Board Development

Regardless of whether your mentoring program is part of an existing organization (i.e. school, agency) or a separate organization, you will need to form an advisory group or mentoring program committee to help guide the development of your program.

The decision to have a formal advisory structure, such as a board of directors or a less formal advisory group, will be based on your decision during the program design phase about whether you will be a freestanding program, partner with another organization or be part of a larger organization. In any case, your advisory group will provide vision and leadership for your program.

If you decided to become a 501(c)(3), you will need a formal board of directors. The board will have legal and fiduciary responsibility for your organization, so the selection of directors is very important and should reflect key areas of expertise you need, including legal, financial, organizational and program management. Many boards also include members who represent the constituency that is being served.

If, on the other hand, your mentoring program is part of a larger, established organization or you will partner with another established organization, a board of directors is already in place. If you already have a board of directors, you can create your advisory structure in a number of ways, such as these two:

Add people with interest and experience in mentoring to the board of your organization; and/or
Create a standing committee within the current board structure with specific responsibilities for your mentoring program.

Forming an Advisory Group

What is an Advisory Group?

Your program's advisory group will function much like a board of directors. Its members will provide vision, leadership and legal and fiduciary accountability. In seeking out individuals to serve on your advisory group, look for people who reflect the diversity of your community and are committed to your program's mission.

In addition, look for individuals who represent the "three W's" so important to sustaining a program: Work, Wisdom and/or Wealth. Seek out parents, mentors, youth, community members, proven volunteers, educators, clergy, doctors, foundation representatives, corporate leaders and philanthropists. All prospective advisory group members should be willing and able to provide personal financial support to your program at the level most appropriate for them. Their strong commitment is important because prospective funders will ask if your board members support the mentoring program.

What does the Advisory Group do?

In general, your advisory group will have three primary areas of responsibility:

Setting policy for your mentoring program.
Assuming legal responsibility for all of the affairs of your organization (including, but not limited to incorporation, by-laws, liability and insurance); and
Serving as the fiduciary body for your organization, overseeing accounting, auditing, fundraising, budgeting, investing and financial procedures.

Depending on the needs of your program, you can structure your advisory group in one of two ways: either using the advisory model or the hands-on model.

Under the advisory model, your advisory group offers advice and sets policy, while your program coordinator oversees day-to-day operations.
Under the hands-on model, your advisory group is more actively involved, possibly chairing a working team to develop and implement specific parts of your program.

No matter which model you choose to follow, your advisory group will have one of the most significant tasks in building your program: agreeing upon and clearly spelling out, in writing, your program's philosophy and mission. This written document should explain how the mentoring program relates to your mission. In addition, the document should clarify:

The population your program intends to serve (for example, young people from the surrounding neighborhood, students in a particular school, etc.);
How you will identify, recruit and match mentors and young people;
How often mentors and young people will meet and how long the relationships will last;
Non-mentoring roles (such as fundraising, public relations, special events) available to volunteers (with job descriptions for each);
Types of activities mentors and mentees will take part in (group activities, one-to-one mentoring, e-mentoring, etc.).
Issues of potential liability; and
The amount of funding you will need and how your program intends to raise it.

(These sections are excerpted from How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program Using the Elements of Effective Practice, Section V. How to Manage a Program for Success.)