Page 3 - Board Roles and Responsibilities Assessment

There was agreement between the survey respondents and those who were interviewed when it came to identifying the benefits of having paid staff, exploring the relationship between paid staff and the Chapter’s strategic objectives, and identifying potential barriers that might impede its transition to a ‘hybrid’ organization. ‘Hybrid’ is depicted by paid staff dedicated to operations and volunteers focusing more on strategy.
Benefits
The respondents identified these key benefits for having paid staff:
• Consistency and Continuity. With the board leadership and committee membership changing
annually, it was observed that information gets lost leading to redundancy and confusion as to where information is ‘housed.’ Having paid staff will lead to streamlined processes, automated information, and improved coordination and communication among board committees.
• Increased professionalism of the organization. With an Executive Director the Chapter is better positioned to be more visible within the state. Its credibility among donors and the community- at-large will also increase.
• Increased philanthropy. The Executive Director’s extensive philanthropy expertise will expand fundraising efforts. Volunteers will be able to network and cultivate potential donors while leaving the final donor ‘ask’ to the Executive Director
• Increased member engagement. With paid staff, the amount of work done by volunteers will be reduced thus allowing for a more attractive volunteer experience.
Alignment with Strategic Objectives
Following a review of the Chapter’s four strategic objectives:
• Increase the number of scholar awards
• Engage membership to enhance commitment
• Sustain and enhance partnerships with Oregon’s leading graduate institutions
• Ensure chapter vitality
The respondents were asked how the roles of the Executive Director and Administrative Manager will support those objectives. There is agreement that the cited potential benefits are aligned with the strategic objectives.
Roles and Responsibilities Identification
Given a list of functions, respondents were asked to identify if a function should be the responsibility of the board, staff, a committee or if it is considered a shared responsibility. A threshold of 70% or higher was set as an indication of “agreement”.
The results of this exercise revealed the role/responsibility confusion that has prevailed since the arrival of the Executive Director.
To analyze the results, the functions were put into three response categories:
1. Agreement on function responsibility and aligned with best practices
o Recording donations and membership dues o Day-to-dayfinancialtransactions
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