Questions to Ask Board Members in an Interview
Questions to put to board members when you are the one being interviewed, whether for a seat on the board or for a senior role that reports to it. They cover why the seat is open, what the commitment really is in time and money, how disagreement is handled, what oversight looks like, and what liability you would be taking on.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Why is this seat open right now?
Why ask it
The answer separates growth from repair. A vacancy created by a mid-term resignation, or by a board realising it lacked a particular expertise after something went wrong, is a very different job from filling a planned rotation.
What made you say yes when you were asked to join?
Why ask it
It gets a sitting member talking about the organization rather than the process, and the candour of the answer sets the tone for everything after. 'A friend asked me' is a real answer, and it tells you how recruitment works here.
How much time does this take in a normal month, and in a bad month?
Why ask it
Published commitments understate reality, especially around audits, executive transitions and crises. Ask for both figures, because the bad months are when people discover they cannot actually serve.
What is the expectation on giving or raising money, and is there a number?
Why ask it
Give-or-get expectations are often implied rather than stated, and discovering one afterward breeds resentment on both sides. A board that cannot say whether a number exists has not had the conversation internally either.
What is the one decision this board has to get right in the next year?
Why ask it
This tests whether the board shares any sense of priority. Three unrelated answers from three interviewers means you would be joining a board without an agenda, which is work rather than an honor.
What has the board disagreed about most recently?
Why ask it
Recent disagreement is evidence of a functioning board. If the answer is that the board never disagrees, either the real discussion happens somewhere else or nothing consequential is being decided in the room.
When the board and the chief executive disagree, what does that look like here?
Why ask it
This relationship is most of the job. Listen for whether disagreement is normal and survivable, or whether it becomes personal and ends with somebody leaving.
Who runs the meeting, and how does something get onto the agenda?
Why ask it
Whoever controls the agenda controls the board. If items reach it only through the chief executive, your ability to raise a concern will be limited whatever the bylaws happen to say.
Is the board of one mind about the current strategy, or are there camps?
Why ask it
Factions are not disqualifying, but walking into one unaware is slow and uncomfortable. Ask each interviewer separately, because the pattern across their answers is the real answer.
What would you change about this board if you could change one thing?
Why ask it
Sitting members will usually tell you, and the specifics beat any description of culture. Repeated references to meeting length, packet quality or one dominant personality are worth taking at face value.
How is the organization funded, and how much runway is there today?
Why ask it
You are being asked to take on fiduciary duty, so the financial position is not an indelicate subject. Ask for months of operating reserve, how concentrated the funding is, and whether payroll has ever been at risk.
Has anyone left the board recently, and why?
Why ask it
Mid-term resignations usually have a story, and it is entirely fair to ask for it before accepting. A run of quiet departures, particularly clustered around one issue or one person, is the clearest warning you will get.
What is the committee structure, and where would you want me?
Why ask it
Committee work is where board time actually goes. If nobody can say where they want you, they may be recruiting a name for the letterhead rather than filling a gap.
What would you want from me in the first six months?
Why ask it
A specific answer, chair the audit committee, open three doors, help recruit a finance lead, shows the board thought about why they approached you. 'Come and learn for a while' is fine for month one and thin as a whole answer.
How is the chief executive evaluated, by whom, and when did that last happen?
Why ask it
The date is the informative part. An evaluation that has not happened in several years is a governance problem you would be inheriting, along with the awkwardness of being the one to raise it.
Is there any litigation, audit finding, unpaid tax or regulatory matter I should know about?
Why ask it
You take on exposure the day you join, so this belongs in the conversation before you accept rather than after. Reluctance to discuss it plainly is itself the answer.
Is there directors and officers insurance, and what does indemnification cover?
Why ask it
These two things determine what happens to you personally if the organization is sued. Ask to see the policy limits, the exclusions and the bylaw language rather than accepting an assurance not to worry.
Looking at recent agendas, how much time goes to strategy compared with reports?
Why ask it
Ask for a rough split from the last few meetings. A board that mostly receives reports is not governing, and you would be joining a review panel rather than a decision-making body.
What is the term, do terms renew automatically, and how does someone leave?
Why ask it
Automatic renewal with no exit process produces boards nobody can leave and nobody can be asked to leave. The norms around resigning tell you how this group manages itself.
If I join and turn out not to add much, how would that conversation happen?
Why ask it
Asking now makes an honest review possible later. A board that has never eased anyone out is a board that keeps everyone indefinitely, which explains why some seats are so hard to be useful in.
Being interviewed by a board
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
- Read two years of financial statements. For a US nonprofit the Form 990 is public; look at reserves, how concentrated the revenue is, and whether the auditor changed.
- Ask for recent minutes. Nothing describes a board faster than the record of what it chose to spend its time on.
- Find out who is already on the board and how they are connected to each other. Overlapping employment, family and business relationships are the usual source of conflicts of interest.
- Try to speak with someone who has left the board, not only with those still on it.
- Write down what you want from this: a cause, specific expertise, a network, a route toward a chair role. Board service absorbs more time than anyone plans for, so the reason should be clear to you.
During the conversation
Ask the same questions of more than one person
Put three of these to the chair, to another member and to the chief executive separately. The variation between their answers is where the useful information sits.
Ask about the last hard thing
A specific recent difficulty, a lost funder, a departure, an audit finding, produces a far more honest picture than any question about culture. Notice whether they can describe it without reducing it to one person's fault.
Notice what you are not offered
If nobody puts forward financial statements, bylaws, minutes, the conflict of interest policy or the insurance details, ask directly. A board that treats those as sensitive is showing you how it will handle your questions later.
Before you accept
- 1Get the time expectation, the financial expectation and the length of the term in writing.
- 2Read the bylaws and the conflict of interest policy, and disclose anything relevant before your first meeting rather than after.
- 3Confirm that directors and officers coverage is current, and ask what it excludes.
- 4Check that the organization is current on filings, payroll taxes and audits, since personal exposure on some of those is real in some jurisdictions.
- 5Agree with the chair what you will actually do in your first six months, so the expectation is shared rather than assumed.
If you are interviewing for a job rather than a seat
Most of these work unchanged when you are meeting board members as a candidate for chief executive or another role reporting to the board. Add a few: how the board sees the authority of the role, what the previous holder found hardest, how many members expect direct contact with you, and who you should treat as your single point of accountability. Where board members give noticeably different answers about the role's priorities, that disagreement becomes your first year of work, so it is much better to hear it during the interview.