Adopted 5/20/13
BOARD POLICIES
Community Involvement Programs
Table of Contents
I. ENDS POLICIES
ENDS Policy 1: Mission …………………………………………………………………………...... 3
ENDS Policy 2: Vision for the Individuals We serve……………………………………………..……...... 3
ENDS Policy 3: Vision for the Organization ……………………………………………………..…...…...3
ENDS Policy 4: Program ENDS ……………………………………………………………………....…...4
ENDS Policy 5: What Cost …………………………………………………………………….……...... 4
II. GOVERNANCE
Governance Policy 1: Board Areas of Responsibility ...…………………………………………..….….....5
Governance Policy 2: Governance Style ………………………………………………………...... 7
Governance Policy 3: Committee Structure and Process ………………………………………….……….8
Governance Policy 4: Expectations of Board Members ……………………………………………...... 10
Governance Policy 5: Executive Compensation …..…………………………………………....…...... 12
Governance Policy 6: Monitoring Board Performance …………………………………………..…..…...13
III. EXECUTIVE LIMITATIONS
Executive Limitations Policy 1: Core Values and Shared Beliefs ……………………..……………..…..14
Executive Limitations Policy 2: Finance ...……………………………………………………….……….15
Executive Limitations Policy 3: Personnel …………………………………….…………………….…....18
Executive Limitations Policy 4: Compensation and Benefits ...……………………………………..…....19
Executive Limitations Policy 5: Programs ...……………………………………..………………….…....20
Executive Limitations Policy 5: Whistleblower Policy ...………………………………………….…..….21
Executive Limitations Policy 6: Record Retention Policy ...……………………………..…………...…..23
Executive Limitations Policy 7: Executive Emergency and Succession Policy ...…………..……….……24
IV. BOARD/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER LINKAGE
Board/Chief Executive Officer Linkage Policy 1: Delegation of Board Authority ……………….….…...25
Board/Chief Executive Officer Linkage Policy 2: Chief Executive Officer Job Expectations ……...... 26
Sample Board/Chief Executive Officer Linkage Policy 3: Monitoring Chief Executive Officer Performance ……...27
I. ENDS POLICIES
ENDS Policy 1: Mission
As listeners, learners, and leaders, we will stand with and support people who have disabilities in their communities as they pursue their personal dreams and goals.
ENDS Policy 2: Vision for the Individuals We Support
· Each individual will experience a quality of life defined by personal preferences, cultural identity, and informed choices.
· Individuals will participate as citizens, contributing to the life of their neighborhoods and communities by the work they do, the relationships they develop, and the interests they share.
· People will be known for their talents, abilities, and interests rather than their deficits, disability, or difficulties.
· Each person’s network of relationships will include family, friends, and others who care about the person.
ENDS Policy 3: Vision for the Organization
We will respond as listeners, learners, and leaders by:
· listening to the people we support
· learning from them what we need to do so that their lives are self-determined rather than agency-prescribed
· leading community efforts so that people reach their personal goals.
We will build collaborative relationships with human service networks and within the community at large.
We will be innovative and embrace change; we will take risks as appropriate to advance our mission.
We will value our employees as essential to realizing our vision and commit to providing the compensation, training, and support necessary to maintain a professional workforce.
ENDS Policy 4: CIP’s Program ENDS
1. Program ENDS.
· The people we support will live in safe, affordable homes with whom they want to live and in locations where they want to live.
· The people we support who want to work will have jobs that reflect their abilities and employment goals.
· The people we support who are retired or who are not working will participate in meaningful activities in their communities that reflect their interest and preferences.
· The people we support will be included in their communities and neighborhoods.
· The people we support will have meaningful relationships that may include family, friends, and others who care about the person.
· The people we support will have access to services that are sensitive to and inclusive of their individual differences and cultural identity.
· The organization will be financially healthy and stable while carrying out its mission.
2. Monitoring of ENDS Policies. The results of the annual Personal Outcomes Survey will be reviewed on an annual basis to monitor progress against Program ENDS and the overall ENDS Policies will be monitored quarterly through the Chief Executive Officer’s Internal Reports and updated on an annual basis.
ENDS Policy 5: What Cost?
* To be determined at a later date
II. BOARD GOVERNANCE.
Governance Policy 1: Board Areas of Responsibility
1. Linkage to Ownership. The CIP Board of Directors recognizes its primary role is to represent the interest of its identified Ownership and to bring the voices of its Ownership to the board table to inform planning, decision-making and monitoring. Board representation of the Ownership interest demands specific linkage activities. The CIP Board determines its Ownership to be community members who are committed to people with disabilities and believe people with disabilities are an integral part of a vibrant community.
2. Completeness and Explicitness of Governing Policies. The Board is responsible for forming the following governance policies. Board policies are of the following types:
a. Policies on ENDS. These clarify, at the Board's broad level of concern, the impacts that services shall have, the operating principles that shall guide agency actions, the priorities that shall exist among competing needs, and the external standards that shall be observed. A longrange, strategic perspective will be maintained.
b. Policies Limiting Executive Authority. These state those ethical and prudent values which may not be violated or exceeded by the Chief Executive Officer.
c. Policies on the Governance Process. These set forth the Board's approach to governance, including its concepts of ownership, use of committee process, Board responsibilities, relationship to external authorities, and the description of Board job responsibility areas.
d. Policies on Executive Linkage. These describe the Board's approach to delegation and communications, method of monitoring, and the job expectations of the Chief Executive Officer.
3. Assurance of Chief Executive Officer Performance. The performance of the organization as a whole in complying with Board ENDS and Executive Limitations policies is equivalent to the performance of the Chief Executive Officer for purposes of Chief Executive Officer Performance evaluation.
4. Monitoring Chief Executive Officer Performance.
a. Chief Executive Officer Performance Evaluation Process. Evaluation of the performance of the Chief Executive Officer shall be the responsibility of the whole Board and will be facilitated by the Board Leadership Committee. Each board member may be requested to complete a performance evaluation tool, the results to be compiled and used to assess overall board agreement on executive performance. The resulting summary agreement will be shared with the Chief Executive Officer and the summary report shall be placed in the Chief Executive Officer’s personnel file.
b. Performance Evaluation Criteria. The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the accomplishment of the Board’s identified ENDS while remaining in compliance with Executive Limitations as set forth by the board in its policies.
c. Standards for Evaluation. The Board’s performance standards and expectations of the Chief Executive Officer will be prescribed and documented in its ENDS and Executive Limitations Policies and will be evaluated through the performance evaluation process. The Chief Executive Officer is expected to accomplish ENDS while remaining in compliance with Executive Limitations.
Governance Policy 2: Governance Style
The Board of Directors shall govern the agency so that longterm values and results are achieved in a manner consistent with legal and ethical obligations, with the prudent use of resources, and with deliberate thought with care in the use of the Board's time. To those ends, the governance process used by the Board of Directors will be characterized as follows:
1. Board Focus on ENDS. The major ongoing concern of the Board will be the careful consideration of the agency's reason for existence; that is, the amounts and types of benefits sought for people it serves. All other concerns, however legitimate, will be subordinated as much as possible in order for the Board's conscious effort to be chiefly on its ENDS policies.
2. Long-Term Perspective. The Board will govern with a longterm perspective in all things, attending to current and shortterm issues only:
a. as a temporary expedient,
b. in monitoring Chief Executive Officer’s performance
c. as a device to maintain a grassroots understanding by Board members.
3. Board Speaks with One Voice. The Board will speak with one voice to the Chief Executive Officer and to the community. No individual Board member shall have authority over the agency except as explicitly set forth by the Board as a whole. The Board as a whole will exercise total authority over the agency through the Chief Executive Officer.
4. Responsibilities. The responsibilities of the Board shall be clearly distinguished from those of the Chief Executive Officer.
5. Adhering to Agenda. No issue will consume Board time which has not first been determined by the Board to be a Board issue. All activities of the Board, its officers, its committees, or its members (when acting as Board members) shall be related to the specific responsibilities of the Board as formally adopted. Board meetings shall be disciplined by this principle.
6. Communication with Chief Executive Officer. In relations with the Chief Executive Officer, the Board will communicate affirmatively to "ENDS" of the agency and will address the "executive limitations" in a constraining or negative fashion. In both events, the method of communication will be in explicit, formally categorized, written policies.
7. Delegation to and Accountability of Chief Executive Officer. The Board shall focus its delegation and accountability concerns on the Chief Executive Officer alone, and will
neither interfere with the Chief Executive Officer's management of the agency nor "save" the Chief Executive Officer from the challenges of managing.
Governance Policy 3: Committee Structure and Process
The board may establish committees to help carry out its responsibilities. To preserve board holism, committees will be used sparingly. Committees will be used so as to minimally interfere with the wholeness of the board’s job, and so as never to interfere with delegation from board to Chief Executive Officer. Committees of the Board, unless otherwise defined by the Board, will be for the purpose of preparing issues for proper Board deliberation.
1. Nature of Committee Work. Committees are to perform the "pre-Board" work; study issues, gather information, prepare options. Committees are not to make decisions unless charged by the Board to do so.
2. Board Committees are to Help the Board do its Job, not to Help the Staff do its Jobs. Committees will assist the board chiefly by preparing policy alternatives and implications for board deliberation. Board committees are not to be created by the board to advise staff.
3. Monitoring: Direct Inspection. If a board committee is used to monitor organizational
performance in a given area, the same committee will not have helped the Board create policy in that area. This is to prevent committee over-identification with an organizational part rather than the whole.
4. Establishing Board Committees. Subject to the by-laws and approval of the Board of Directors, the chairperson shall recommend committees, members of committees and chairs of committees. Committees, when appropriate, may include community members as well as board members.
5. Standing Committees. The current standing committees of the Board and their functions are as follows:
a. Executive Committee is empowered to act on behalf of the Board of Directors during the interval between board meetings, if that becomes necessary.
b. Board Leadership Committee is charged with recruiting, orienting, training and developing high quality board officers and members and facilitating the Chief Executive Officer Performance Evaluation.
c. Finance Committee, in its role of monitoring through direct inspection, is charged with assuring organizational compliance with board financial policies.
d. Strategic Planning Committee assists the Board in assures the relevance, viability and sustainability of CIP through governance focus on the future through ongoing activities that inform the Board’s knowledge on issues and trends and assist the Board in planning for the future of CIP.
e. Resource Development Committee engages the Board in developing and implementing a multi-level board-led fundraising strategy to secure needed resources for future viability and sustainability.
6. Committee Authority. Board committees may not speak or act for the Board except when formally given such authority for specific and time-limited purposes. Such authority will be carefully stated in order not to conflict with authority delegated to the Chief Executive Officer.
7. Committee Reporting Responsibility. All standing committees report to the Board and keep minutes of committee meetings for the Board’s institutional memory.
8. Other Committees. The Board may recruit other committees as needed to perform the pre-Board work and assure the overall quality of governance planning and decision-making.
Governance Policy 4: Expectations of Board Members
1. Attendance at Board meetings. Attendance at regularly scheduled Board meetings is a prerequisite for Board members' effective participation in the Board's deliberative process and to insure the presence of a quorum at meetings. Therefore:
a. Notice. Any Board member who will not be able to attend a meeting of the Board should notify the administrative office of Community Involvement Programs two or more business days in advance of any anticipated absence.
b. Attendance Requirement. Any Board member who fails to attend three consecutive Board meetings or a majority of the Board meetings during a full year may be removed from the Board by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
2. Resource Development/Fundraising.
a. Board Fundraising. All Board members are ambassadors, actively engaged in presenting a positive image of CIP to its internal and external stakeholders and opening doors to bring resources into CIP. In addition, the expectations of Board members with regard to fundraising are that each Board member will:
· lead by example, contributing personal resources that are meaningful to assure 100% Board participation in contributions to CIP
· support the Resource Development Plan with enthusiasm and energy
· actively secure financial resources for CIP including personal influence and donations to stimulate responses from financial sources according to the best of his or her abilities
· actively participate in development and public relations efforts by coming to and supporting agency functions
· attend one or more major CIP public relations and/or fundraising events each year
b. Board Recognition. Each Board member will be recognized for his or her efforts and valued for all their contributions.