COURSE NUMBER: MBA292B.11
COURSE TITLE: Nonprofit Boards
UNITS OF CREDIT: 1 Unit
INSTRUCTOR: Lynne LaMarca Heinrich
E-M AIL
ADDRESS: lynnelh@comcast.net
Please note the unorthodox format of this course, which meets all
day on two Sundays. You must attend both sessions in their entirety in order to
earn a passing grade.
PREREQUISITE(S): None.
CAREER FIELD: The
course is recommended for students assessing their options for social impact,
wishing to learn about the nonprofit sector, and those who will likely be
called upon to serve on a board during their successful business, public sector
or nonprofit careers. It
will provide practical and applied tools for
board and nonprofit service and also present relevant context for current
trends in the nonprofit sector.
CLASS FORMAT: Two all day lectures, with speakers from the Bay
Area’s varied and most prestigious nonprofit organizations – CEO’s and board
members, and class group exercises.
REQUIRED READINGS: There will be a course reader with practical,
current, and historical articles and cases.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Class attendance, participation, and class
project. There is no midterm or final exam.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT: This one-unit course is designed to
provide students with a working knowledge of the role of boards of directors in
the nonprofit sector. Specifically, the course will explore the following
aspects of boards:
· Why they exist; their legal and
fiduciary responsibilities, and the differences between
for-profit and nonprofit boards
· How they are best structured,
highlighting models of governance and various committee structures
· How board performance assessment
is best undertaken, and tools to do so
· What they can achieve for a
nonprofit organization and how they are most effectively staffed for maximum
performance, to include best practice in interacting with chief executives,
other volunteers, staff and community
· The impact of recent and pending
tax changes and government regulation and oversight on the nonprofit sector,
and boards in particular
Students will have the opportunity to meet prominent members of
the Bay Area nonprofit sector, including current board members and chief
executives, to discuss their roles and learn firsthand the challenges facing
these different groups in an increasingly competitive and uncertain nonprofit
marketplace. The class will consist of lectures, case studies, speakers,
exercises, and a project.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Lynne joined Marts & Lundy, a premier
for-profit consulting firm serving the nonprofit sector, as a senior consultant
in 2000 with more than five years of consulting experience in her own practice
and with another national consulting firm. She was the founding co-leader of the
firm’s Arts & Culture Practice Group and has served in staff and consultant
roles to the nonprofit sector for more than 36 years. Her varied client
portfolio includes performing and visual arts organizations, educational
institutions, hospitals and medical centers, health and human service agencies,
museums, environmental organizations, foundations, corporations, venture
philanthropists, and numerous public-private partnerships. Lynne provides
consulting services in fundraising, capital campaigns, nonprofit management,
board governance, strategic planning, leadership coaching and development to
nonprofit organizations. Along with her Marts & Lundy client work, Lynne
serves as a member of the advisory boards of the Center for Social Sector
Leadership and Cal Performances, both at the Haas School of Business,
University of California, Berkeley, and on the board of the Marin Agricultural
Land Trust. She also teaches in the Getty Leadership Institute and is a former
member of the Board of Directors of Marts & Lundy.
Ms. Heinrich's recent consulting clients include PBS, Library of
Congress, San Francisco Symphony, Cornell University, Rice University, Sundance
Institute, Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution, Juilliard,
California College of the Arts, NRDC, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Earth
Justice, Public Radio International, National Gallery of Art, Southern
California Public Radio, Save The Redwoods League, Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Cal Performances, Smith College, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago, University of Utah, Morton Arboretum, Fred Hutch
Cancer Center, Cleveland Museum of Art, Los Angeles Natural History Museum,
Oakland Museum of California, Planned Parenthood, and the University of
California, Berkeley. She has worked closely with faculty, boards, staff, and
donors to provide strategic planning and philanthropy consulting, board
leadership training, and counsel for organizational change.