We have been much influenced by the work of Dr. James Hardy who wrote "Developing Dynamic Boards" published by Essex Press in 1990. At that time, Hardy's book was considered to be one of the most up-to-date and authoritative sources on developing boards for non-profit organizations. His work still stands the test of time. Hardy addresses many of the questions that we all have about boards. We have used his advice and ideas to develop an instrument to measure board performance. The instrument covers 14 dimensions of board performance each of which is addressed by 5 questions. Respondents are asked to rate their boards in terms of how important each item is to their board's success and how well the board is performing on each item. Boards that make use of the instrument receive a full report on the results along with advice and suggestions based upon Hardy's work and our own experience. To view a copy of the diagnostic questionnaire in Adobe PDF or look at the reading that accompanies the analysis, click on the links to the right.

THE ANALYSIS: The items from the questionnaire are organized into clusters including such things as...

Recruitment and selection of board members

Orienting and training new board members,

Board decision-making

Financial management,

Fund raising,

Relationships with paid staff,

Work climate,

Board structure,

Structure of committees,

Planning

Meetings

Member recognition and rewards

We also provide board development workshops for boards that wish to have assistance with follow-up. You can purchase a Board Diagnosis package on our Shopping Page and you can even fill in the questionnaires OnLine once you have a password. You will find a trail version of the OnLine Board Diagnostic Questionnaire if you follow this link.