The BoardSteps Framework

BoardSteps delivers a conceptual framework for understanding the role of the board, and concrete guidance in creating structures that allow directors to fulfill their governance responsibilities for the health of the nonprofit and the community it serves.

The core of the framework stems from the basic conviction that Results equal Relationships plus Resources. Human relationships form the inspiration, purpose and engine of every nonprofit. Resources make the work of a nonprofit possible. A strategic joining of intentional relationships and leveraging of available resources produces positive results that advance the organization's mission.

The framework outlines a process that…

• Allows the organization’s leadership to be strategic in its thinking and planning as it examines available data to build future scenarios.
  
• Puts in place a legal checklist to ensure compliance.
  
• Looks intensively at how governance and management functions intermesh to concentrate organizational efforts.
  
• Recognizes that no framework is worth the paper it's printed on unless it can be easily understood and implemented without consuming large quantities of a board's already limited time.