More like "bad nonprofit boards are weird", though there's definitely some truth to - great power, low engagement, unclear responsibility, and zero accountability. But a good board and CEO/ED will address all of these.
First and foremost, board members are volunteers. They need to be people who are invested in the organization and its mission, and would be available to help as needed. They're also consultants. The board I'm on has people with expertise in HR, finance, accounting, marketing, medicine (very useful since COVID), economics, education. All of their experience is incredibly valuable in different ways, especially since the non-profit ("medium"-sized at 1.5MM annual revenue) can't really afford those roles.
Engagement and responsibility has been a challenge for us, but we've addressed it by keeping up on best practices, which includes self-evaluation of the board and its members. As a result of that, we've invested in our onboarding process so new board members know what expectations and responsibilities are. We have various committees that focus on certain areas (e.g. finance, governance, fundraising, strategy), where board members meet outside the formal bi-monthlies to engage with staff more directly and help guide and support the organization.
Overall, I've had a great experience being a part of this org. Maybe the board I'm on is just a unicorn...
Karnofsky co-founded a very successful charity evaluator 15 years ago then moved on to co-founding and leading a grantmaker that has a budget in the hundreds of millions a year. I doubt any flaws in his analysis come from not seeing enough orgs and hastily judging.
This is similar to a board I am on. Good orientation. Well-defined roles. Plus good meetings and enough self evaluation that we know what we need to work on.
As the org has grown we have had less need for nitty-gritty skills and more need for high level thinking and directional strategies.
There are certainly plenty of dumpster fires in the non profit world, but I doubt it is that much different from the business world.
First and foremost, board members are volunteers. They need to be people who are invested in the organization and its mission, and would be available to help as needed. They're also consultants. The board I'm on has people with expertise in HR, finance, accounting, marketing, medicine (very useful since COVID), economics, education. All of their experience is incredibly valuable in different ways, especially since the non-profit ("medium"-sized at 1.5MM annual revenue) can't really afford those roles.
Engagement and responsibility has been a challenge for us, but we've addressed it by keeping up on best practices, which includes self-evaluation of the board and its members. As a result of that, we've invested in our onboarding process so new board members know what expectations and responsibilities are. We have various committees that focus on certain areas (e.g. finance, governance, fundraising, strategy), where board members meet outside the formal bi-monthlies to engage with staff more directly and help guide and support the organization.
Overall, I've had a great experience being a part of this org. Maybe the board I'm on is just a unicorn...