Feb 26, 2010

McKINSEY & COMPANY NONPROFIT BOARD SELF ASSESSMENT TOOL – LONG FORM

OVERVIEW OF THE LONG FORM

The Nonprofit Board Self Assessment Tool http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/Social_Sector/home.aspx is designed to help nonprofit organizations assess their board's performance and identify priorities for board activities going forward. We believe this combination of performance assessment and priority-setting is the foundation of superior nonprofit board performance over time. The tool should be used with our framework for nonprofit board responsibilities, which describes in detail the key elements of effective nonprofit board governance. The output of the assessment is intended to focus discussion among board members around the governance activities that will result in the greatest benefit for the organization. The tool may be used by nonprofit managers and board members:

• To identify the areas of board performance that are strongest and those that need improvement
• To identify priority areas for the board to focus on over the next 1 or 2 years
• To allow different views to emerge – the difference between responses given by two groups of board members or by the board and senior staff can be tracked and used to start a discussion

Superior board performance across the full range of nonprofit institutions cannot be precisely defined. Distinctive performance for each of the dimensions is therefore not intended to be precisely accurate for any single institution. In fact, institutions rarely need to perform at a distinctive level in every area. A board committee, rather than the entire board, can often handle specific responsibilities and bring topics forward for full board discussion as needed. Respondents should use their best judgment to rate their board in the spirit if not in the letter of the performance description. The scores are meant to provide a general indication – a “temperature” taking – of a board’s performance, in order to identify potential areas for improvement.Please make generous use of the comments section to expand on or explain your ratings. We typically find summaries of anonymous comments as helpful as the ratings themselves in surfacing issues.This tool is meant to create an informed starting point for discussion among the leadership of a nonprofit. Informed discussion and commitment to address priorities results in board effectiveness. We encourage you to adapt the tool to meet your own organization’s governance needs, and we appreciate any feedback on how to improve the usefulness of this tool.

If you have other examples please send them to Christiano Sosa so that he can upload them to the site.

Category: Governance and Operational Systems