Vernon Waldren, extension educator emeritus, leads a nonprofit board boot camp in Tekamah in 2016. (photo by Jessica Jones, Nebraska Extension)
Nebraska Extension and the Nonprofit Association of the Midlands are teaming up to offer training for not-for-profit board members.
Carroll Welte, Burt County extension educator, says there are not many places to get training to be a board member
“When new membership comes on, sometimes the old membership, the established membership, doesn’t take enough time to really orient the newer members through all the different aspects of the organization,” Welte tells Nebraska Radio Network.
Board members should learn some basics and ways to improve during the sessions.
Rosey Higgs, Nonprofit Association of the Midlands program manager, says the board members’ organizations are important to their entire community.
“There are some areas where nonprofits are really the primary businesses in a smaller community,” she says. “There are some communities where their nonprofit community is one of the more vital industries.”
Special focus will be on financial management and compliance requirements that are unique to nonprofits.
“If you’re not reporting the way you should be, or in compliance, there’s just all sorts of problems,” Welte points out. “The nonprofits are required to file 990s every year, and if they go three years without filing one, they can lose their tax-exempt status, but then they also have to re-apply to be a nonprofit.”
Sessions are designed for everyone involved in a nonprofit’s governance.
“It’s for experienced board members whose organization may be going through a change, or they may be joining a board that functions differently than they are used to and they just want to learn a little bit more about board functioning,” Higgs says. “It’s also for executive directors and CEOs.”
Dates and details are online HERE.