I’m actually not convinced that we need a policy here, especially since people have very limited time and I suspect if someone is on like 12 different boards then they will have very little influence at each org because they’re spreading their time so thin. But I don’t have board experience, so I could be wrong here.
We consider CEOs of large companies as being capable of steering the whole company for better or worse, and they can have far more staff and decision-making requirements than the whole EA nonprofit world combined.
If someone is on so many boards that they have minimal influence at each, that is an independent reason to limit their service and ask someone else to serve. I’m really impressed, for instance, by RP’s open call for board member applications.
I’m more concerned about someone being on the board / in leadership of 3-4 particularly important organizations than in 12.
To be fair to OpenPhil, it’s common to have a major donor in a board seat as a means of providing transparency/accountability to that donor...
I’m actually not convinced that we need a policy here, especially since people have very limited time and I suspect if someone is on like 12 different boards then they will have very little influence at each org because they’re spreading their time so thin. But I don’t have board experience, so I could be wrong here.
We consider CEOs of large companies as being capable of steering the whole company for better or worse, and they can have far more staff and decision-making requirements than the whole EA nonprofit world combined.
If someone is on so many boards that they have minimal influence at each, that is an independent reason to limit their service and ask someone else to serve. I’m really impressed, for instance, by RP’s open call for board member applications.
I’m more concerned about someone being on the board / in leadership of 3-4 particularly important organizations than in 12.
To be fair to OpenPhil, it’s common to have a major donor in a board seat as a means of providing transparency/accountability to that donor...