 Hi, thank you for joining us for TechSoups Connect Florida Monthly Event. I'm Aretha Simons, I'm right here in Orlando, Florida. I'll be your host today. I am the Florida Central Florida, not Central Florida, the Florida chapter, because we changed it from Central Florida to Florida, the Florida chapter for TechSoup Connect. And I love when we have those events. I love to, you know, get to know you, find out where you're from. So would you do me a favor? Go ahead and type in the chat room where you're from. And if you'd like, you can share your nonprofit, anything about your nonprofit that you would like to share. Feel free to do that as well. Awesome. So what I want to let everybody know that we welcome everyone here. This is a community where we support each other. We support each other by sharing information. And one of the ways we can build stronger nonprofits is through technology. Technology is one of the tools that we use at TechSoup to help nonprofits move forward in their nonprofits. We invite participation on this event. So if you have any comments, any thoughts, and maybe some nuggets you can drop in the chat room, feel free to do that. Make sure that we are treating everybody with kindness. That means no one's saying anything rude or disorderly. You would think I wouldn't have to say that, but you have to say that sometimes. So if you've never heard of TechSoup or you're not a member, it's free to be a member. All you have to do is have your 501c3. TechSoup is a global organization. It's a nonprofit 501c3 itself. But what it does is bridges technology solutions and services for good. So again, some of you know about their hardware and software, but it's much more than that. They have a lot of courses, free webinars, like the one you're on tonight. And then we also have services where you can have web services, a customer service. You can talk with them if you need help, help it with your, why can't I think tonight? I've been on Zoom all day. That's why help with setting up your website or your services like your G Suite. Okay, got that off. So we love being your resource partner. That's the main point that I wanted to let you know and TechSoup is in over 43 different countries. So we are a global organization. And if you could, would you mute your phone? Lord, Jesus, one of those days, would you mute yourself tonight? This is what I love about Zoom too. So I had a talk with Doug before we started this. We need your help. I need your help. TechSoup Connect, Florida. It's growing. As you know, when you log on, you see members, a lot of members may not be here tonight. People are working. They have Bible study. They have all lots of things going on. But this is being recorded. And so we need your help in many areas. We need event producers. What you would do is help us find speakers for these events. You could speak yourself. You're an expert in the areas of helping nonprofits. We need people to help market. We need people to be a chat room host because a lot of times the speaker is dropping nuggets and you want to just retight that in the chat room. So make sure that people get that. But the main thing is we won't call this speaker. So make sure that you share this. If you are interested, please connect with me at asymonds. At TechSoup.org. Again, just a friendly reminder to mute yourself. Before I introduce our speaker, I want to remind you that you can find out where to find grants. So if you're interested in grants, which everybody is, right? Everybody is interested in anything that they can help move their organization for. That's going to be on September 21. So make sure you sign up. So now this is a reason why you were here. And Anthony, I hope you've not tongue-tied. I hope you've been, had not been talking all day like me. And I hope that you have. Some tea or something to drink. Boy, that was rough getting through that. But I want to tell you a little about Anthony, our speaker. He is an executive coach and the international speaker with more than 12 years in the nonprofit sector. His expertise range at the mid-level and senior level management. He is a result-driven professional. He is the owner of absolutely determined. And I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. He is the owner of absolutely determined. And I love that name. I saw a lot of your videos. I love your motivation. I love your passion. I love it. Anthony, he, he meets his clients to work with them. He works on the objective of working with them through designing strategies, operating structures, board development, fundraising, improving processes and best practices. So that's a lot of areas that he specialized in it. Anthony says his number one goal is to buy, provide real, relevant and research-based information that leaves his clients and audience ready to take charge and leading a thriving business. Anthony, welcome. And thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be here. I'm thrilled. I'm humbled to be, you know, speaking in front of you guys won't be long. Definitely just want to be able to share some knowledge, some information, some strategies, some things you may know, some things you may have to maybe brush up on a little bit, but at the end of the day, definitely want to be sure you walk away with some good content, some things that you'll be able to actually apply right now, or put it in the back pocket. You have to save it for a later date and time, but at least you are happy in that regard. So I'm going to share my screen right now. I want to do the whole introduction. Thank you again. You did a great job with that and go from there. So this will be interactive. So please know that this is, I don't like to just do the straight talk almost like a lecture. I don't want to seem like it's a seminar in a way, just nothing wrong with seminars. I've been in college, sat all day, two, three hours and whatnot, but I know sometimes as adults, we like to be engaging. That's what I want to be able to do. So my tonight's topic itself is what makes a great board member. Now me, I'm a type of person. I have to gate my mornings every day, no matter what time of day that you call me, text me, write me email. It doesn't matter. I'm always saying great morning, evening, afternoon. That's just me. You know, oftentimes we tend to realize at the end of the day, you know, hope your day was great or hey, like, did you have a great day? I'd say that the top of the day. Great morning. Good morning. I'm just out the top. What is it going to take you to get you from being that average to good to great in the next phase of when my life will be in the being a phenomenal type of status. So why can't we then apply that to just us as individuals as board members, you know, what, what does it take to be a great board member now may seem a little farfetched. However, that at the end of the day, I believe if we were to shoot for the stars initially working on the development aspects of who we are as an individual to then when we come together collectively for board, which is for a cause, which is for a mission and its purpose. Once we do the self evaluation from within first, then we'll be able to understand what takes place on the outside. So again, just have a few slides, you know, to talk about the, you know, a few, few things in essence of what does it take to be a board member. Very briefly, I have over 12 plus years of experience in nonprofit management, even from the executive director level, being a board chair to being a director of operations for to the big name type of nonprofit organizations that I was fortunate enough to work for now being able to, you know, branch out and be an executive coach. I'm all about helping people regardless of who you are with some of the tracks you live on or whatever it is that it takes. I want to be sure that you have the essential things in real tools that's going to allow you to build that foundation. That's key for you to build the foundation that you need, just so that you can actually see at whatever point in time, that skyscraper I know you have in your mind. I know we see the Empire State building, we see all these big skyscraper buildings, but guess what? It started with zero, but it had to start with something, a nail, a hammer for this here. It's a bore or it's being able to have people with great information, great colleagues, community figures coming together for a reason to build something that may seem slow and I don't know the size of your organization. If it's small, medium, large or however, even keep in mind too, even though skyscrapers sometimes they need to, you know, be recertified. Just because it's high in the sky and it may have been existence for 40, 50 years, they still need to be recertified. There are certain measures or certain things, even in that skyscraper aspects in your organization. If it's 100 years or 50 years or 25 years, you've been in existence. There's certain things you can brush up on and right now with the emphasis on board, board members, I want to be sure that you have everything that you need, you know, and again in the short timeframe that I have, and I definitely want to respect that as well. So out the gate, again, this will be interactive. This is exactly how it will be. So if someone can come off mute, I'm sure you see the team, yes, the Chicago Bulls. Just a general question. If you could just tell me, you know, what happened to this organization? Anybody tell me what happened to this organization? They got Michael Jordan. They got Jordan, good. What else? You mean after, after it, after, you know, all the good people left or while they were, while they were thriving, they were number one. That's what happened to them. They won, yeah, they were number one. There you go. Anybody else will happen with this organization? Anybody? All right, we'll jump out there. So they won six championships in eight years. Six in eight years. Now you probably thinking, okay, what happened to those two years? That was one of the two years Michael Jordan decided he wanted to go play baseball, you know. So maybe at he stayed, they would have won eight out of eight who knows. But with that, they produced four Hall of Famers. The reason why I have the entire staff and the players as well and not just the players is because it takes a team. And that's the concept. Once you got to understand with that dealing with the board, it takes a team. Yes. Somebody jumped out there and said Michael Jordan. Obviously he's the, the person that everyone remembers. It's almost like the board chair. A lot of people kind of know the board chair because of the role, the title, what they do decision making in a way, partnering with the actual, you know, executive director or the CEO. However, it's not just Michael Jordan. It's not just Michael Jordan. Look at the surrounding gas. Look at the surrounding gas. It's not just Michael Jordan. Jordan could not do it on his own. However, he did try in his early years. He scored about 40, 60 points a game, but he was tired. He couldn't win the championship until the right pieces in place came around him and that he was able to understand his role and be able to win the six again after he dominated on his own. He didn't realize, let me scale back. He was able to make adjustments and then be able to help us accelerate to move forward. So four hall of fame individuals from the team. Next. They actually, it has the best NBA record in history. You know, 72 and 10. Again, teamwork together. And that's exactly in a way that you want to do in your room and your lane of your nonprofit. What can we do to be the best at what we do? Not just the best organization in the world. It's a lot of organizations that you probably won't be able to compare yourself with. You're not even in the same bracket. But if you align with what you do, what can we do to be the best that we can just so that we can be the next 72 and 10 just so that we can have those all stars to know the fact that we're winning and doing great things for our community or whatever the initiative your mission indicates that you're doing it to your best ability. So, you know, it's a down area. Sure, there's a down. I negate somebody, you know, kind of already alluded to it. But so what happened? This is what happened. One's ego and decision to make a change costs organizations future earnings and unbeatable dynasty. One decision. So somebody in the organization, it wasn't the players. It definitely definitely was not the players decided to make a change, you know what? I'm going to just break up the group. And a lot of people on the coaching staff or the board really felt no way. Let's do that. I keep in mind they've already won six. You've won six. Now all of a sudden you want to make a change. And they really thought it was a great idea. And then that's when Jordan left. Pippin left. Bob and left. Steve Curley. Everybody left. And if you notice to this day, the Chicago Bulls have not won a championship since then. That's because one decision of ego or self. And that was simply because of the fact that the people that were out in front that were supposed to be in front were getting the accolades like they were supposed to versus the people behind the scenes. So the people behind the scenes decided, you know what? Wait a minute. They're getting too much. And we need to be out front. But that was not their role. So instead what they did was they kind of abused their role. They abused their power and say, you know, we're going to break it up, but we don't want all that attention on the people that are out in front that are supposed to be out in front. And I believe if you didn't know your role, I always tell people all the time, know your role, do your job effectively. It's not about being seen. It's about the mission and the purpose of which it stands in order for it to get to where it's supposed to be in the timeframe that it's supposed to be. So you can kind of, you know, hopefully I was able to get you to see a little bit, some similarities about a board and a team. You guys working together. You can win championships. Yes, you lose, but yet we rebound together. We figure it out. We come together at the same time to determine what it is we're going to do strategically. If it's a problem or an issue, or if it's something we're trying to solve, raising money, or if it's trying to figure out from a legal, from a legal based standpoint, or how do we get more clients or who do we really serve? Making sure that the mission aligns. All these things come together as a team, but all it takes is one person, one person to cause for it to fail or cause to make a decision that could be jeopardize everything else. So that's that. Next. There we go. Again, what makes a great board member. Here's some things. Here's some examples. You know, there are a whole bunch more out there that allows you guys to, you know, for you to realize within yourself what makes a great board member, you know, want to understand their role, their job. One at least and not managers. Keep that also in mind. I've worked with some boards and it's just, it's just kind of have a misconception of what a board is. You know, they think it's supposed to manage the executive director or the staff or having it's not the roles. Their role is just to lead. You know, the role is just for them to realize, let's assess the policies and procedures to make sure that we are keeping alignment of the mission, alignment of the values. Those are the things that we're supposed to be doing to hone in a little bit more about the role of an individual or what it's supposed to do on a board. More important than anything, you really just provide strategy, you know, their insight. I don't know, you may have one to two to three to five, 10, 15 board members. I don't know the number you have, but I hope you didn't just brain people just to brain people. I hope you were strategic as to who you brought on board. Why? Because these are different perspectives. These are different, you know, expertise, different knowledge, different backgrounds that allows you to see things differently versus just you being the sole person in the organization to think I got to make all the decisions. No, this is the purpose of the reason why you have a board to bounce off ideas just so that you can definitely get the results that you're looking for, which in essence relates back to the purpose of why you even created the organization. So you hear a few things. I'm sure you can, you know, jot out a little bit more, you know, if you want in the chat box, definitely, you know, type in some suggestions or some types of ways of which, you know, what makes a great board member. I definitely would love to hear your thoughts on that. As I continue on with that. So with that in mind, I'm going to go to the next one. Give me one second. All right. So next board chairs just in itself, you know, here's some things that you all are able to create. This is actually one of the six types of, you know, suggestions that I definitely want to have you guys do this is for you to realize it's a partnership, you know, whether it's a board chair or if you're the secretary or treasurer, it doesn't matter. I need for you to realize it is a partnership with the executive director or CEO. I don't know your particular role itself. You may be a board member or you may be the lead point person in your organization, but just know it needs to be a healthy relationship. These are the key essential things that I can't stress enough to board members, especially the chair. It's because it's not just your company, but also CEO, it's not just your, it is a joint venture. And keep in mind, these are people more than likely you picked. If you are a, so to speak, you are an entrepreneur and you created the board. These are people you create, you picked, but if you are someone who is working for a nonprofit organization, you probably didn't get a chance to pick your board members per se, but it is your job and responsibility to help format a healthy relationship that allows things to be more conducive, allow things for you and the board to feel more comfortable to communicate the needs for you to realize that the lines of communication need to be open, because if not, it's just going to be a long role between you as a staff and or the executive director in the board. And when you two bump heads, that's when you're going to have problems, going to have a lot of problems with that. So make sure you create a great healthy relationships with each other, regardless of the tasks, responsibilities, and everybody is able to effectively communicate and be heard. I really wish that was a course in college that at least I should have taken. Not many people is the art of listening. And the reason why I say that is because we tend to talk, we want to get our point across to are we listening at the same time to be able to know what the other person is saying, which is important to us as well. So as you see down at the bottom, you know, consider the following pretty much, you know, not shying away or pretty much or acting to bad news. It's going to happen, you know, by you being the board, you're going to hear some things, you know, and it's your job to help the organization to move forward in the approach. Challenges is going to take place. And again, just like the Chicago girls picture, the behind the scenes people, that's what you do. You know, we're behind the scenes may not be going to get the accolades, but we're know we're behind the scenes working being the advocates for the organization to get there. You know, you have to be open to build that foundation. Again, I don't know what position you play in when it comes to the organization, rather again, board chair or your board member, or if you actually work for the organization itself, you still have to be open to have that solid foundation. And at the last moment I was able to have an open mind. With that open mind allows you to be more open to receive great information for you to receive, you know, someone's skill set, someone's, you know, experience to say, you know what, I didn't see that. I didn't think that, you know, let me adopt that a little bit. Let me find out a little bit more. It really expands your mind frame as to what you do on your daily basis when it comes to that. So having a healthy type of relationship, partnership with the organization, CEO and or executive director from the board perspective will definitely take you guys along with. Next, focus on listening. I think I've mentioned this a little bit more focus on listening, not just participating. And the reason why I say this is simply because of the fact that, you know, I really encourage anyone, even in discussions during your board meetings. It's important for you to really be prepared to listen versus just trying to get your point across or not just paying attention, better known as not being engaged, you know, real, exceptional board members themselves realize that it's not about dominating a discussion. It's not about down, downing someone or finding upon their opinion. What they do is they actually sit and think to say, Hey, of all of what has been heard, what can we take out and utilize the same with someone I'm sure is dissecting what it is that you're saying to be heard at the same time. So with these types of essential things, it's important for you to realize that when people are communicating their peace, their opinions, their thoughts about a particular topic, it's important for you to not be so quick to disagree. The more so sit back, think about it later process because the very things that you are hearing or should be listening to, you could be missing all because you were not on the same page or you probably was not even engaged when someone was conveying the message. And as you didn't see at the bottom, as you pretty much realized that, you know, kids and citizen things, when it comes to you staying focused and not just participating, just to move and to be seen per se, consider a more inclusive setting, you know, rather than, you know, hustling by, you know, you want to create it to where people feel engaged. They feel welcome. They feel that, you know what, what I say matters. I mean, you know what, I can say something and be heard at the same time versus being judged. However, there's no right or wrong answer per se. And this is literally off the chart, but you want to be able to create a setting in the atmosphere where when you invite people, they feel welcome at the same time. And then also, you know, allowing others to speak we normally don't. You're going to have board members like this, just be honest individuals. They're probably more the doers and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with being a doer versus somebody that less talkative, no problem. But at the same time, you still want people to be heard. You at least want it to be where the door is open. Come on and speak. Why? Because they have a role on the board who have the chair or whomever it is is running the actual board meeting. You want to be sure that that's you, that you set the tone, you set the atmosphere and you allow individuals to, again, still be heard regardless of their role, regardless of being small and regardless of the length of time of serving on the board. So that's the second one that I have for you guys to focus on listening, not just participate. Next. So the third one that I have, I really, really love this one is for you to realize that understanding the balance between giving a CEO empty room to manage the organization, insurance, the ethical standards are met. This is very, very important because oftentimes what we do is we tend to, and I say we as an office on the board again, what we do is we tend to be overbearing. You know, we tend to want to know everything, everything. Honestly, it's not even really our business person to know everything, who's clocking in, who's clocking out. All we have to do that when executive director brains the finances, brain the real meat and potatoes for what it is that we're supposed to do in our role, then we can get a lot more done. What makes it hard for the organization to move forward when you have an overbearing board that wants to know everything and it really, really creates a unhealthy setting for everybody. And truthfully what I found out again from just my time just coaching and talking to, being a consultant with different nonprofits still due to this day, I found out that some people have personal agendas. You'd be amazed. On the board, personal agendas, I've seen people get on the board for political gains, just to notoriety, those things and that's something that you don't want to do. You want to be able to really create a setting to where things are being met to the standard of which you probably wrote again if you're the CEO or the founder of your organization. These are benchmarks and things that need to be conducted and you want to make sure that just your board members fall in line and adhere to all of the legal structures that they are responsible for. I hope and pray that again, if you created the founder of your nonprofit, you gave your board an actual understanding of the bylaws. They need to read that. Hopefully you guys did that in your board training, your on-board process and again, even if you are not the founder of your organization and you are working for another organization, you're over a board or partnering with the board with that same thing. I hope the new individuals or you have revamped those bylaws. It is critical, it is key because you don't want to turn a blind eye to these things because it's really, really going to not be a positive setting or atmosphere. As you can see at the bottom, the considerations for you to do is not push your personal agenda. Again, I stated before, you have people who will come onto your board just for personal gain and that's something that you don't want to do not one day because if you see in your heart, I'm going to give my time, energy. Some boards charge their fees, that's fine. It's solely about you because it's really not supposed to be about the mission of which it's supposed to be. Also, not forming or not a disalliances. Yes, people do that on boards. They come together to, well, let me partner with such and such because we have a personal vendetta or whatever against someone and it causes strife, it causes division, it causes a lot of malice, it causes a lot of rumors and now you have a toxic board. But yet everyone comes together collectively for the mission of the organization. The organization, I'm sure the mission and I don't know your mission. I am sure inside the mission does not have the word ego. It doesn't. I'm sure it doesn't. It does not talk about self or me, me, me or I, I, I. It's not that. It's about, I'm sure, collectively and out there, I'm sure it's a collective we. It's a collective us. It's a collective each other. Those things, that's the sole purpose of the organization for which I'm sure your mission even stands on. So for you to realize again, the needs of the organization over personal gain, I can't stress that even more. These are the things that's going to really help you to become that great, great board member that I know that you are destined to be. I'm going to ask for this one here for you to be able to ask thought-provoking type of questions. I'm talking about the questions that allows you guys to know you really want to ask. But at the same time, maybe somebody else did and that's okay. Whoever that bold person have the courage for you to realize and see that, hey, you know what, I'm just going to ask this dining course. I have to and that's okay. That's the reason why I got this kid here with the Harvard shirt. I'm going to ask a question, you know. And, you know, I'm able to work in and out of different organizations and I see a lot of kids and they always ask questions. But a lot of the questions that they ask that I answer, you'll be amazed like, man, I didn't know and it really moves them forward. So imagine adults. Yes, I know sometime in board meetings that seem intimidating because someone is dominating. Let me not just ask those questions. Apologize for the repetitive questions. So just overall with the aspects of you asking questions, I need you to really, really consider the thought of someone else. I talked about earlier about you have people on your board. They may not even speak and that's okay. But by you using your gift by you hasn't occurred should just ask questions of clarity. Clarity, clarity. We all need it, you know. So if you're going to be on a board or doing things that you know that you sacrifice your time, your effort, your energy, your resources, you're connecting with other people ask questions. That way you can get the actual answers that you have probably been looking for but more importantly as well for those others in the room saying, yes, somebody finally asked that question. So whatever it is that you need definitely do not be shy in your approach. So with this here, you know, you being able to serve as an ambassador for the organization to understand the responsibilities that come with the role. That's what you are. Again, you are an ambassador. We stated earlier about the Michael Jordan. However, everybody represented the Chicago boys. No matter what, rather if you as a star or you as the last player on the bench or if you as a coach, if you as a board member in the room, everyone I'm sure knows your family knows, community knows. You are an ambassador for that organization. You are an ambassador. That includes social media that also includes in your community when you had grocery stores or was shopping online or when you're talking on, you know, online or what have you. You are an ambassador for that organization and you signed up volunteer. I don't know if you did your agreement for being a board member or what have you. Just know it was automatic. Yes, I will be a spokesperson. I will end up serving. I will withhold the standard of which I know that is committed to me of which I embody the mission. That's why you support it. And from that you pretty much indicate you will be an ambassador. You will represent the organization to the best of your ability. This is the reason why it's important for you to know your role. Do what you're supposed to do. Be active, be engaged, listen to what it is you need to inside of these meetings and then apply the knowledge and watch how you guys win. Again, the 72 and 10 Chicago Bulls did just that. And that is the greatest team in the NBA history of the NBA. Now don't get me wrong. You guys may be warrior fans. No, I'm not throwing Steph Curry under the bus. They were great too. In fact, I think they were 73 or 74 but they didn't win the championship. That was the thing. And that's the reason why the Chicago Bulls, that team, the 95-96 team is the greatest of all time because they won that championship and they did it together. Everybody knew their role. Trust me, Michael Jordan himself would tell you he could not have won that game if it was not for Luke Lonely, Tony Kukos, Steve Kerr, these are names you probably don't know. Maybe Steve Kerr because he's the head coach of the Warriors, but all those other names, Tony Kukos, most people don't even know them but they were key players. And because they were key players, they came off the bench, they did their job, sat in the corner and when that ball got passed, they shot, that was it. And they did that repetitively. They didn't try to overbearing, oh no, I want to be the Michael Jordan because everybody's fighting to be the chair. I recommend for you do your job, know your role effectively and watch how you're able to execute the things that need to be done for the betterment of the organization. Again, no mission that I've ever seen and I've seen them read a lot of missions. There's no missions that indicates ego, me, and I. We, us, each other, together. And that's how we have to operate in that same manner when it comes down to you being an advocate for that organization that you are making decisions for so that it can definitely get to where it's supposed to go. From there, just a few things, just all in all with it, so the remaining aspects of you just learning to help your organization just in itself is with this and just go from there. I want you to realize that learning is going to be key, knowing the insights and outs of your organization is this really essential for your overall development and that's how pretty much we want to encourage you guys to do day in and day out, continue to learn. That's how you grow. The same way you as a board expect the CEO or the executive director to grow, to be growing as well. This is how you move the needle forward. The organization cannot move forward unless everybody grows. Everybody must grow, regardless of your role on the board, regardless if you're an employee or you're working or you're the founder of the organization just know the fact that growing is important, learning is important, realizing the true needs, the actual mission, what does it take being strategic about it, you being intentional and actually being making conscious effort, deliberate decisions to know that this is going to help us get there, but it won't happen unless you have the backing of the board, a board that's united, a board that understands, the board that says you know what, we see the goal, let's not just meet the goal, we're going to go exceed the goal, let's make it happen and watch how you guys get to the promised lane for whatever it is that you would want to achieve and get to as a board and ultimately as the organization. Why? It's because you're stakeholders, you're stakeholders, whoever you're doing it for just for youth organization that you have or for animals or for community, I don't know your organization but whomever it is you're doing it for those are the ones and the reasons why it's time for you to grow in your realm for what you do day in and day out. But other than that, that is my time hopefully I didn't take too much of it. But you know any questions, anything from anybody just my contact information below you know if you want to get it I definitely be sure that Ms. Rita is able to communicate with you guys my information as well, but hopefully I didn't talk your ear off hopefully I didn't, hopefully he was able to get some information, some content some vital tools and strategies that push you a little further you know in your approach with that. So feedback, talk to me any questions anything that you guys might have for me. Well great job Anthony and everybody will get the recording. Feel free to unmute yourself to ask a question but I just want to remind you everybody who who registered will get the recording because I know the zoom link was shared out and so you may have gotten the zoom link you have to register for these courses to get the recording. Hi Margaret, feel free to unmute yourself and ask your question. Well I didn't have a question I just want to tell Anthony that he did a super job I was a volunteer director of a countywide adult literacy program for seven years and now I'm starting up a whole new program which is going to be our first project of this program is painting repairing and painting the exteriors of houses for elderly and disabled people in our poorest part of the town. And so we're getting ready to do that and I've been setting it up for, well I had a year out for health problems but other than that I've been setting it up for two and a half years getting every all the paperwork in order because there's a lot of legalities when you start doing projects like this and so we have that all in order and now we are starting to collect and get partners business partners and tools and materials so that we're excited about it and what you said about the board Anthony is so important because I had a fantastic word that I built up according to the guidelines of what you need on a board and that is so important if people are listening and they don't know they haven't done any research on what you need in a board as far as the strategic people in the community and their positions and their knowledge and their skills that's so important but I always made sure we had fun in our meetings and enjoyed what we were talking about and had no risk atmospheres they could say anything I wanted off the ceiling ideas I wanted all of that from my members and we had a really good time but when I left the organization it's still going but it has gone downhill since I was the CEO and president I wasn't the president the whole time I found another president and she took over that responsibility that it's a huge responsibility when you take something on like this every person on the board is important and I loved what you told everybody was important about the meetings and stuff because it is vital what you're sharing is vital thank you so much Anthony you want to respond I agree I wrote a lot of nuggets in here do you want to respond I have an agent definitely I mean I really really love exactly what you say you know Miss Margaret about the having fun please do so you know don't make it the old fashioned we just come we meet it seems cut dry and we leave in the same old mundane after a while eventually people are going to say I'd rather call in you want to make it exciting you want to continue to keep everybody amped up as much as you can whatever your role may be I know certain organizations when they have boards they have committees they have the fun committee and the fun committee's job is for the next board meetings to have maybe the first 10 minutes of the board meeting to do something fun to get everybody going and ready to go keep in mind these people are professionals just like yourself they work depending upon your board meeting is I don't know most corporate boards they have it never fucking morning maybe right at noon-ish which means people are getting off work taking their lunch break so to speak coming in do the board and you have to go back to work for some of you guys maybe the flip side you may have your board meetings in the evening times I don't know but just know that these people are coming in sacrificing yes they vow to be there make it worth their while they're going to go off your energy I don't know your title they're going to go off your vibe if you come in electric ready to go they're going to be like alright here we go I know I'm tired but we're going to go ahead and give it a great hour we're going to make this hour worthwhile because of the need the mission the purpose for which you're setting the tempo for and I think once the board is on board they're energetic it's going to spread a lot of wildfire and you're going to thank you so I know there are a lot of new organizations small organization a lot of things he said I can see some of it fitting for a larger corporate organization because there's different types of boards and there's different ways that organizations are set up some organizations are board-led some organizations you're wearing both pads you're the president you're the board member you're the executive director so let me hear from some of the new non-profits any questions or thoughts for Anthony feel free to unmute yourself I do work with you know smaller non-profits you know I don't pretty much distinguish anything like that what I do is I partner with you that's pretty much me I partner with you regardless if you are the CEO and board chair or have you I want to make sure that you have everything that you need documents to just making sure that you're set up for success one of the biggest things I know that you know I have a client right now that I work with one of the challenges was challenge because we met the goal was pretty much overthinking how to even attract people to be on the board trust me it's not as hard as you think but what happens is oftentimes we look at we look at the big organizations we see that they have all these you'll be amazed at how they even attract those people these are local people you'll be amazed you know one thing that I did when I was working with the board I simply when I'm at a restaurant I haven't been out in a while but I was you know restaurant hey when the waiter waitress comes hey do you guys do anything for you know such and such organization no not really but let me talk to my manager okay talk to your manager manager comes to the table we start talking and that's how you build a relationship you know and from there we start to realize a simple conversation at the same places where you shop same places where you get your gas same places where you grocery stores keep in mind they're in your community here's something I want you guys also understand too is that all for profit they have to they have a budget for nonprofits but also they have individuals that are supposed to go out in the community and engage prime example your bank I promise you every bank has that community relations person their job is to get involved in the community and it's the same bank you bank at but if you don't know then you just yes you may have a direct deposit or you may cash a check and those are people that say hello to you they're not even they're not behind the glass they sit right in the front or they may be open the side hello they just walk right past them hello and is it but not knowing they want to get engaged in the community you know so these are things that that's and that's something you guys can take you know just having conversations those that go to church you know talking to local individuals these again professional so you want to be able to really realize don't make it harder than what you think it is it's just a simple conversation to see if it's a good fit I tell people this all the time it's just like when it comes down to attracting board members or wanting to recruit or have a board member make sure it's a great fit here's why um I'm sure I'm assuming everybody has a dryer like a washing dryer right your washing dryer plug won't go into a normal lamp plug outlet and oftentimes is what we do we try to get that washing dryer plug and try to plug into a regular lamp wall outlet plug it won't fit and we try to squeeze it in and squeeze it it's not designed for that you know you want to make sure that you find the right fit between you and another individual wanting to make sure that that's their passion too you know that it aligns with it's going to make it a lot more smooth I call it hard sale versus soft sale no I'm not in sales not in sales um but that's just my format to indicate that you want to be able to cultivate relationships and that's pretty much how it goes you'll be amazed at once you start out one or two individuals utilizing them to work their magic work their relationships to attract people on so if you are solo entrepreneur you're leading you know your organization you either trying to find new board members or just trying to get your first one don't make it harder than what it is um start talking you know um they have different organizations that are out there that just have social gatherings that are designed just so that you can connect with people um and once you connect with the right people that you know that it's an alignment of your mission more than likely they're going to want to uh be a part of it and just real quick and I'll just you know be quiet off of it um even even if um um even if you find someone that says you know what I love your mission but I don't have the time trust me if you continue to stay in constant communications with that person they're going to say I don't have the time but I know someone who has this same passion and now you have a connection and that person that is the connector what you can do is here's a nugget I call them friends of the board they're not on the board but they're supporters of it even though they may not have the time to be at the meetings or have you they will support the mission because you know they don't have time that's okay but I know I can come to you in need you know to support what it is we do while you also gave me someone that you know that will have the time to make it happen so now you got two birds one stone very good and that was a great question thank you for asking that question anyone else have a question excellent question and great answer to by the way Anthony I really have enjoyed this may I ask may I just tell Anthony when the Lord asked me to start this it was really interesting he told me that it was going to be was going to outlive me and it was going to be larger than I could imagine for our community more meaningful to our community so I took it on but with this I am setting it up from the beginning with an advisory board not just the board of directors but an advisory board and with all the committees in place we're just going to fill the stasis that I mean we're going to have a full blown thing and we're trying to get people in place before we start because I feel like it's really going to do well. Go explode on us because of the need that we have here in the community that you're right I want to share do we have just a second for me to share a story or is there anybody else on or am I the only one I'm the only picture I see I want to hear your story anybody else have a question go ahead Margaret okay you were telling us to look for where are people that we interface with in the community the lady that signed us up for our bank account is now our treasurer and she's wonderful she's awesome but her son just signed on with the national football league team and so her life is kind of upside down right now but rather than replace her because she's not able to help us right now we just enlisted an assistant treasurer to take her part and to work with her then when she comes back so you just build it as you can but the personalities of the people that you're getting are just as important as the positions that they have in the community or more so because they can be an outstanding executive someplace but not fit in to your board and the personalities on your board so when I build a board the personalities have got to fit and I kind of get to know them a little while before I invite them to be a board member so that's really key but you hit some good points in your after talk I appreciate it thank you yeah that was great and thank you for sharing that that was a lot of nuggets in that one too Margaret where do you live what city Titusville Florida and we are known as the miracle city because we had tent meetings back in the the 60s and 50s and 60s where so many people were healed and saved and everything else but we became known as miracle city way back when and it may have even started earlier than that but now we're a miracle city and our organization is miracle city ministries beautiful I know Titusville do you know that restaurant Lord have mercy restaurant oh yeah I love it yeah yeah that used to be my pastor so great I know that city very well very good awesome questions or comments Anthony you must have talked so good they're like still writing yeah can I get one call to action one nugget you got from Anthony they type it in the chat room I know Margaret you got a lot so we want to see some from you but just what was your one takeaway from today if you if you left this webinar and you wake up tomorrow you go back to your board meeting what is this one thing that you took away today and they're a thing and yes please put your thank yous in the chat room it's one of the seat of life says thank you and again I want to thank you Anthony but what was your one take away from this today I'm going to go back through some nuggets that he dropped amazing amazing know your role because it is about the mission and the chair is a partnership with the executive director or the CEO this is a big one one's ego and decision to make change cost the organization's future we definitely want we want to move all egos out the way if he did not break that down I don't know you you must have been sleep doing that part you didn't get that have an open mind that was a huge one have an open mind that's how you build relationship because just because this person may not talk like you or whatever but you don't know who they know and who that person knows and you just have to have an open mind and two ideas and conversations and different people so this is a lot of good nuggets that you drop Anthony and I want to thank you so everybody type your thank yous to Anthony in the chat room make sure that you sign up for our next ED chat which is this Thursday time is going by so fast this Thursday ED chat is this Thursday I just put the link in the chat room lots of Anthony's lots of Anthony's sleep it's bad I promise lots of thank yous in the chat room thank you from Pastor Shannon hello some of you I didn't get to say hello to Eileen said thank you Doug thank you Anthony he said what's your website again put your website again you're in the chat room and Doug makes you contact me I definitely need someone to lead these groups which one I said I learned that it's important what kind of individuals should be a part of your board yeah that's a good one Tanda said thank you Sarah said thank you I learned that it's the board's job to lead not manage that was a good one so you know she had to be writing Anthony because you said that a long time ago so well I want to give you back your five minutes of tonight and thank you again to our speaker Anthony Davis senior man follow him on social media his videos will pump you up I'm telling you you will leave smiling if not motivated if not ready to go work out if not ready to do something because he is he's a great motivator and really that's what you are you planted seeds of motivation that I know it's just going to sprout into something bigger and we don't know your small organization may become a medium and may become a large one we don't know but lead with excellence and thank you all you have a good evening bye thank you again Anthony bye bye thank you you're welcome