Festivals and special events provide an important community service of bringing the community together in celebrations. Because the events create so much joy and because they are short-term in nature it is usually easy to find willing volunteers. Most festivals offer the overwhelming payment of a festival t-shirt to each volunteer and volunteers are happy to receive one.
But a festival often becomes a big business operating year-round. Board members are frequently drawn from the ranks of the volunteers. In fact some festivals require progressive responsibility to become a member of the board of directors. Board members relish the creativity of producing these events and expect that they will share the expertise they developed as volunteers on the board.
No one would suggest that board members cannot be volunteers with their organization but Policy Governance offers some guidance to keep the board functioning as a policy board. If a different hat were worn depending on a participant's role, when a person is a volunteer, he or she can't wear the director hat. As a volunteer the board member reports to the CEO or whoever has responsibility for that area under the CEO. The board member has no more power or authority than any other volunteer has.
The three basic assumptions of Policy Governance are:
1. The governing board "owns" the organization.
As a board member you are not here to help, you are here to own the organization responsibly, farsightedly. Your concerns aren't just for the next event but events ten years in the future.
The board is not ancillary. The linkage is with the owners. In most cases the community is the moral owner of a festival. Your obligation is to be more outward directed than staff directed.
It is a powerful job. Everything that happens in the organization starts with you. All power starts with you and you decide what to give away. The fastest way to be irresponsible as a board is not to be aware that you have the power.
2. Power is held only as a group. If this were clear then the CEO would know that any time an individual board member speaks that they are just sharing an opinion. The CEO can consider it to the same extent he or she might consider any opinion. But when the majority of the board state an opinion, it is like God is speaking.
3. The Board speaks to the CEO and to the CEO alone. Even if a board member/volunteer reports to the parade manager, the board member has no ability to give that person direction. All instructive direction - what results to obtain, for whom, and at what cost - is given to the CEO.