BoardConnect is a nonprofit board training and matching service that builds the leadership skills of nonprofit and community members. We believe that training and matching go hand in hand. Individuals need to know their roles and responsibilities to be effective board members, and nonprofits need to plan carefully to build their boards. BoardConnect offers several separate training sessions: Serving on a Nonprofit Board, for individuals interested in board service, and Building Your Board, for nonprofit staff and board members seeking to add new members. Additional sessions include Getting Your Board to Raise Money and Committees That Work. For those organizations that would like a more customized session to suit your specific needs, consider scheduling Achieving Excellence as a Nonprofit Board.

• Serving on a Nonprofit Board
  • Learn the roles and responsibilities of a board member: board operations, strategic planning, development, oversight and ambassadorship. Includes registration for BoardConnect's matching services and boardnetUSA, a national online database that connects candidates and nonprofits. Recommended for individuals interested in board service or current board members striving for best practices.
• Building Your Board
  • Learn how to attract high performance board members and master the tools needed for board member recruitment and education. Includes registration for BoardConnect's matching services and boardnetUSA, a national online database that connects candidates and nonprofits.
• Getting Your Board To Raise Money
  • This one-hour session will teach Executive Directors and Development Staff how to get their board to start raising money.  Let’s face it, most nonprofit board members do not like to ask for money.  Start by ensuring all board members are wonderful ambassadors and learn how to turn them into fundraisers.
• Committees That Work
  • This two-hour workshop presents the latest trends, best practices and controversies in nonprofit committee structure: nominating committee evolving into governance committee; audit committee vs. finance committee; should executive committees be dissolved? Receive practical guidance and tools to make committees productive, efficient and creative.  Learn how to recruit and keep engaged committee members.
• Achieving Excellence as a Nonprofit Board
  • This on-site, customizable workshop is targeted to your board and describes the major roles and responsibilities of board members in the areas of operations, strategic planning, resource development, oversight and ambassadorship, focusing on the topics most important to your board members.  Pre-consultation, customized workshop delivery and follow-up meeting are provided.  Call 382-8350 or email for additional information.

Register now or view training calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Who operates BoardConnect?
A. BoardConnect is a program developed by NEW (Nonprofit Enterprise at Work) with offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan. BoardConnect is operated by NEW in Washtenaw County, and by NEW in collaboration with the Detroit Regional Chamber and the Michigan Nonprofit Association in the metropolitan Detroit area. The program is operated in other parts of Michigan in collaboration with local nonprofit service providers in Marquette and in the Greater Triangle area in North Carolina.

Q. What is the difference between BoardConnect and boardnetUSA?
A. BoardConnect is the training and matching program. boardnetUSA is a free national online database that helps match candidates interested in board service with nonprofits seeking board members.

Q. Why is training necessary?
A. BoardConnect is based on the premise that training and matching go hand in hand. Individuals need to know their roles and responsibilities to be effective board members, and nonprofits need to plan carefully to build their boards. BoardConnect offers two separate training session: "Serving on a Nonprofit Board" for individuals interested in board service, and "Building Your Board" for nonprofit staff and board members seeking to add new members.

Q. Can you assign individuals to boards?
A. Although BoardConnect requires all board candidates to attend training on nonprofit board roles and responsibilities, we rely on nonprofit organizations to screen individual candidates for their suitability for board service. Therefore, we do not assign individuals to specific boards.

Q. How much does it cost to participate?
A. Prices may vary depending on your geographic area. If you are an individual interested in board service, you can view a list of training dates on our training calendar which includes times and locations. Pricing for these classes can be seen below. For pricing information on on-site trainings, please contact the Volunteer Center.

Beginning July 1, 2009, pricing will be as follows
$45 per session - reflects $5 discount for online registration
$25 per session for confirmed Nonprofit Alliance (NPA) Members

Q. How often do you match individuals with boards?
A. The number of matches made in each year varies depending on an individual's interests and a nonprofit board's needs. In general, a candidate can usually expect to be matched with a nonprofit (or at least contacted about a potential board position) once in a calendar year. A nonprofit can usually expect one or two matches in a calendar year.

Cancellation policy:
A three (3) day notice is required for all cancellations. The registration fee minus a $10 processing fee will be returned to any registrant who provides the required notice. Registrations are transferable with advanced notice.