The Board–Executive Relationship: Power, Partnership, and Politics

Every nonprofit says it wants a strong board. Fewer admit how often the board is the problem.

This is not an argument against boards. Good boards are invaluable. They extend reach, credibility, and effectiveness in ways executives cannot. But when boards don’t function well, the result is predictable: they don’t strengthen leadership. They weaken it.

Low Barriers, High Consequences

Nonprofit boards have relatively low barriers to entry. People join because they care, are asked, can give, or bring relationships. Those are not bad reasons, but they are not the same as being prepared to govern.

In many organizations, the bar for joining the board is lower than the bar for joining the staff. That would matter less if boards had limited influence. They don’t. Boards carry authority over strategy, leadership, and accountability. Low entry standards combined with high authority create risk.

The Board Is Supposed to Be a Tool

Boards are often framed as oversight bodies. The best ones are something more: the CEO’s most powerful tool. They open doors, reinforce credibility, and sharpen strategy. They multiply the CEO’s effectiveness. But only if they are built and managed intentionally.

A weak board does the opposite. A weak board slows decisions, blurs priorities, and adds friction. 

Keep in mind: A board seat is more valuable left empty than filled with the wrong person. 

When CEOs Give Away Their Own Authority

Many CEOs assume that if they involve the board more deeply, they will gain more support. In practice, the opposite often happens.

This dynamic is rarely imposed by the board. More often, it is initiated by the CEO. The invitation into the CEO’s lane usually comes from a good place: a desire to be transparent, collaborative, and inclusive. It can also come from something less comfortable to name: a reluctance to set boundaries or a fear of conflict.

Either way, the result is the same. The CEO becomes less effective, not more.

Read more of our thoughts on this topic in a previous blog: “EDs: Stop Inviting the Board Into Your Lane!’

Partnership Requires Clarity, Not Proximity

The board–executive relationship is often described as a partnership. That is accurate, but it is also where many organizations go wrong. Partnership does not mean shared responsibility for everything. The board governs. The CEO leads. The board focuses on direction, sustainability, and accountability. The CEO is responsible for execution, culture, and results.

When that division holds, the relationship works. When it doesn’t, both sides underperform. The board starts managing, the CEO starts deferring, and the organization loses momentum.

Begin as You Mean to Go

Most board dysfunction does not appear suddenly. It develops over time. And, in most cases, it can be traced back to the beginning of a CEO’s tenure. Early interactions set expectations. What is tolerated becomes precedent. Silence is interpreted as agreement.

The best time to correct bad board behavior is when you are new. “Begin as you mean to go.” * This does not require confrontation. It requires confident clarity: clear expectations about roles, clear communication about how decisions are made, and clear boundaries about where governance ends and management begins.

Those conversations are easier in the first three months than in the third year. By then, behavior is no longer new. It is institutionalized.

Is it too late if you’re not new? Not at all. There’s an old saying, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.” While correcting dysfunction is certainly more challenging from this perspective, it is not impossible. Start with an open and honest conversation with the Board Chair about clarifying roles and expectations. Depending on your situation, bringing a third-party consultant in to facilitate discussion could be extremely helpful. 

The Fundraising Reality

Fundraising is where many of these issues surface most clearly.

Boards seldom accept fundraising as a shared responsibility. In practice, expectations are uneven and often unspoken. Some members give generously but do little else. Others are willing to open doors but are unclear as to how. Some avoid the responsibility altogether. When expectations are vague, performance is inconsistent. And, when the wrong people are on the board, the problem compounds.

The solutions are straightforward, but they require discipline. First, define the expectation before someone joins the board. Be explicit about what fundraising responsibility means in your organization. That may include a personal gift, opening doors, hosting introductions, or participating in asks. It does not have to look the same for every member, but it does have to be clear. Then reinforce it consistently. And finally, build the board with fundraising in mind. If fundraising is a core responsibility (and it absolutely should be), then it should be a core criterion for board service. Not everyone needs to be a natural solicitor, but everyone should be able and willing to contribute in a defined way.

Board composition is not separate from fundraising outcomes. It is one of the primary drivers of them. When you are clear about expectations, selective about membership, and consistent in follow-through, fundraising stops being a source of tension and starts becoming a shared, functional responsibility.

CEO Evaluation as a Moment of Truth

The CEO evaluation is one of the few structured moments when a board is forced to articulate what it actually expects. Done well, it reinforces alignment. It connects performance to strategy. It provides useful feedback. Done poorly, it exposes the absence of clarity.

A CEO evaluation does not just assess performance. It reveals whether the board ever agreed on what success looks like in the first place.

The fix is not complicated, but it does require intention. Start by defining success in advance. At the beginning of each year, the board and CEO should agree on a small number of priorities tied directly to strategy. Then evaluate against those priorities, not against general impressions. Too many evaluations drift into vague feedback or isolated concerns. A useful evaluation ties directly back to what was agreed at the outset. Did we accomplish what we said mattered?

Finally, make it a process, not an event. Regular check-ins throughout the year create alignment before problems build. By the time the formal evaluation happens, there should be no surprises. Clarity at the beginning makes accountability at the end possible.

What “Strong” Actually Looks Like

Strong board–executive relationships are not built on goodwill alone. They are built on clarity, discipline, and a willingness to make uncomfortable decisions early, especially about who belongs at the table and how that table operates.

The goal is not to have a full board. The goal is to have a board that makes the organization stronger. Those are not always the same thing.

 

*We want to thank On Becoming Babywise by Robert Buckham and Gary Ezzo for, many years ago, giving Ailena Parramore, Principal Consultant at OFS, the parenting advice “begin as you mean to go” that has since also become deeply rooted in OFS’ professional advice. 

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