What skills can for-profit executives bring to nonprofit boards? What skills can nonprofit executives bring to for-profit boards?
It is quite typical for for-profit boards to recruit nonprofit leaders. Conversely, it is common for nonprofits to bring business leaders on board. Furthermore, directors often serve on both kinds of boards, causing an even greater convergence between the two governance domains. Service on nonprofit boards requires skills similar to service on for-profit boards. Both require a commitment to serve as a fiduciary, with a reasonable degree of care and with loyalty to the entity (rather than to one’s own personal interests). In general, for-profit executives tend to be recruited onto boards because of their financial and/or operating skills, while the nonprofit executives tends to be recruited for their keen sense of mission. For-profit vs. nonprofit directors value skills somewhat differently, based on findings from NACD’s 2007 Governance Surveys. (In NACD’s annual governance surveys, we ask individuals serving on boards to answer questions about their board service. We have surveys for n
