There are many reasons why a charity’s Board might need some independent advice.
HEALTH WARNING: If you need some professional legal or financial advice then this is not the place to come (although we may be able to offer some advice on where to go).
In many cases the Board might just need some guidance to help them to order their thoughts and create some decision points or options. By the nature of the industry, the members of a charity’s Board will often have more emotional buy-in to the issues than their counterparts in commercial companies. This emotional buy in brings passion and commitment, but it can also mean that even when all the trustees are dedicated and well-meaning individuals, differences in opinion – when the bottom line is not profit the route to “success” becomes a little more confusing. This can create tensions amongst trustees. And since they are generally decent people who do not want to offend one another the discussion around these issues can be tricky. Sometimes an independent and dispassionate head can be the quickest way to a solution.
Even when there is no disagreement an independent viewpoint can sometimes be of assistance. If the Board fears that “group think” may be in play, then they may find it helpful to seek an independent view.
So if you would like to bounce an idea or two off me or you think that it would be helpful for me to do some research and create some clarity in your decision making options then just give me a call or drop me an email.