Responsibilities of Individual Board Members

You are expected to:
• Understand the organization’s mission and mandate, be aware of issues and keep up to date on trends in the community that might affect these issues

• Ensure that the organization’s legal affairs are in order, know the board’s legal obligations and make sure they are upheld

• To understand and, if necessary, query all financial and budget matters

• Keep board discussions confidential

Bring your own training, skills and experience to all board decisions.

A useful starting point in understanding your responsibilities is to determine whether your organization has developed job descriptions for its board members. Developing Board Member Job Descriptions is a useful and valid investment that:

• clarifies the various roles and responsibilities of board members

• provides the organization with a tool that facilitates an orientation process for new board members