Nonprofit organizations play a crucial role in our society. These organizations — large and small — are meeting an amazingly diverse range of needs by caring for the sick and vulnerable, nurturing creativity, responding to disasters, developing neighborhoods, protecting the environment or educating youth and adults and more.

While nonprofit organizations take on a variety of forms, they use a similar structure, which includes being governed by a board of directors. Board members bring different professional backgrounds, knowledge, experience, talents, perspective and networks to their organizations. They are attentive stewards, a source of inspiration and willing fundraisers. Their enthusiasm is contagious.

The conventional approach to recruiting new board members involves asking current board members to suggest friends or colleagues. In fact, if you asked a new board member why he joined a board, the reply probably would be “because I was asked.” This method works for many nonprofit organizations and for well-connected individuals who are interested in board service. But in the St. Louis region, many board seats remain unfilled and minorities tend to be under-represented. We need to cast a wider net.

The board candidate shortfall is most acute for new, small and mid-sized organizations, which account for approximately 75 percent of all nonprofit organizations. These organizations often lack the contacts to recruit board members with needed skills, perspectives, backgrounds and resources. And individuals who want to give back to our community, but who are unaware of board service opportunities, say they need help finding nonprofit organizations that match their interests and expertise.

BoardLinkStL is addressing this community need by offering a new approach to the board recruitment process. Like match.com, we bring people together.

Start Now:
Individual interested in becoming a board member

Organizations interested in finding board members