What is boardCONNECT?
boardCONNECT is a three-hour, round robin coordinated event that allows professionals seeking to join nonprofit boards to explore their eligibility with a variety of nonprofits through a series of micro-interviews. boardCONNECT can be facilitated in-person or virtually.
What's the Process?
- Prior to the event, Business Volunteers sources a small number of nonprofits. Nonprofits are selected to represent a wide range of missions and cause areas within a particular region. Candidates will always be informed of the selected nonprofits’ names, size, missions, and geographic service areas before the event.
- Business professionals from all areas of expertise (marketing, operations, finance, IT, HR, sales, legal, real estate, and more) register for the event as board candidates.
- Board candidates are invited to read about the participating nonprofits and rank them according to how much they wish to speak with them. Business Volunteers helps create conversation schedules on a first come, first served basis.
- During the event, candidates meet with nonprofits according to their schedules in a series of 10-minute, round-robin conversations. At the end of all conversations, all participants complete a Mutual Match Form, which indicates whether they are interested in continuing the conversation.
- After the event, Business Volunteers announces mutual matches. Nonprofits and candidates are expected to continue their conversations independently once mutual matches are announced, but Business Volunteers is available to support communications as needed.
How Do I Have Success at boardCONNECT?
At boardCONNECT, we recommend you keep the following items in mind:
- boardCONNECT does not guarantee a formal board position. If you are mutually matched with a nonprofit after the event, you will have a follow-up conversation to help decide if you are the proper candidate. You may be offered a board seat, or a seat on an advisory board or committee. You may also be invited to stay involved as a volunteer, or to stay connected until a board seat is open. Every nonprofit has their own interview process and procedures, which take various forms and periods of time.
- Scheduling is completed on a first-come, first-served basis. Whether you are participating in boardCONNECT virtually or in-person, your schedule is determined by your timeliness in completing event prework and arriving at the event. Come early to ensure you’re able to schedule with the nonprofits that resonate most with you!
- Research nonprofits but be open-minded. Every boardCONNECT event results in many mutual matches, but oftentimes, the final board seat offers come from the least expected places. We encourage you to remain open-minded and speak to as many nonprofits as you can, even if you don’t think they resound with you.
Am I Ready for boardCONNECT?
After funding, board members are what nonprofits seek most. Board service is an incredibly rewarding way to learn about and give back to your community. We encourage professionals from all levels of seniority to register for boardCONNECT!
If you are interested in learning more about best practices for board service, we recommend you attend one of our annual public boardBUILD: Fundamentals sessions. You can view and register for available sessions on our events page.
If you would like to register for a boardCONNECT event, please check our events page for upcoming opportunities. If you have further questions, please contact our team at boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org.