Most of us on the Greenlights team had the great pleasure of spending Tuesday at the kick-off training event for Applied Materials’ Advancement Academy.  As Amy Silvey blogged back in January, Applied Materials decided to invest in the internal capacity of 50 of their Central Texas grantees by partnering with Greenlights to provide them with customized training, consulting, and continuing professional development services.

Based on survey results from the grantees, our team created and led Tuesday’s day of training and networking for the 70+ nonprofit executives and board leaders who took time out of their extraordinarily busy schedules to come together.  Many topics were addressed throughout the day, but the main focus was on strengthening boards.

Here are just a few of the insightful and important concepts that were shared:

• The most important quality that seasoned board members want their Executive Director to have is infectious PASSION.
• Instead of trying to get a well-known and over-committed philanthropist to join your board, ask them to recommend an emerging leader in their family or in their company or industry who they would like to see continue their legacy of community service.
• Remember the power of repetition!  Well-meaning board members need frequent reminders of the most important aspects of an organization so they can get refocused when they step away from their “day job” to think about their nonprofit’s needs.
• An hour spent with each board member discussing how best to use their skills and resources can reap countless benefits and new opportunities for an organization in the future.
• Nearly all organizations are open to or actively seeking individuals under the age of 35 to serve on their boards.  While the median age in Austin is 30, only 4% of our board members are 30 or younger!   A review of the recognized leaders from Austin Under 40, the Long Center’s Catalyst 8, Leadership Austin, the Junior League and other groups who train and/or recognize young leaders can be a great way to find some amazing candidates.  Of course, the Greenlights Board Summit is a prime opportunity to find new, young leaders, too!

There were many more great ideas and strategies for enhancing board engagement shared throughout the day.  But perhaps the most inspiring part was seeing so many of our community’s nonprofit leaders in the same room sharing resources and discussing common challenges and solutions.

And it was all thanks to the inspired leadership of Michele Walker-Moak and Mark Walker of Applied Materials.   Greenlights is among the grateful grantees that Applied Materials helps and inspires to do our best work.  Thank you to everyone who was part of the Advancement Academy training event.   We look forward to many more opportunities to work together in the year ahead!