Board of Directors
Managing Personal Liability
Once you have accepted a directorship, managing your personal liability risks is an ongoing process. The following guidelines will help you to take steps to manage these risks as they relate to issues such as policy, finances, meetings, personnel, and training. The most widely available, most effective and least expensive risk management technique is common sense. Voluntary organizations can capitalize on this common sense by:
- providing an orientation program for all new people;
- putting on paper clear job descriptions and sound policies;
- supporting professional development and Director education; and
- emphasize and reward risk management thinking and behaviour.
Information in the tabs below has been excerpted from Volunteer Canada's paper "Directors’ Liability: A Discussion Paper on Legal Liability, Risk Management and the Role Of Directors in Non-Profit Organizations", which was funded by the Government of Ontario.
Meetings
- Attend meetings, be prepared to discuss the items on the agenda and participate fully in decision-making.
- Provide your reports to the board in written form.
- Ensure that minutes reflect abstentions from votes, votes for and votes against motions.
- If you have any real or perceived conflict of interest, declare it when the issue first arises, and do not vote, participate in or influence the decision-making process. Have your disclosure recorded in the meeting minutes.
- Do not rush important decisions. Ensure that board members receive meeting materials in ample time to digest them. If important information is lacking, postpone the decision until this information can be obtained.
- Keep your own personal copies of key documentation and minutes of controversial meetings.
Finances
- Take an interest in finances by reviewing regular financial reports, and approving and monitoring the organization’s annual budget.
- Use a professional, independent accountant to perform an annual audit of the organization’s finances.
- Know who is authorized to sign cheques and for what amount.
- Do not be shy about asking questions and seeking clarification on financial matters from staff.
- With the assistance of your auditor, develop a list of statutory reporting requirements and assign a staff person or director to monitor that these requirements are being fulfilled.
Contracts
- Ensure that all contracts the organization enters into are carefully reviewed by staff or by counsel.
- When the organization partners with other entities on joint projects, or enters into agreements be sure that all terms and conditions are clearly expressed in a written contract, and that risks and liabilities are appropriately shared.
Policy
- Ask for a copy of the organization’s policy manual. If the organization does not have a policy manual, develop a work plan for staff (or others, as appropriate) to prepare one.
- Be familiar with the content of the organization’s constitution and bylaws. If they are out of date, or no longer adequately reflect the mandate and activities of the organization, then undertake to update them.
- On important matters and for decisions that have the potential to adversely affect someone, ensure that the organization’s policies are adhered to as written. If the policy is unsuitable for dealing with the particular circumstance, then take steps to change the policy for the future.
- Commit staff and volunteer time and financial resources to developing risk management policies.
Personnel
- Ensure that disciplinary actions follow proper procedures, reporting and confidentiality requirements.
- Ensure that all staff and volunteer positions have written job descriptions.
- Insist that the organization develop a clear personnel policy and ensure that staff evaluations are performed at least annually or as required by the policy.
- Be sure that suitable screening measures are in place for those staff and volunteer positions that involve interaction with children, youth, seniors or other vulnerable persons in positions of trust.
Insurance
- Ask for copies of the organization’s insurance policies and become familiar with their scope of coverage.
- Consider asking the insurance broker to meet with the board and make a brief presentation on these policies.
Training
- Support professional development for staff and training for volunteers.
- Encourage the board to engage in training. Bring in a board development instructor or a facilitator to help the board improve its effectiveness.
- Offer board members training opportunities in association with board meetings or annual general meetings.
- Commit resources to the development and updating of board and staff orientation materials.
- Leave aside a short portion of every board meeting to allow the board to evaluate its effectiveness in conducting the meeting and making governance decisions.
General
- If the organization is unincorporated, consider incorporation. As a risk management measure it is well worth the expense and inconvenience.
- If you suspect that something is not right, go with your intuition and check it out! Be curious. Remember, as a director you will be held responsible for circumstances and situations you ought to have known about, whether or not you actually did know about them.
- Do not speak negatively about the organization to the public. Publicly support the board’s decisions, even if you might have voted against the majority of directors.
- If the organization needs to deal with a complex matter in which staff or directors lack expertise, consider the services of an outside professional (for example, a lawyer, financial advisor, human resources consultant, risk management specialist, or engineer).