As a member of the San Francisco Symphony's Board of Governors, Trine Sorensen is committed to effective governance. To gain a better understanding of her role as a board member and enrich the contribution she makes to her organization, she applied to the Governing for Nonprofit Excellence program at Harvard Business School Executive Education. She describes some benefits of the program.
I attended this program to engage more deeply with what it means to be a high-functioning board member. I had some ideas before I began the program, but I came out of it with a systematic framework along with specific tools that I can apply to my nonprofit. I am also a board member and donor to other nonprofits and this program gave me the tools to assess those organizations from both the perspectives of a board member and a donor.
Definitely. As a result of participating in the program, I feel prepared to contribute to the core governance questions that are most relevant for the San Francisco Symphony at this time. We recently had a board retreat to explore what constitutes good governance. We will be re-examining our mission, vision and values to include those we serve, why and where we serve them, how we measure performance through metrics and scorecards, and how we structure our board and committees. I found the exercises and cases on all of these topics to be highly relevant to my organization.
This program will transform your thinking and give you the confidence to systematically evaluate your organization.
