Creating Change: Day 3 Being a better Board and Board Member

Being a Better Board Member

Martha Vail, PhD and independent non-profit leadership consultant, lead this session. It was helpful to me as member of the Board of Integirty, The Vestry of St. John's and the chair of the Committee for Lesbian and Gay Ministry in our Church

Our first job was to recount or mission statement and our values. We then compare a typical board meeting. Martha's Point was fairly well demonstrated in this exercise: We become members of a Board because of our passions in the particular area that the organization encompasses and then spend 90% of our time together with minutia. The board meeting is run the way that it is because it always has been. How very Anglican.

There are 4 important roles for any board she contended:

1. SET POLICY
2. ENSURE RESOURCE
3. BUILD THE BOARD
4. BE AN AMBASSADOR

The first two are based on the legal requirements of a 501-3(c) corporation. The last two have to do the the ongoing strength of the organization and feeding the passions of board members.

I learned much about what I did not know, or have forgotten. This also re-energized me to WAN T to be a member of the Board of Integirty.

The Following day, I attended church with Fred Ellis at St. Thomas in Dallas, a P3 (Proud Parish Partner) of Integrity. Fred introduced me and talked about "Believe Out Loud" during the announcements. The congregation greeted me warmly with applause. I returned their applause with thanks for their mission and ministry in the Diocese of Dallas and the Episcoopal Church and thanked them for their support of Integirty.

This is the type of Ambassadorship that can only be done fully affectively in Person. By building am action network of human beings Parochial, Diocesan, Provincial, National and International to support our communications with people that are available to meet and listen we can live out our mission and values in Integirty. We must model that which exsists in healthy church congregations at every level of the Episcopal Church in order to thrive.