Board Resources

Guidelines for an Effective Outward Bound Board

Nonprofit Boards Worldwide
Each country in which Outward Bound operates has a slightly different Board structure depending on the cultural norms and government structure for nonprofits.  OBI encourages each school to have its own formulation for how to govern itself.  The essential international element is that each Outward Bound school operates with some sort of governing board comprised of volunteer, non-paid community members that oversee its mission and operations.

Governing Board
The Governing Board of Directors is given the legal corporate authority and responsibility for an organization's formation and operation, for its stability, and for  providing links to other organizations and parts of the community. The Board can mean the difference between public understanding and support of programs and public apathy or even antipathy. Boards that understand their role and fulfill their responsibility are essential to the well being of not-for-profit organizations such as Outward Bound.

The primary responsibility of a governing board of directors is to establish the direction of the Outward Bound School in accord with the needs of the community and expectations of the group that it serves. It regularly examines the school's services to ensure that they are in agreement with the mission of the school and that its objectives are achieved. The major duties of the governing board are to:

v Provide continuity for the Sc

hool and opportunities for citizen participation by setting up a corporation or legal existence. It represents the school's point of view through interpretation of its program and serves as an advocate for services of good quality.

v Select and appoint an Executive Director to whom responsibility for the administration of the School is delegated; it regularly reviews and evaluates his/her performance on the basis of a specific job description, including board executive relationships, leadership in community, program planning and implementation, as well as management of the school, its finances and its personnel; it offers administrative guidance and determines whether to retain or dismiss the executive.

v Govern the School by broad policies and objectives, formulated by the director and staff and approved by the board; it assigns priorities and ensures the school's capabilities of carrying out the program by continually reviewing its work.

v Acquire sufficient resources for the School and finance the program adequately.

v Account for the services of the School and expenditures of funds; it provides for fiscal accountability, approves the budget, formulates policies related to applications for grants and contracts from public, private or foundation resources; it accepts responsibility for all conditions, strategies, policies that will govern prospective new innovative or experimental programs.

ADVISORY BOARD
An advisory board is designed to assist the Executive Director and Board in making informed decisions for the organization and generally promoting the organization to a larger constituency. Some of its duties include:

• Promoting better understanding of the purposes of the Outward Bound School and the objective of its programs.
• Maintaining standards consistent with accepted ones for similar agencies.
• Making useful recommendations to public officials.
• Being constantly well informed about the School's programs.
• Assisting with fund-raising.
• Serving on sub-committees.
• Being willing to provide specialist advice not available within the resources of the staff.
  

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