Board of Directors

NYSA’s board members are the fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission.

One of the most important responsibilities for many boards is to hire and set the compensation of a talented CAO/executive director to run the day-to-day management activities of the organization. When there are paid staff in place, rather than steer the boat by managing day-to-day operations, board members provide foresight, oversight, and insight: think of them as up in the crow’s nest scanning the horizon for signs of storms or rainbows to explore, perhaps with a pot of gold at the end! Board members, as stewards of the nonprofit do get involved in fundraising. And the last important role our board members play is as community advocates for NYSA’s mission.

NYSA’s board of directors has three primary legal duties:

Duty of Care: Take care of the nonprofit by ensuring prudent use of all assets, including facility, people, and good will;
Duty of Loyalty: Ensure that the nonprofit’s activities and transactions are, first and foremost, advancing its mission; Recognize and disclose conflicts of interest; Make decisions that are in the best interest of the nonprofit organization; not in the best interest of the individual board member (or any other individual or for-profit entity).
Duty of Obedience: Ensure that the nonprofit obeys applicable laws and regulations; follows its own bylaws; and that the nonprofit adheres to its stated purposes/mission.

Who is eligible to sit on the NYSA Board?

Anyone with a commitment to the public interest, who will serve the organization with integrity, honesty and due diligence, and who brings relevant skills and knowledge to a position, is qualified for consideration for a board appointment.

What skills are needed on the Board?

Communication skills: Board members are not only our governing body; they are also partly the face of NYSA. They communicate with large donors, they make speeches on behalf of our agency, and they represent the organization at public events. Effective communication skills are definitely desired for any prospective board member.

Fundraising skills: It always helps to have board members with some sort of experience in fundraising. The ability of a director to work their networks and bring in additional support is an invaluable skill for any nonprofit, NYSA included.

Financial management skills: The board of directors makes decisions that will impact the financial standing of NYSA. For that reason, it is desirable that board members have some sort of experience in managing finances for other organizations. This experience will help them judge the viability of initiatives and the kind of returns these efforts will bring to our organization.

Teamwork and team management skills: Teamwork is essential to NYSA’s success. Therefore it’s best that each board member has some experience in team management and teamwork-based environments. This will ensure that the board can come to collective decisions that are best for the board and the organization as a whole.

The Board also requires specialized skills and experience to help guide the mission. NYSA’s Board would be ideally served if the following skillsets were at the Board Table: