Reimagining Governance is a collaborative initiative between ONN and Ignite NPS. Our goal is to provoke a shift in how we talk about and do governance in nonprofit organizations so they’re better positioned for our futures.
Reimagining Governance is a collaborative initiative between ONN and Ignite NPS. Our goal is to provoke a shift in how we talk about and do governance in nonprofit organizations so they’re better positioned for our futures.
Find your own pathway to governance innovation, whether it’s a small pivot or a larger transformation. Whatever your organization’s unique needs, you can explore a wide assortment of resources, tools and practices.
Take a few minutes to get oriented on how to navigate these resources.
Before you get going, it may be helpful to spend time looking at the fundamentals of governance and take a pulse check on your organization’s readiness for innovation.
Dig into one that meets your specific interests, or explore them all; there’s no set pathway to follow.
Access helpful research, information, and practices that strengthen your governance.
Explore the building blocks of your governance
Put the right governance design (people, processes, structures, and culture) in place.
Learn about your complex and dynamic governance ecosystem. This can help in orientations and building or renewing your governance design.
Learn about the board of director’s requirements and responsibilities based on the law and regulation.
Learn about three lenses that help unpack governance responsibilities and decisions, enabling clarity about required competencies, broader participation in governance, and more effective governance processes.
Discover the key elements of culture driving your governance, including how decisions are made, the partnership between the board and staff leadership, and the way that governance work is accomplished.
Governance as Shared Leadership: What is it? Why is it important, and how you can maximize its benefits and mitigate its challenges. We hope that this video will prompt conversations in your organization about sharing governance more broadly, beyond just getting more stakeholder input, – and to build your confidence that this kind of approach can be done effectively.
Explore the broad trends and forces shaping the nonprofit sector and how they are impacting the design of your governance in six distinct ways.
Access a chart describing the eight critical governance functions that must be fulfilled, and their corresponding responsibilities, which is useful for orientations and as a starting place for innovation.
Explore how your stakeholders can participate in your governance from less direct involvement to deeper, more complex levels of engagement.
Learn about the benefits and challenges of sharing governance more broadly and the critical factors which drive success.
This pulse-check gives your organization a sense of its readiness to embark on reimagining governance, reducing the chances of resistance or inertia down the road.
Build confidence that your board is fulfilling its legal and regulatory requirements, so it’s better positioned to share responsibilities and uncover innovation.
Learn about the unique circumstances that dictate and influence your governance design, enabling a clear and shared understanding by all those participating in it and opening opportunities for innovation.
Create a clear and shared understanding about the governance functions that must be fulfilled, along with their corresponding responsibilities. This is a starting place for refreshing roles and responsibilities, engaging stakeholders, and creating better processes.
Gain a clear and shared understanding about the five components of your governance framework, which are the foundations of your governance design (processes, structures, people, and culture).
Discover opportunities for innovation in your governance processes and practices through curious and creative brainstorming.
Better understand the culture currently shaping your governance, including how decisions are made, the partnership between the board and staff leadership, and the way that governance work is accomplished.
Determine the full spectrum of who should and could participate in your governance, and the key conditions for success by exploring a practice that matches different stakeholders with specific governance responsibilities
Unpack different kinds of governance responsibilities and decisions so you can better understand the required leadership characteristics, share governance more broadly, and strengthen processes.
