Top Sites for Governance Resources
Looking for material for do-it-yourself Board orientations and governance discussions? Here are two top recommendations, but please note they are not Canadian. Laws and practices differ, particularly in relation to member rights:
- Ontario Nonprofit Network, Reimagining Governance *
- Hiland Consulting, including the new Love Your Board book (USA) *
- Conscious Governance (Australia)
- Charity Village *
- Third Sector Company
Need a Canadian not-for-profit governance provider? Please get in touch with me, tell me a little bit about your situation and desired outcomes, and I’ll provide some suggestions. If you want to check directly instead, here are a few ideas:
Check out the podcasts where you see an * – often the best source now for new ideas.
Download these free (old) resources as PDFs:
- Balancing Diverse Perspectives with Board Size (published by Imagine Canada)
- Reviewing-Governance-Pages-1-2 Pages 1-2 (whole chapter available on request)
- BD Decision-Making Pages1-2 (whole chapter available on request)
- Strategic Boards for All-Volunteer Orgs
- Generic Nonprofit Board Agenda
- Navigating with Values Based Leadership (presentation – will take time to download)
- Paying-for-Board-service
- Charismatic-Founder
- Representatives-on-a-board
- Banned-from-Boards
- CHAIR-CSO success
- The Independent Director
- Fully-engaged-board
- ThrowingAwayTheMatrix
Many of Jane’s ethics columns for Charity Village also deal with governance.
Some Recommended Reading
- You and Your Nonprofit Board: Advice and Practical Tips from the Field’s Top Practitioners, Researchers, and Provocateurs, Charity Channel Press, 2013
- You and Your Nonprofit, Charity Channel Press, 2010
- The Intrepid Nonprofit, Tim Plumptre, Friesen Press, 2019
- Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed, Frances Westney, Brenda Zimmerman and Michael Quinn Patton, Random House, 2006
- Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success, edited by Alan Broadbent and Ratna Omidvar for Maytree Foundation, Coach House Books, 2011
- Making an Impact as a Not-for-Profit Board Chair, Sandi L. Humphrey, CSAE, 2013
- Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards, Richard P. Chait, William P. Ryan, and Barbara Taylor, BoardSource, 2005
- The Source: Twelve Principles of Governance That Power Exceptional Boards, BoardSource, 2005
- Primer for Directors of Not-For-Profit Corporations: Rights, Duties and Practices, Industry Canada et al, (free download)
- Roberta’s Rules of Order, Alice Collier Cochran, Jossey-Bass, 2004
- The Art of Trusteeship: The Nonprofit Board Members Guide to Effective Governance, Candace Widmer and Susan Houchin, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000