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The most effective nonprofit organizations have an involved governance structure—that is, a board of directors, advisory board, or advisors—supporting the executive director and working together as a team to advance the organization’s mission. Tides Center offers each project individualized support and resources to build the right governance structure for every stage of the project’s development.
During new project orientation, Tides Center staff review the project’s governance experience and capabilities. Some projects come to Tides Center with a fully developed advisory structure; others have never worked with a governing board. Some are small enough to take advantage of a few advisors; larger projects benefit from a dedicated group of strategic thinkers who meet on a regular basis to advance the project's mission.
A Governance Guidelines Handbook describes the fiscal sponsorship model of governance and provides useful templates for reviewing and revisiting a project’s mission, tools for strategic planning, sample advisory board job descriptions, basics of minute-taking, and other useful materials.
Project directors, staff, and advisory board members may attend trainings provided via web conference that covers the basics of nonprofit governance, overview of the roles and responsibilities of the Tides Center Board of Directors and the project’s advisory board, and a review of the nonprofit sector’s best practices for developing a nonprofit governing structure.
Increased public scrutiny of the nonprofit sector has made careful management of real or potential conflicts of interest essential. To protect the interests and integrity of each project, Tides Center defines various types of conflicts that can arise and offers each project the steps needed to prevent or manage conflicts.
Project directors and advisors meet annually with Tides Center governance staff to review governance practices, develop solutions for project challenges, and to set governance goals for the year.
Projects use Tides Center’s governance consultation services to discuss a wide variety of topics such as managing conflicts of interest, making board meetings more productive, determining the right mix of board member characteristics needed to address project challenges, orienting new board members, and handling difficult or unengaged board members. We also offer assistance with developing a fundraising board.
Rosanne Stead joined Tides in 2004; in 2005 she initiated the Governance program and became Governance Program Director in 2007. Previous to Tides, Rosanne taught English to factory workers in Italy; managed an independent bookstore; was Executive Director of the ATHENA Foundation, an international nonprofit honoring successful women mentors; established a gynecologic oncology practice with her brother, a cancer surgeon; and served as the director of a community development nonprofit. She spent years as president of a homeless shelter board, as city planning commissioner, as a capitol city chamber of commerce board member, and as vice chair of a downtown development authority. Rosanne holds a BA in psychology, sociology, and anthropology from Michigan State University and a Masters degree in urban studies from the University of Chicago. Rosanne and her husband are delighted to be grandparents of a two year-old Israeli-born granddaughter now living with her parents in Palo Alto, CA.
Every project that engages in the governance program through either training or annual governance reviews is eligible for the benefits of the Tides Center - BoardSource partnership.
The partnership provides each project a $75 publication allowance on top of a 30% discount on BoardSource books. Publications topics include fundraising, building your board, generating buzz about your project, organizational lifecycles, capital campaigns, strategic planning, managing conflicts of interest, and much more.
BoardSource is the premier resource for leadership development for board members of nonprofit organizations worldwide. For more information, see www.boardsource.org.
Tides Center’s partnerships complement the services we provide to our projects. Tides Center engages the industry’s leading resources on a range of relevant topics so that our projects can build the skills, knowledge, and experience they need to most effectively carry out their work.
