Center for Excellence in Board Governance

“.....nonprofits tend to focus their capacity building efforts on building their technical and management capacities, even though the need for adaptive and leadership capacity building is greater.”
--2003 report, the Conservation Company

Board Recruitment and Training trains local professionals from the business community on best practices in board governance so that they are prepared to assume leadership positions on nonprofit boards. Trainees are then matched with the needs of nonprofit governing bodies.

Nonprofit participation in this program is by application only. Call 978-604-8803 for more information.

Board placement involves a 3-phase process:

1. Preliminary Screening

Participating Nonprofits;
  • Complete application
  • Complete survey of the skills of existing board members
  • Show proof of Directors and Officers Insurance
 Professional Trainees
  • Selected based on leadership and team building skills
  • Submit application and resume
  • Willing and available to commit to 2 years on Lawrence nonprofit board

2. Formal Training on Board Governance

  • Workshops include: (1) Fundamentals and best practices of board governance, (2) financial and legal responsibilities, fundraising roles and strategies.
  • At lease one board member from participating nonprofit required to attend.

3. Match Making

Participating nonprofit
  • Meet with Jericho Road to share strengths and needs of existing board
 Professional trainees
  • Jericho Road suggests nonprofits that meet trainee’s skills and interests
  • Jericho Road shares nonprofit’s application with trainee
  • Trainee’s resume and application shared with nonprofit



No obligation meeting between nonprofit and trainee
  • After meeting, candidate and nonprofit decides if interested
  • If yes, nonprofit takes candidate through next steps in their recruiting process

“Like many small non-profits, we recognize the need to improve our Board of Director's effectiveness. Recently, we were able to add a wonderful representative from New Balance to our board through Jericho Road. This is only one of several times we have gone to Jericho Road for pro-bono professional help.
David Edwards, Executive Director, Communities Together