Four Steps to a Productive Board Retreat that Drives Positive Organizational Change

Many nonprofit boards are currently seeking to shift their focus and practices. You may be working alongside one of them!

The board’s role needed to shift

This year, The Ross Collective got an inquiry from Student Achievement Partners (SAP), a national education “think and do” tank that supports school districts in the implementation of high quality instructional materials:

SAP’s work had grown so that the role of the board needed to shift. Many founding board members are education insiders who can advise on the direction of the organization. The experience of those people are still necessary, however the organization needed to shift the role of the board to governance alongside the staff. This was important since SAP had just completed an ambitious strategic plan. The organization had also done work on equity over the past few years, leading to leadership changes and new practices and policies.

The Ross Collective was retained to design and lead a half-year governance support process. This process included:

• Every one of the Seven Tips for Remarkable and Impactful Nonprofit Board Strategic Planning Retreats

• Our proprietary Board Assessment for all board members as a reflective tool to surface strengths and challenges

• Fiscal review to ground board conversations in the current budget situation 

• Monthly calls with Executive Director Joy Delizo-Osborne to clarify goals and process

ID: Dark blue background, light blue Board Assessment sheet of paper with Culture, Composition, Roles + Responsibilities

Our process in action - effective, productive, and energizing

The culmination of the process was an in-person day-and-a half retreat with the board and leadership team, which was effective, productive, and energizing:

• On the first day, participants did visioning and reflected on findings from the board assessment.

• In the afternoon, there was time for interactive training with board members around the roles and responsibilities of boards and equitable governance.

• Then, after understanding what is needed to shift towards being a governance board, board members prioritized next steps to strengthen board work and support the newly approved strategic plan.

• In our pre-retreat planning work with the Design Team, we had reserved the second day for implementation planning. As it turned out, board members were more interested in learning from senior staff about the organization’s work, so that they will be able to serve as ambassadors and amplify the organization's work to their networks.

Feedback from the retreat was excellent. Participants said they  appreciated, “the clarity of purpose, spaciousness to have meaningful discussions…” as well as the “efficiency of what we discussed, the level of productivity” and the “chance to really dig into the work of SAP and connect it to our roles and responsibilities as board members in tangible ways.”

This process was especially gratifying because The Ross Collective is aligned with the values of Student Achievement Partners:

• SAP is a learning organization (we are too!).

• SAP believes that “providing joyful, asset-based, high-quality instruction is the key to preparing all students, especially historically marginalized Black and multilingual students, to thrive academically and lead choice-filled lives.” -- an approach that improves and strengthens education for all (see curb cuts and universal design). We are committed to equity in our work and leadership.

• And Student Achievement Partners has found that belonging in the classroom is a key determinant of learning and academic success. They work with school districts to focus on building belonging. Belonging is core to our work too (and makes it a lot more fun!). As you can imagine, this team has done so much groundwork on honoring the contributions of each group member.

We are now booking board development and strategic planning processes into 2025. No matter what your challenges are in strengthening and clarifying your important work, our process surfaces them, creates space for leaders to reflect on them together, and determine doable next steps. If your organization could benefit from a process like this, reach out! We are interested in learning more about what you’re seeking.

--Renee