Three-fold: The Head, The Heart and The Wallet

1. Ensure organization's mission and purpose, set policies -- Preserving and nurturing the artistic mission
2. Supervise and evaluate organizational performance -- Appoint/terminate/evaluate executive and artistic leadership
3. Ensure adequate resources. -- Commitment to give and get
4. Ensure effective financial and legal management.
5. Ensure strong board leadership --Ongoing board development linked to mission and vision of the organization
6. Avoid conflicts of interest --Act on behalf of organization and constituents
7. Be an advocate for organization --Able to effectively speak about organization
8. Assess Board's performance --Periodically review the board's effectiveness (Retreats); --Strategic Planning | Downloads

Practices to Avoid

• Engaging in day-to-day operations
• Hiring staff other than executive and artistic directors
• Making changes to mission/programming without consulting staff
• Developing a habit of not attending meetings