WELCOME TO boardCONNECT!
Location: Zoom ()
NONPROFIT GUIDE
This is your one-stop resource to guide you through Business Volunteers’ boardCONNECT experience. You will learn how to prepare for the event, navigate the event itself, and ultimately find a match (or several!) for your board. Please read everything carefully and scroll down.
REQUIRED STEPS BEFORE THE EVENT
REQUIRED STEPS DURING THE EVENT
Questions? Check our FAQs or email boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org!
REQUIRED STEPS BEFORE THE EVENT
REVIEW EVENT INFORMATION
boardCONNECT brings together community-minded professionals seeking to join nonprofit boards with a diverse range of nonprofit organizations seeking board members. In this “round robin” coordinated event, professionals and nonprofits engage in brief conversations, rotating throughout the event. The goal is to find matches in which a nonprofit and a professional express mutual interest and want to continue the conversation. Each boardCONNECT event results in dozens of successful matches and new board members.
Important Notes
- A “mutual match” occurs when both you and a board candidate you meet with say “YES” to continuing your conversation after the event.
- The only commitment required from you (the nonprofit) and any candidate you are “mutually matched” with, is that you have an additional meeting to continue exploring the opportunity. In other words, if you consent to mutually matching with five candidates, you must schedule five additional meetings after the event. Further conversations will determine which candidate(s) you ultimately extend a board seat to.
- We understand each nonprofit has their own interview process and procedures to board election. You are able to follow whatever your typical process is.
- There are no guarantees you will be successfully matched with a candidate.
- If you are successfully matched to one or more candidates, please recall that participating candidates are employed at Pepco. For the sake of board diversity and safety, you can only add up to 2 Pepco employees to your board.
PREPARE FOR THE EVENT
When:
Where: Zoom ()
Event Run of Show
Nonprofit Zoom Codes
During boardCONNECT, Business Volunteers staff will be moving many participants to and from various Zoom breakout rooms. To make this process as smooth and efficient as possible, we ask you to rename yourself according to one of the following codes upon entering the Zoom room:
- AAC: Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy
When renaming yourself in Zoom, please use the following format:
[Code] – [Name]
AAC – Suzanne Etgen
If you have technical difficulties renaming yourself in Zoom, simply let us know, and one of BVM’s staff will assist you.
How to Prepare for the Event
- Plan to arrive BETWEEN ___ and ___.
- Be mindful of the Zoom Codes listed above and be ready to rename yourself accordingly.
- Be professionally dressed.
- Ensure all your technology is working smoothly. This event relies on you having a strong Internet connection and no audio-visual hiccups!
- Have a pen and paper ready to take notes. You will want to keep track of which board candidates resonate with you the most.
- HAVE FUN! Enjoy meeting incredible board candidates in this engaging event. Thank you for participating!
Email boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org if you have questions.
REQUIRED STEPS DURING THE EVENT
REVIEW YOUR SCHEDULE
Starting at ___ on ___, candidates will create their schedules based on their interest in meeting with you. Candidates have been given access to all the promotional materials you provided and the board profile you submitted to Business Volunteers. The table below shows the current, live-updating schedule.
Candidates have been encouraged to reschedule as they see fit, SO THIS SCHEDULE WILL REGULARLY CHANGE. Please be sure to check here for your most up-to-date schedule.
Make sure to scroll to the right to see the full event schedule, OR click the expand icon on the bottom right to get a bigger view. NOTE THERE ARE EIGHT (8) INTERVIEW ROUNDS!
LEARN ABOUT THE CANDIDATES
Click on the cards below to see each candidate’s title, employer, and LinkedIn profile OR resume. While candidates are building their schedules from ___, you may feel free to download and print resumes to have in front of you during your conversations. Make sure to scroll to see all candidates, OR click the expand icon on the bottom right to a bigger view.
Please note that the candidates will ultimately choose whom they wish to speak with. Nonprofits are NOT allowed to request certain candidates according to the information below.
COMPLETE THE MUTUAL MATCH FORM
- Review the conversation schedule in your guide.
- Answer the following question for each round: Are you interested in continuing a conversation with the candidate?
- It is CRITICAL that your decision is aligned to the correct ROUND. Please look at your schedule above and double check your choices and rounds before submitting.
- Make sure to hit SUBMIT at the bottom!
Business Volunteers will review the responses of nonprofits and candidates and share your mutual matches within the week.
FAQs
Make sure BOTH of your event attendees have reviewed all the information under REQUIRED STEPS BEFORE THE EVENT.
Unfortunately, no: the board candidates will ultimately choose whom they wish to speak with. We wish you beset of luck with your conversations!
We require two nonprofit representatives for a reason: you will need to tag-team! The interview rounds will go by very quickly. Make sure you or your event partner are taking copious notes, so you can track which candidates speak most to you and your organization.
As many as you’d like! However, you MUST be willing to go on a “second date” with every candidate you mutually match with. If you say yes to five candidates, you MUST be willing to schedule five follow-up meetings.
For the sake of board diversity and board health, you may only add 1-2 candidates to your board. This means that, if you receive five mutual matches, you can ultimately only extend an offer to 1-2 of those candidates. When interviewing candidates, please be transparent on this aspect.