Board Self-Assessment

Does your foundation board want to do its job even better? Are there opportunities to improve but you aren’t sure how to jump start the conversation? Or are there major challenges that no one quite knows how to address?

All of these are great reasons to do a board self-assessment. ASF’s new board self-assessment primer, survey questionnaire, and analysis tools offer a straightforward process for your foundation board. This practical tool is the only board self-assessment designed for all types of grantmaking foundations with few or no staff.

Read an overview of the ASF Board Self-Assessment Survey.

Comprehensive

• Trustee roles and responsibilities, board effectiveness and dynamics, governance, grantmaking, legal & tax compliance, investments and financial oversight
• Independent, family, corporate, community, staffed & unstaffed foundations
• Grantee and applicant perception, board meeting assessment, and individual board member self-assessment

Flexible

• Take one, multiple, or all sections.
• Conduct it once, repeat the same sections periodically, complete different sections over time.
• Can be short and quick, or can more in-depth.

Affordable

Introductory pricing, only available to ASF members. Not a member?

• With ASF Support: $750 includes the survey questionnaire, analysis tools, and coaching and support from ASF. We analyze the results and draft tailored reports for you.


• Do It Yourself: $500 includes the survey questionnaire, analysis tools, and one hour of coaching from ASF. You analyze the results and prepare reports yourself.

Questions? Please e-mail Ruth Masterson at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call her at 888-212-9922.

Testimonials

“[ASF’s board self-assessment]...was the best review we could have done. It brought to the surface things that needed to be discussed; policies some had forgotten; and the need for a little training in investments, finances, and current federal and state requirements. Every member of the board participated and all are grateful we took the time.”
—ASF member Marty Fluharty, The Americana Foundation

“ASF’s Practical Board Self-Assessment and the subsequent recommendations provided a really useful blueprint for our board to develop their own self-education and organizational development process. Thanks again for the help you lent in making that possible!”
—ASF member Jeff Glebocki, R.J. Wean Foundation

“Thank you so much for your work with us on the board self-assessment. The report was great!  Everyone on the board was very happy with it and thought that the process was well worth our time.  We all felt that the report drew attention to all the things that people had been wanting to say.”
—ASF member Jim Wendel, Seymour H. Knox Foundation, Inc.