1. What role do we want the board to play?
A board is only effective when you’re clear about the specific value you need it to bring, and the role you need it to play. Here are some examples of the roles a board should serve:
✅ Governance
A board’s primary and most important role is the governance of an organization. This includes overseeing the CEO specifically (or multiple executives in a shared leadership structure). When I was setting up my first board, I was clear that I wanted a board that could fire me if I needed to be fired. As leaders, we need to recruit board members whose judgment and strategic decision-making we can trust and who will hold us accountable for our performance
This becomes especially important during critical organizational transitions – such as when an Executive Director or CEO leaves, or when a leadership overhaul is needed. In those moments, the board’s role is absolutely vital. When you don’t have a capable board, the organization is placed at real risk.
As a leader, you want people who can challenge you, hold you accountable, and help you see what you might miss, not just those who agree with you. A strong board safeguards the mission by ensuring the leadership stays focused, ethical, and effective.
✅ Thought leadership and mentorship
Board members often bring diverse and valuable experiences that can help a team grow. I’ve benefited, and continue to benefit, from the board members Maliasili has been fortunate to have, in terms of my own professional development. I often advise our partners to think of bringing in members who can be thought partners, and act as mentors to the ED/CEO and senior leadership. This really helps to broaden perspectives and support growth.
✅ Estratégia
Boards should ideally help set the organization’s overall strategy to deliver on its mission, including defining its ambitions and the actions needed to execute its goals. Some of Maliasili’s partners have strong boards that are instrumental in providing direction for long-term plans and the organization’s future. A shortfall in many boards of small or young organizations is that the board is often reactive rather than proactive in strategic engagement, and they often struggle to move beyond mere compliance to providing strategic leadership.
✅ Resourcing
The board can play or support in attracting two key resources – people and money. This includes recruiting and retaining key staff, especially the Executive Director (ED) or CEO, promoting the organization, building networks, and sometimes directly sourcing or providing funding. More often than not, a strong board can help add credibility to the organization in the eyes of donors and funders.
2. What should an effective board look like?
The constitution of your board is integral to the members being able to achieve the roles you’ve set out for them.
✅ Composition and skills
A great board brings together the right mix of skills and expertise that an organization needs for a particular stage of growth and journey. This could include financial management, legal and compliance, fundraising, NGO management, communications, and relevant technical expertise.
Local cultural expertise, community representation, and political leverage are often crucial. However, each organization is different, and leaders should think carefully about the needed skills before recruiting board members.
✅ Committees for key functions
An efficient way to get focused input from the board while managing time commitments is to have board sub-committees. Clear policies should guide how committees report back and make decisions. Typical committees can include Finance, HR (recruitment, etc.), and Executive (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Vice-Chair). Temporary committees can also help address specific issues, like reviewing an HR strategy or managing a strategic risk, without creating a permanent structure.
✅ Board size
There is no ideal board size, as each organization has unique requirements specific to its context. However, managing boards takes time and real effort, and conservation organizations, to ensure success, should aim to keep boards small and manageable, especially at the beginning. Bring people on board who are motivated to do the job, can dedicate their time and energy, and who have the right way of thinking that is aligned with your organization.
