The Effective Board – From basic oversight to strategic asset

This publication presents an overview of Maliasili Initiatives’ emerging approach to establishing, operating, evaluating, and maintaining an effective Board of Directors within a civil society organization (CSO). The principles and practices described in this guidebook may be useful for a broad range of CSOs.

This document sets out to define the purpose and core functions of a board, the roles and responsibilities involved, and the key processes to ensure the board supports an organization to achieve its goals. As an overview, this publication is not intended to be exhaustive, but instead to serve as a useful primer for CSO board members and senior leaders. Additionally, it represents an evolving body of work, as Maliasili implements, learns from, and adapts their approach across a diversity of organisations and circumstances.