Board Service

GMN Is Your Organization

One of the most vital ways you can take a leadership role in the network is to act on the annual opportunity to nominate a fellow member for board service. (Of course, you can nominate yourself or ask someone to nominate you.)

The Nominating Committee relies on your leadership to arrive at a slate of nominees who:

• Possess the leadership skills and expertise necessary to foster the continued growth of GMN, and
• Reflect the depth and diversity of the organization’s membership.

It’s a Win-Win Situation

We hope you will embrace and contribute to our goal of having more candidates than Board openings. Obviously, it’s a win for us: the more options we have to consider, the better we’ll be able to identify a slate that matches GMN’s current and anticipated leadership needs. By putting a name forward, you make a valuable contribution to the leadership of GMN. In addition, the process of being nominated provides a great opportunity for personal leadership development and is therefore a win for the candidate, too.

GMN’s Most Wanted

Diverse board membership is one of the fundamental goals of GMN. Diversity ensures that a broad range of perspectives, opinions, and experiences are brought to the table as the Board leads GMN in achieving its mission. The network affirms and values human diversity in its many forms, encompassing but not limited to ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and philosophy. In addition, the Nominating Committee is committed to ensuring that the Board reflects the diversity of the network’s membership by giving attention to characteristics such as grantmaking organization type, size, and regional group representation.
The Committee will also carefully consider the skills that potential nominees would bring to board service. In addition to a demonstrated commitment to GMN, we are interested in identifying candidates with excellent organizational and time management skills and a strong work ethic. Among the areas of expertise that have been suggested as important to the organization’s current priorities are:

• Fiscal operations and planning for nonprofit organizations
• Fundraising
• Communications (strategic communication planning, media relations, writing, etc.)
• Information technology (above and beyond grants management databases)
• Volunteer recruitment and management

Submission Process

Nominations for the 2009 elections are closed. Please check back in summer 2009 for deadline and submission instructions for the 2010 election.

Qualifications

Nominees must currently hold a grants management position and be a member of GMN. Involvement at the regional level or on a national standing committee is a plus. Members may nominate more than one person and they may nominate themselves or ask a GMN colleague to do so.

What’s Expected?

Terms: Directors are elected to a two-year term, which may be renewed once if they are elected for a second term by the membership-at-large at the annual meeting. In no case may a member of the board of directors serve more than two consecutive terms without an intervening period of at least one year.
Time Commitment: Board members meet at least six times a year either in person or by conference call. The anticipated 2009 meeting schedule includes:

• March 2009 - Meetings held in Denver, CO, in conjunction with the annual meeting and conference;
• Fall 2009 – Dates and location to be determined (2-3 days total), and
• Four additional teleconference meetings held throughout the year.

Committee Membership: Board members are expected to participate in two GMN standing committees, serving as the co-chair or chair of one. Depending on the scope of responsibility, committees typically meet 6 – 12 times a year via conference call. Candidates should be prepared to spend an average of 10 hours a month (sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the scope and workflow of assigned committees) for GMN committee work.

The Process

Candidates will be asked to provide more detailed information for the Committee’s review in early August 2008. Telephone interviews of the most promising candidates will be conducted in late 2008. Candidates will be informed of final decisions regarding the recommended slate in late January 2009.

Elections

Elections will be held in March 2009 at the annual meeting in Denver. Pursuant to the GMN by-laws, floor nominations will be accepted up to February 1, 2009 and should be directed in writing to the attention of the Nominating Committee Co-Chairs.

If you have questions about the nominations process, requirements or the demands of board service, please feel free to contact the Committee Co-Chairs.

2008 – 2009
Nominating Committee

, Co-Chair
, Co-Chair
Karin Bishop
Jennifer Burran
Almeta Corbin