Articles written By Yvonne Harrison

Yvonne Harrison is an Assistant Professor in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, SUNY. Yvonne came to Rockefeller College from the Center for Nonprofit and Social Enterprise Management at Seattle University, in Seattle, WA where she supervised the capstone research project and taught courses in nonprofit governance and information management in government and nonprofit organizations.

Board Performance & Metrics

Self-Assessment of Board Performance

A recurring theme in the nonprofit governance literature is the need for board performance assessments to be conducted regularly by non-profit boards. Some governance experts have developed approaches to board performance evaluation based on adherence to strict normative models while others have developed more detailed instruments and recommendations reviewing a wide range of board practices. Others have pointed out that, while many nonprofits may recognize the value of assessing board performance, they lack the capacity to: a) carry out the technical work of gathering and analyzing board performance information; b) apply that information to making decisions about changes in board performance; and c) track the impact of changes in governance practices over time.