Page 2 - Board Roles and Responsibilities Assessment

Introduction
Since its formation in 2004, ARCS Foundation Oregon has supported over 330 students pursuing Ph.D.’s in STEM fields. This effort has been led entirely by an active and engaged board and its volunteer committees.
Recognizing that the organization had reached its capacity for continued growth, the board, following a visioning process, hired its first Executive Director in January 2022.
While this positive action clearly demonstrates the Chapter’s commitment to accelerating growth, it constitutes a major change for the organization. This change requires clarity of roles/ responsibilities to maintain relationships and ensure seamless governance and operations in the future.
A planning committee was formed to design a process to gather input and facilitate dialogue between the board, active members, university partners, the Administrative Manager, and the Executive Director. The results of this process will inform future efforts to clearly define and communicate roles and responsibilities and strengthen the partnership between the ED and the board. Underlying this work is the desire to align the Chapter with ‘best practices’ of non-profit governance and administration.
This process included a survey, the results of which will inform discussions and activities of the upcoming crossover board and committee retreat agenda. This retreat will be an in-person daylong event for ARCS Board and committee members. The retreat will elevate the professionalization of ARCS Oregon Chapter by providing education on change management, best practices relating to nonprofit governance, and strategic thinking. This foundational knowledge will inform the creation of committee charters, which will be drafted by members during the retreat and serve as a guiding document for the future work of the committee.
The Planning Committee Members for this work were:
• Anne Jarvis, President
• Elizabeth Bell, President Elect
• Julie Branford, Past-President
• Lori Slaughter, Executive Director
Executive Summary
The process for gaining clarity around roles and responsibilities focused on the engagement of both past /current board and committee members, the administrative manager and ED, and university partners. This engagement was initiated through an online survey and individual interviews. The online survey achieved a 62% return rate. The interview process achieved a 75% completion rate. These outstanding response rates demonstrate incredible leadership and commitment to the organization’s long-term health.
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