Day of Clarity Board Retreat

Supporting Nonprofit Transformation with a Day of Clarity

With nonprofits having to compete on so many levels, it is essential that board members be knowledgeable and skilled in fulfilling their legal and ethical governance roles and responsibilities with confidence and purpose.

The Nonprofit Center has used its nearly four decades of experience in the nonprofit sector to create a “Day of Clarity” board retreat that effectively conveys insights and skills to nonprofit boards that enables them to move forward to engage in strategic thinking and prioritizing to successfully fulfill their goals.  Without it they are likely to cling to negative patterns, indecisiveness and poor judgment.  Clients tell us that their “Day of Clarity” truly is an investment in their organization’s future, continuing to pay benefits even years later.

“The Day of Clarity helped us professionalize everything we do. We came away with a better understanding of our roles and responsibilities and a strong sense of our duties as stewards. Professionalization and stewardship have been our north stars since. We’ve made important changes in hiring our first Executive Director, in policies and practices. Having a professional teach, challenge and guide us has been crucial. The post-day deliverable has been our to-do list for two years. As we celebrate our organization’s 50th year, the Day of Clarity was a turning point toward a more professional approach to governance from which the camp has benefited greatly, and will positively affect our next 50 years.”“
-Mark Christaldi, Board Member, Camp Manatawny

This “Day of Clarity” is divided into two integrated, supportive components.

Morning Program: Best Practices in Board Governance

The first half of the day takes the board through an immersion into the “good, better, best” model of board governance, guiding them through the steps to becoming an effective board and providing new insights to sharpen board effectiveness individually and as a whole.

Among the essential topics covered are board, staff and volunteer roles; legal liability; financial management and control; policy-making; fundraising and resource development; strategic planning; key organizational phases and their impact on the board;  board self-appraisal; and identification of the board’s development goals for the year.

Afternoon Program: Bringing Best Practices to Life

Following the best practices session, the board is led through a “Clarity” retreat facilitated by the experienced Nonprofit Center consultant that enables them to use this new-found knowledge, insight and intention to recognize priority issues that need to be addressed in order to move forward – be it engaging in a meaningful strategic planning process, resolving a problem or confronting a challenge.

This session, which includes brainstorming, is then transformed into a highly focused targeted discussion, based on the understandings and accord that was reached in the first part of the retreat.

A natural progression of the day brings these practices to life in a keenly facilitated session that gives context, definition, meaning – and clarity – to this knowledge.  Together the group explores key issues and questions that were raised, resulting in a highly focused, targeted discussion built on the understandings that have been reached.

With a clearer vision and consensus on priorities to address, the board is better equipped and engaged to continue planning and goal-setting to determine mission-guided organizational direction.

How Nonprofit Boards Benefit from a Day of Clarity

• The board will thoroughly understand its true roles and responsibilities on a good, better, best continuum
• The board will be able to identify the priority issues on which to move forward
• The board will be in a solid position to mindfully ready itself for strategic planning and other key processes with a greater chance of success and value
• The board will see how consensus will show where the organization is going and the best ways to get there.

“{The Nonprofit Center facilitator} was masterful in how she facilitated the retreat. Her keen sense of reading the room added great value to the process. Her experience was something she clearly tapped into as she played “Sherpa guide” to our board of trustees. Board members who attended left with a deeper appreciation of their role and a sense of the possibility as they began to absorb the need for evolutions which will have a lasting impact on the organization as well as themselves as individuals.”
-Trish Wellenbach, President and CEO, Please Touch Museum

Special Message for FUNDERS:  As a funder and community pillar, your investment in this Day of Clarity for select grantees is a solid means of assuring that the dollars you commit to programs and other support, will have maximum impact and intended outcomes.

For more information about the Day of Clarity Board Retreat, contact Rob Fennell at [email protected]

What comes next after a Day of Clarity or a Board Training?  Read about the next step Day-of-Visioning>>

“The Nonprofit Center’s Day of Clarity gave our board a chance to learn more about each other’s strengths, to reflect on our commitment to the mission of our organization and to assess and deepen our board’s understanding of its financial and legal responsibilities.  With the consultant’s support as a facilitator, we were able to identify goals for further developing our board, determine next steps for carrying out thorough program evaluation and to develop a clear vision for board’s our fundraising committee.“
-Rebekah Phillips, Co-Executive Director, Media Mobilizing Project