in a clear enough format to ask real questions.

   Agreement scale

3. The board has discussed how many months of operating reserve we should hold.

   Yes or no

4. An independent accountant audits or reviews our financial statements each year.

   Yes or no

5. Our budget reflects a real commitment to equity, not only a stated one.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

Program and impact oversight

Whether the board knows if the programs are working, and whether it hears about results on any schedule other than good news.

1. The board knows how we measure whether our programs work.

   Agreement scale

2. The board reviews program results at least once a year.

   Yes or no

3. The board has looked at who benefits from our programs and who is missed.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

4. Staff have the capacity to deliver this alongside existing work.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

5. The timeline is realistic.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

Executive support and evaluation

Whether the chief executive is supported and evaluated, or only one of the two. Most boards do the first informally and the second not at all.

1. The board has a written process for evaluating the chief executive.

   Yes or no

2. The chief executive received a documented performance review in the past 12 months.

   Yes or no

3. The board provides the chief executive with meaningful support, not just oversight.

   Agreement scale

4. The board has a written succession plan for the chief executive.

   Yes or noOptional module

5. The board has a plan if the chief executive were suddenly unavailable.

   Yes or noOptional module

6. The board knows how it would run a search for a new chief executive.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

7. Key institutional knowledge is written down rather than held by one person.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

8. More than one person could keep operations running through a transition.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

9. The board has discussed executive transition in the past two years.

   Yes or noOptional module

Fundraising and resource development

Whether board members know what is expected of them in fundraising, and whether that expectation was ever actually said out loud.

1. Every board member understands what is expected of them in fundraising.

   Agreement scale

2. The board is actively involved in raising money, not only approving budgets.

   Agreement scale

3. I made a personal financial contribution to this organization in the past 12 months.

   Yes or no

4. The case for this initiative is clear enough that I could explain it in two minutes.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

5. Board members are prepared to make and to ask for significant gifts.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

6. The board has agreed a specific goal and deadline.

   Yes or noOptional module

Composition and recruitment

Who is on the board, how they got there, and whether recruitment is a real process or a matter of who someone happened to know.

1. The board has an active, ongoing process for identifying new members.

   Agreement scale

2. The board reflects the communities we serve.

   Agreement scale

3. The board has the mix of skills and experience the organization currently needs.

   Agreement scale

4. We have a plan for who succeeds our current board chair.

   Yes or no

5. New board members receive a structured orientation.

   Yes or no

6. I have seen a written description of what is expected of board members.

   Yes or no

7. Our recruitment actively reaches beyond current board members' networks.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

8. The people most affected by our work influence the decisions we make.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

Culture and engagement

Whether people say what they think in the room. A board that never disagrees in public is not a board that agrees.

1. Disagreement is welcomed and handled well in board discussions.

   Agreement scale

2. All board members participate; a small group does not dominate.

   Agreement scale

3. I am personally engaged and clear on how I contribute.

   Agreement scale

4. I attended at least three quarters of board meetings in the past 12 months.

   Yes or no

5. The board has done shared learning on equity in the past two years.

   Yes or noOptional module

6. Board discussions of equity go beyond who sits on the board.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

7. The work of this board is shared rather than carried by one or two people.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

8. I know what I am specifically responsible for.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

Meetings and information flow

Whether meetings are worth the time. Materials in advance, an agenda with decisions on it, and discussion that goes somewhere.

1. Board materials arrive far enough in advance for me to prepare.

   Agreement scale

2. Meeting time is used well.

   Agreement scale

3. I sometimes leave board meetings unsure what was decided.

   Agreement scale

Roles and boundaries

Whether the board governs and the staff manage, or whether the line between the two moves depending on who is asking.

1. The line between board governance and staff management is clear and respected.

   Agreement scale

Governance practices

The written commitments — conflict of interest, whistleblower, document retention — and whether anyone could describe what is in them.

1. The board reviewed the Form 990 before it was filed.

   Yes or no

2. I completed a conflict of interest disclosure in the past 12 months.

   Yes or no

3. The board reviewed our insurance coverage in the past two years.

   Yes or noOptional module

4. We have a whistleblower policy.

   Yes or noOptional module

5. We have a written document retention and destruction policy.

   Yes or noOptional module

6. Our state charitable registration is current.

   Yes or noOptional module

7. The board has discussed what we would do if our data were breached.

   Yes or noOptional module

8. We have reviewed which board committees we actually need in the past two years.

   Yes or noOptional module

9. Our committees have clear charters describing what they are responsible for.

   Agreement scaleOptional module

10. Committee work meaningfully shapes full board decisions, not just reports to it.

    Agreement scaleOptional module

11. Our committees met as often as planned in the past 12 months.

    Yes or noOptional module

12. I understand what my own committee assignments are responsible for.

    Agreement scaleOptional module

Public standing

How board members think the organization is seen from outside, and whether they would say so to someone they know.

1. The board communicates our impact clearly to the people we serve and support.

   Agreement scale

2. The organization is well run.

   Agreement scale

The board and the chief executive

The working relationship between the board and the chief executive, asked of both sides. This is where the two views most often part company.

1. The board gives me clear direction rather than mixed signals.

   Agreement scaleChief executive only

2. I get the support from the board that my role requires.

   Agreement scaleChief executive only

3. I can raise bad news with this board without it damaging me.

   Agreement scaleChief executive only

In their own words

1. What is the single most important thing this board does well?

   Free text

2. What is the single most important thing this board should change in the next year?

   Free text

3. What is not being discussed that should be?

   Free text