Is your board—well, bored?

Motivation isn’t always a given, and busy personal lives can mean less involvement from time to time. While a periodic decrease in enthusiasm is normal, a long-term decline can hurt and stall organizational growth.

If your board could use a little inspiration, Kelly Medwick suggested the following on Nonprofit Hub:

Invite a guest speaker. “Invite someone in to talk about why they’re passionate about your cause, whether it’s a longtime volunteer or someone who’s been helped by your organization,” Medwick said. “Let your board members hear firsthand what’s happening on the front lines and how your nonprofit is making an impact on the community. Maybe they’ve lost sight of that—or never even knew.”

Spice up the agenda. “Two-and-a-half hours of 15–20 people discussing issue after issue: Is that your idea of fun? It’s probably not your board’s either,” Medwick said. Try offering dinner or finding new ways to make meetings more interactive.

Streamline communication. Keep board members in the loop with an easily accessible communication portal, monthly newsletter, or Facebook group. “Keep them in the know and foster communication between them, is what I’m saying,” Medwick said. “Don’t let them drift into the Abyss of No Information, which can lead them to the Dark Void of Apathy.”

Healthcare Turned Conservationism

.@HIHngo runs a hospital in Borneo that works in tandem with conservation. The hospital accepts noncash payments such as seedlings, which are then used to grow trees at a reforestation site. Via @Philanthropy https://t.co/PCQ8yrh7lV

— Ariella Phillips (@ariellaphillips) July 25, 2019

You can’t pay for medical care in seedlings in the United States. But in Borneo, an area ravaged by a logging crisis, one nonprofit is accepting the alternative pay to protect the region’s ecosystem.

Health in Harmony, founded in 2005, runs a hospital in Borneo that partners with local conservation efforts. The hospital accepts noncash payments, such as seedlings, that are then used to grow more trees at reforestation sites.

Over the past 10 years alone, the organization has contributed to an 88 percent decrease in the number of households illegally logging inside Gunung Palung National Park and a more than 60 percent drop in the rate of infant mortality, according to data analyzed by Stanford University.

“We’re not the typical organization that does only health or only does livelihoods or only does agriculture,” said Jonathan Jennings, executive director, in an interview with The Chronicle of Philanthropy. “We often say we work at the intersection of human health, ecosystem health, and planetary health.”

Other Links of Note

The rise of influencer marketing comes with a warning: Don’t fall for fake influencers. The Sprout Social blog shares how to identify them.

The next frontier of social media is almost here. The HubSpot blog says these five platforms should be on every marketer’s radar.

The one thing LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner won’t tolerate in meetings: presentations, according to Inc.

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