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boards Board & StaffDivision of Labour by Brenda Berck In my earlier articles. I discussed membership on arts boards as well as how board development helps create a stronger organization. But organizations that exist to carry out arts activities also require staff to do the day-to-day work. Sometimes these staff are unpaid volunteers, and sometimes these volunteers are also board members, but it is important to remember that it is the function that determines whether it is staff work, not whether you get paid for it. In this article on boards, I want to focus on the board/staff partnership, and particularly on the distinction between board responsibilities and staff duties, for it is only when this distinction is clearly understood that board and staff work well together in carrying out the mandate of the organization. The overall board responsibility is called a fiduciary responsibility; this legal term (meaning 'trust') refers to the legal and financial responsibility that is entrusted to the board by the organization's membership. The board is legally responsible for ensuring that the organization carries out its mandate and that it has thefinancialmeans to do so. This does not necessarily mean that all board members must fundraise; what it does mean is that all board members must feel confident that there is, and will be, money to pay the bills. Because of the financial responsibility (and associated potential liability) that comes with being on a board, many board members are now insisting that their organizations carry Directors" Liability Insurance. One of the key responsibilities of die board is to represent the community to the organization and to act as ambassador from the organization to the community. Sometimes this means assisting the organization in involving new segments of the community; sometimes this means speaking to friends and neighbours, associates at work, and elected officials, about the importance of the organization to the community. Board members, then, are responsible for ensuring that the organization's annual plan conforms to the organization's mandate, that there is a plan, that the budget is appropriate for the activities, and, if financial activities do not conform to the budget, that the budget is adjusted. Usually, boards will ensure that there are policies to guide the organization's activities so that the individuals who have been delegated the responsibilities of managing or coordinating the activities, raising the funds, and keeping the books have a framework within which to work. It is important to remember that these delegated responsibilities are staff functions, so mat the board lakes the same care to ensure that a volunteer has the expertise to do the work that it would expect of paid staff. And. while the board policy must be approved by the board, staff input i and sometimes, policy drafts) is essential if the policy is to be based on the real world of the organization. Board policy-making and commitment to organizational vision are often difficult concepts for new board members. particularly if they have limited board experience. Thus, it is very tempting for board members to get involved in the details of day-to-day management. It is simply easier to get caught up in. say. the size of the telephone bill, than to deal with lobbying the government about the need for greater support of the arts. It is also common for arts boards, who frequently don't like structure, to attempt informal working relations with their staff. This can develop into a situation where all of the board members direct the staff, and many times, deal with issues that are really not their concern. No staff person can work effectively taking direction from fourteen (or however many) bosses; at the same time, it is awkward for staff (particularly paid staff) to tell their board members to stop meddling. It is far more effective to agree at the outset that board directives will go through the Board Chair, who will ensure that the requests are reasonable and port of the board's responsibilities. Board membership tends to change much more frequently than staffing does, even when the staffing is volunteer. Since most arts groups staff find themselves dealing with grant and other deadlines, or completing projects that were begun before the last Annual General Meeting, it is difficult for staff to avoid feeling burdened by the need to stop or slow down what they're doing in order to bring "yet another" set of new board members to an understanding of what the organization is doing, and where they fit in the scheme of things. After twenty-plus years of experience as a staff member reporting to boards, a board member working with staff, and a consultant to nonprofit groups, I have found no "magicfix'for this predicament. One simply has to make the time to work together to develop this common understanding- Board development workshops will form a good basis for these discussions; still, one workshop will not answer all the questions or create instant understanding. Meetings between staff and board, and between staff and Board Chair, are the only effective means I have discovered for creating an organization where board and staff are clear about their respective rcsponsibilit think of these c (with r who are, after all. representatives of the community) as a dry-run for explaining to the community at large what it is that you do. and why that's important. Brenda Berck reports to her board, the North Shore Arts Commission, in her capacity as the Cultural Development Officer. She also senes as Vice Chair of the board of the Emily Carr College of Art and Design. C o m e a n d be inspired by the w o r k o f local artisans. For uniquely visit hand crafted works a n d pottery, S y l v a n today. 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