Advocacy

10(1) The Board will invest in its governance capacity to avoid any losses contributed to poor governance by providing,

• candidates for the Board with information that defines the role of the Board, the necessary qualifications, and the expectations of Board members,
• new Board members a complete orientation to ensure familiarity with the organization’s issues and structure, and the Board’s process of governance.
• Existing board members with opportunities for continued education, skill development, and new perspectives on issues to enhance their governance capabilities.

(2) The Board will hire outside monitoring assistance to allow the Board to exercise sufficient control over organizational performance. This includes, but is not limited to, fiscal audit.

(3) The Board will establish and be accountable for an annual budget for its own governance functions, which shall include, in addition to the costs of Board and Board Committee meetings, funds for:

• Board Member attendance at conferences and conventions.
• Improvement of its governance function.
• Costs of fiscal audit and any other outside monitoring assistance required.
• Costs of methods such as focus groups and surveys to ensure the ability of the Board to listen to member viewpoints and values.

(4) The Board will establish a governance action plan that will serve as measurable standards against which the Board’s performance can be evaluated.

(5) A least once per year, the Chair will lead the Board to conduct a self-evaluation. As a result of this evaluation, the Board will include in its governance action plan specific goals and objectives for improvement of identified areas.

(6) The Board, through its Governance Committee, will monitor its adherence to its own governance policies regularly. However,

• Upon the choice of the Board, any policy can be monitored at any time, and,
• at minimum, the Board will review the policies, and monitor its own adherence, according to the following schedule:

Board Delegation of Authority

Approved: February 18, 2015

From Part 3 – Governance Process of ABP’s Policy Manual