Why should we have a Board Chair Summit in central Indiana?

The core constituencies and clients of nonprofit organizations in our community can be better served if the organizations are led effectively. The Boards that direct these organizations are faced with many challenges, including financial management, planning, fund development, measuring results, and issues of accountability. In addition, these boards are often afflicted with member apathy, ineffective meetings, lack of focus, and many other concerns. A Board Chair/President, as the positional leader of the board, can uniquely affect change and transform a dysfunctional or mediocre board into an exceptional one. Why not have an annual summit for these leaders to come together, learn new practices, and share ideas with each other? The individual participants will learn new skills and strategies for leading their boards. The organizations they represent will benefit from this new knowledge as well as best practices borrowed from other organizations. The central Indiana nonprofit sector will benefit from a collaborative cohort of board chairs/presidents who can continue to rely upon and learn from each other throughout their terms.