Global Best Practices for Cso, Ngo, and Other Nonprofit Boards: Lessons from Around the World - Hardcover

by Boardsource (Author), Penelope Cagney (Editor)

An ideal resource for boards everywhere

There are at least 10 million Civil Society Organizations (CSO)s in the world, each of them with a board composed of individuals doing their best to govern well and wisely. There is no single model of governance to emulate, but are there universal principles and practices that can help boards everywhere perform at the highest level.

This book takes us for a trip around the world to look at what is working for boards. Its discoveries will help not only boards, but also nonprofit staff leaders seeking to assist their boards to optimal performance, and capacity-builders looking to strengthen their civil society sector.

Even if your organizational concerns extend no further than city boundaries, this book is for you. One of the greatest governance challenges today is a lack of diversity on the board. This can seriously hamper an organization's ability to realize mission and to understand and serve its community. Reading this book will provide a greater understanding of how the cultural context affects governance and will sensitize the reader to different ways of thinking about governance.

Global Best Practices For CSO, NGO and Other Nonprofit Boards presents case studies from different parts of the world that illustrate effective practice, identifies and discusses interesting and significant differences, and explores global governance trends with implications for us all.

• Tests for universal truths about roles, responsibilities and practices using criteria established by BoardSource, the premier voice on nonprofit governance
• Provides information that builds exceptional nonprofit boards
• Discusses cultural differences in governance that will help all boards to better function in increasingly diverse environments
• Offers inspiration to NGO boards in any part of civil society
• Reflects on the future of governance worldwide

If you're a capacity-builder, a board member, or an executive leader looking for guidance on governance, this is the book you'll want to have on hand.

Front Jacket

Throughout the world there are millions of nonprofits also known as civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The board members who serve these organizations strive to do their best to govern well and wisely. While there is no one model of nonprofit governance that is appropriate for all these millions of organizations, there are universal principles and practices that can help boards everywhere achieve stellar performance.

With contributions from an international panel of experts, Global Best Practices for CSO, NGO, and Other Nonprofit Boards offers a guide for those who want to be a responsible, informed, and well-equipped board member in order to provide quality leadership for their organization. This book takes us for a trip around the world to look at what is working for a diverse range of CSO organizations. The authors draw on an individual board's roles and responsibilities based on criteria established by BoardSource, the premier voice on nonprofit governance. The key discoveries to governance excellence will help not only board members, but also nonprofit staff leaders seeking to assist their boards to optimal performance, and capacity-builders looking to strengthen their civil society sector.

The book also examines five trends that are affecting the global nonprofit sector including threats to civil society; growing pains of civil society; pressure to be more transparent and accountable; a board's need for greater diversity and inclusiveness; and the emergence of new kinds of organizations that straddle for- and nonprofit models.

No matter what your role in your organization--board member, support staff, volunteer, or executive leader--this book offers a guide to governance that will help propel your organization towards the realization of its mission.

BoardSource works to inspire and support excellence in nonprofit governance and board and staff leadership by supporting and educating nonprofit leaders. A commitment to increasing board effectiveness and strengthening organizational impact is rooted in three decades of leadership development and research. The support that BoardSource provides is strengthened by its broader work on critical sector issues that explore challenges and opportunities for board leaders to make a difference--in their communities and throughout the world. BoardSource is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Author Biography

PENELOPE CAGNEY is the principal of The Cagney Company, consultants to CSOs in governance, planning and fundraising worldwide. She co-edited the award-winning Global Fundraising: How the World is Changing the Rules of Philanthropy (Wiley/AFP International), and authored Nonprofit Consulting Essentials: What Every Nonprofit and Consultant Needs to Know (Wiley imprint-Jossey-Bass/ Alliance of Nonprofit Management).