Governing with Purpose: Decision-making as an organizational pursuit.

The term ‘governance’ has been equated with Board of Directors in the non-profit world – a problematic inheritance of the dominating corporate culture. But the concept actually means decision-making, not Board. This may sound like semantics, and it is, but by acknowledging this truth, it also helps us reframe and reclaim our thinking about how non-profits are governed.

I advocate for purpose-driven governance in all non-profits which means making decisions according to the purpose of the organization and what it is trying to achieve. Corporate governance includes Boards understanding their role as including things like:

1. protecting the organization against ‘competitors’,
2. avoiding risk,
3. defining staff limitations through policy,
4. paying staff in ways that maximize profits,
5. majority rules, and/or
6. ensuring maximum financial gain.

These are all corporate pursuits. In non-profits, decision making needs to be about:

1. finding partners to help achieve mission,
2. taking risks that will benefit those served by the organization within the confines of the law,
3. supporting the strengths of staff through
4. ensuring enough and the right revenue that will advance and not limit the mission of the organization.

Viewed this way, everyone in the organization is involved in governance. The role of the Board in governance is to help frame the overall rules the organization will use in making decisions. How decisions are delegated will be defined at a strategic level, through by-laws, policies and employment contracts. At an operational level, decision-making is defined through job descriptions and contracts, organizational culture and practice.

Everyone from the Chair of the Board through all staff to the newest frontline volunteer should know what the constitutional purpose of the organization is, the vision/mission of the organization (the plain language version of the constitutional purpose) and the current strategic priorities. Even better, the organization can be well served to articulate a series of principles to help guide decisions.

The point is, the Board isn’t the only part of the organization responsible for making important decisions. In fact, in the context of inequality and colonial corporate thinking, Boards will end up focusing on their own power and control rather than the interests of the organizational purpose. A fatal flaw that has reared its ugly head too many times in our sector, chasing out amazing leaders and leaving behind the less dynamic, more subservient EDs who rarely accomplish exciting, audacious goals that will successfully achieve the organization’s purpose.