So you want to be on the Board of Directors ?
It's obvious that there's a lot of passion for the C&TS here and the question was raised whether it was time for a "people's choice" candidate to be elected to the FoCTS. I've been on two different BoD of railroad support groups, and while both were much smaller than today's Friends of the C&TS, I've made a lot of observations over the last 20 years.
First off, it may seem there's more emphisis on the members of the Board
to facilitate fund raising than there should be, but I would bet you go
to any successful non-profit organization these days and you will find
that nothing happens without money. Inflow of money is good. It makes
things happen. If you can't raise money, you are dead meat.
Raising money doesn't mean everyone on the BoD needs to go out begging for money. As was suggested, there are many ways to do that; Special trains, selling trinkets, books, and such. But those things are mice nuts. The way you are going to make substancial progress is if your organization can establish creditability with organizations who have lots of money to fund viable projects. These foundations usually got where they are by managing their funds wisely. They are going to expect any organization they invest in to do so also.
So that means the leadership of an organization needs to be composed of
folks who can run the "business" sucessfully. It is no accident that
the current BoD of the Friends is mainly composed of people who have been successful in business. Not only should that help with the success of the organization, but when you apply for a grant, you usually supply the resumes of your leaders. If you can show
a lineup of successful people on your team, you are going to have a better chance of bringing in substantial funds.
But I know we're all somewhat offended when someone seems to be nominated because they "bought a seat on the board". Maybe that does happen, but I think most organizations realize that if you need to have folks on the Board who can work together; no amount of "easy money" is worth the turmoil that a disruptive BoD member can bring. Just look at some large corporations that recently created big problems because of certain egos on their boards (e.g. HP). That can happen here and whether a person is right or not, being a turd in the punch bowl is not good for anybody.
You also need people who understand the history. I've seen cases where decisions where made because nobody understood why things were the way they were. So ideally anybody you bring on should not be new to the organization. Sometimes that happens because of a special talent or vision. But hopefully those people are open enough that they do show a respect for what has been done before and can sort through the good and the bad.
Anybody who thinks they are good enough to be on a BoD should already be
very active in the organization. For the Friends, that obviously means work session attendance. That happens to be a real good way to understand the organization and let people judge your worth. If you get a reputation of being a goof-off during a work session, why should anybody think you'd act any different if you were given some leadership
responsibility on the board? Why should that work any differently than any other job ?
I really hope some new blood starts to come into these organizations. It's often very obvious that those of us who have demanding jobs and growing families don't have the time to lend to these organizations. I personally know many of the present BoD members spend a significant amount of time and their own money in pursuit of the Friends' goals.
That usually means those people are "retired", but if doesn't have to be.
And finally even though you need a set of people who can work together, you also need a lot of diversity. If everyone in the leadership believes the goal of the organization is to paint box cars, then guess what your focus is. You need people who have passion and vision on the "Big Picture", plus the ability to sell their ideas constructively to others. You may have the most love of the railroad, but if you can't help the collective organization grow and prosper, then being there is a waste of your time and everyone else's.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Bill Kepner
