Governance & board development
Governance for a new nonprofit: setting up your first board
Your new organisation needs a board and you don't know how or why to set one up.
What you'll achieve
We help you think through what you need and want from a board, and how to go about setting one up.
How a Nonprofit Builder consultant helps
- Help you clarify the purpose, role, and composition of your board, define the core governance arrangements you need at this stage, and support you to set them up well from the start.
Key deliverables
- Board design options, recommended governance structure, role descriptions for trustees or directors, meeting and decision-making framework, induction guidance for first board members.
Related projects
More from Governance & board development
Board effectiveness assessment & development
“Your board meetings feel procedural rather than strategic — trustees are disengaged, contributions are uneven, and the board is not adding the value it should.”See project
Board recruitment & induction support
“You struggle to find trustees with the right skills — and when you do recruit, new board members take far too long to become useful contributors.”See project
Board reporting, data and information
“Your Board feels it does not have the right information to function properly.”See project
Often paired with
New organisation setup & registration
“You are launching a new organisation but don't know which legal structure to choose, what is required, or how to avoid the most common early mistakes.”See project
Write a business plan for a new initiative or organization overall
“You have a game-changing idea for a new venture, but you can't get it on paper in a way that funders will take seriously.”See project
From the resource library
Free tools and guides to get started
- 3.1C028
Boards of Directors and Governance Systems
A practical guide to strengthening NGO boards, first written in Spanish for organisations in Latin America, where board development tools adapted to local culture and language were scarce. The English version followed requests from outside the region. It walks through board roles, structures and governance systems in practical steps, with tools that boards and executive directors can apply to their own organisation.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree - 3.3C037
A question of balance
A guide for charity chairs and chief executives on building a working relationship. Based on interviews with 22 chairs and chief executives, it weighs different approaches to the chair's part in day-to-day operations, who represents the charity in public, how close the two should be and how to balance challenge and support. It finds no single formula, so it asks both people to be self-aware, invest time and adjust when the relationship is not working.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree
All 13 resources on governance and boards All 7 resources on starting a nonprofit