How to Ensure the Success of a Junior Board
By Margie Fleming Glennon
Chief Content Officer
October 3, 2017 | Read Time: 2 minutes
LatinoJustice, a national organization that advances civil rights and educational opportunities for Latinos, formed a junior board in 2012 to help raise money, increase the number of young donors, and develop future leaders for the organization.
Five years later, the junior board is filling all of those needs — and others the group did not foresee, such as driving more robust social-media outreach and helping to create a new mentoring program.
Development Director Diana DeJesus-Medina says LatinoJustice always had a pool of young up-and-comers ready for action, but it lacked a way to take advantage of their potential.
“They really just needed someone to tell them, ‘Hey, we need you, and this is how you can help us,’ ” she says. “And they’re doing it.”
Already one former junior board member has become a trustee, and more will follow, she says. When they do, they’ll be familiar with the organization and the board’s work.
Ms. DeJesus-Medina offers tips to nonprofits considering forming a junior board:
- Look comprehensively at your organization’s needs and determine how young supporters can fill critical gaps.
- Clearly define, in writing, the qualifications to serve on the junior board, plus roles and expectations. Put a structure in place for co-chairs, terms, and other specifics modeled after the board of directors. Include a “give-and-get” policy which specifies how much junior board members are expected to contribute financially and the minimum they’re expected to raise each year from others.
- Assign a staff member to be a liaison with the junior board, ideally someone in the same age group who shares a similar perspective and can easily represent their views easily to the group’s leaders.
- Appoint co-chairs. This works better than having one chair. Those who are not seasoned leaders appreciate the chance to bounce ideas off each other, and shared decision-making makes the co-chairs more comfortable calling the shots.
- Make sure junior board members have access to trustees from time to time. Create opportunities for members of both boards to connect. LatinoJustice holds mixers after some board meetings to strengthen ties between trustees and junior board members.
- Ensure communications are regular and clear, and respond quickly to any inquiries. Although they may be less powerful than trustees, they are volunteers who want to be a resource for you. They deserve prompt replies.
- Give them a budget tor a line item in the organization’s budget that is specific to the junior board to cover costs.
