Kelly talks to Rob Acton who pairs businesspeople with non-profit boards and offers excellent advice on making the most of the cause you choose. His book is called “Becoming a Causie: Champion Your Cause Through Nonprofit Board Leadership.”   

Having sat on a number of boards in my career, my experience is that the majority of board members are either completely passive or actually don’t show up. 

“I’ve served for 10 and a half years as an executive director of two different nonprofits, Cabrini Green Legal Aid in Chicago, and Taproot Foundation in New York. But more importantly, I’ve served on a number of boards. So, I’ve had a lot of experience to be in the boardroom and I’m always just a little bit taken aback when I find board members who have stepped into this role to shepherd, lead and guide a nonprofit that’s doing critical work in the community. And remember nonprofits don’t play around the edges of society. We are in the middle of some of our biggest challenges. And when board members take one of these 15 or 20 seats and then don’t show up or don’t engage or take from the organization instead of give, it just never makes sense to me.” 

Your family modeled cause-based behavior for you, right? 

“I grew up in a family of public servants, if you will. My mom was a public high school English teacher, very devoted to her church and community. My dad ran for city council, ended up mayor Pro Tem. He was a nonprofit executive director. And so, I was surrounded by cause oriented parents. And I think I learned those values of leaning into doing good in society. And frankly, that’s been the trajectory of my career. And I always say, you couldn’t put enough zeros on a paycheck to get me to have spent my career doing something lacking in purpose, that having a purpose-filled life has been enormously valuable and personal wealth that I can’t explain, not in monetary terms, but in meaning.” 

In Chicago, we’ve had an unfortunate situation with at least two theatrical organizations, where the board stepped in and essentially shut down the artistic work of the theatres. 

“I think friction is never a goal in board governance. We want to see boards that engage in the work diligently, that are net contributors to the organization, and that build a culture where they can be collaborative and work very well together towards the mission of the organization. And the board should be doing that in partnership with the CEO who reports to the board. In an artistic organization, there’s two people, the artistic director and the CEO reporting to the board. That’s the world we want to create. And we’re focused on finding those board members, training them up to be effective in the boardroom and really ensuring that there’s that collaboration.” 

Photo Credit: Sean Gomes Photography