Skip to Main Content

A Pledge for the New Year

Yoder

by Steve Yoder, Community Development Regional Educator, Purdue Extension 

 

A standard best practice in recruiting members to any community board is to provide them with a written role description to give them a good understanding of what that volunteer position will entail. Topics covered in the description usually range from developing policies to evaluating the Executive Director annually.

A related best practice is to also provide recruits with a copy of a board member pledge form. Also known as a board agreement or covenant, this document takes the role description one step further by outlining shared expectations of how all members will engage with one another as they conduct the group’s work.

Unlike a traditional role description, which focuses on what a board member does, a pledge focuses more on the level of commitment expected of board members. Topics in a pledge usually include expected levels of giving, attendance in meetings, participation in committees, and assurances of confidentiality.

Some boards require members to sign a pledge form each year as a reminder of the level of commitment they have agreed to provide. Other boards simply include a copy of the pledge in the new board member orientation packet to set the tone for board service. However your organization prefers to use it if you don’t have one already, consider developing a board member pledge for the new year to remind your volunteers of the value and importance of their work.

Featured Stories

Capital Comments
The General Assembly Delivers Some Property Tax Relief

Indiana homeowner tax bills increased 17 percent on average this year, the largest increase in...

Read More
Photo of an eclipse
Looking to the Sky

In 2012, I served as president-elect of the National Association of Community Development...

Read More
Capital Comments
An Extra Billion and a Half in State Revenue

The state revenue forecast upped its prediction of revenues for the rest of this fiscal year and...

Read More
Capital Comments
Property Tax Bills are Increasing a Lot in 2023

Indiana county treasurers soon will mail property tax bills to owners of homes, rental housing,...

Read More
fiber cable
Thinking Broadly About Broadband

Nearly eighty-seven years ago, on May 20, 1936, the Rural Electrification Act was passed. At the...

Read More
pen and paper
Beginner’s Tips for Drafting Grant Budgets

If there’s a phrase from Purdue Extension’s Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing...

Read More
To Top