The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is a non-profit-making organization that is associated with fighting hunger and helping the needy people. One of the most important pillars of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is its board of directors. A non-profit board supervises the organization’s resources and ensure that the organization is on healthy financial balance. This paper will discuss the board’s legal and ethical duties their significance to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank success. Additionally, the paper will provide an assessment of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank responsibility to create positive social change concerning the fundamental problems that the organization happens to address. A description of the responsibilities of individual board members concerning fundraising and the responsibility of the board for financial oversight will also be highlighted in the paper.
The board’s legal and ethical responsibilities. All members of the board in The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank ought to meet some set of standards of conduct which is achieved through concentrating on both their individual and collective duties to the organization as well as its members. The legal and responsibilities of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank board member are defined as the “three D’s” (the duty of obedience, the duty of care and the duty of loyalty). The duty of obedience calls for all board members of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to ensure that the organization conforms with all laws and regulations including the local state and the federal laws (Barlow, 2016). The importance of the duty of obedience to the organization is that it shows that board members continue to be faithful to both the mission and vision of the organization.
The duty of care calls for all board members of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to use their individual judgment to take part and represent their organization in decision-making processes. Each member of the board has the responsibility of making well-versed judgments and for that matter, they need to ask questions and secure facts that will help them to get clarity of the issues. The duty of care also calls for members of the board of the Los Angeles Regional Food Banks to seek out self-determining professional advice when entering into material contracts. The duty of loyalty calls for all members of the board of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to cast aside any interests (personal or professional) and place ahead the interests of the organization (Barlow, 2016). The board members are also obliged to respect the confidentiality of the affairs of the organization by not revealing them in a manner that result in loss of opportunity for the organization.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank responsibility to bring about positive social change. To bring about the positive social change concerning the underlying problem that The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank address, the organization has developed a comprehensive social impact reporting. Here, the organization, has been able to utilize the social impact reporting in building its trust and credibility along with encouraging transparency and accountability in their conduct (Bloomquist, 2018). The use of the social impact reporting has enabled the Los Angeles Food Bank to have a yearly, organized process for recalling and assessing intentions, vision, outcomes, as well as the everyday outcomes of social programs. The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has had a competitive advantage over other nonprofits in the market courtesy of its well-structured social impact reporting. It is an area that The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has paid attention to and as a result it has yielded a positive social change to the organization undertakings.
A listing of essential policies that the board should adopt. Policies in an organization offer a framework essential in the decision-making process. In cases of nonprofit organizations, the board of directors are the one responsible for adopting and adjusting policies for their respective organizations (Mackey, 2013). Now, the essential policies that the board of the Los Angeles Food Bank ought to adopt include the following:
- Bylaws which gives a framework of how the organization ought to be governed.
- Code of ethics that describes the right and wrong within the organization.
- Confidentiality policy that describes how confidential information ought to be handled.
- Compensation policy that outlines the process by which the salary of the executive is determined.
- Conflict of interest policy that outlines how the organization and the members balance between self and organizational interests.
- Financial policy that contain vital information regarding handling of funds.
Individual board member’s responsibilities on fundraising and financial oversight. All non- profit organizations depend on fundraising to get the necessary resources for operation. Each board member has the mandate of ensuring that the organization attracts the necessary resources for its successful operation (D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program, 2014). One of the responsibilities of the board on fundraising is creating a strategy. Additionally, the board ought to ensure that all the practices of fundraising are ethical and cost effective. The board should also assist the management in evaluating prospective donors. Regarding the financial oversight, the board has a responsibility of approving the budget created by the management of the organization normally on an annual basis. The board are also responsible in ensuring that all the stakeholders on that organization comply with its policies and procedures. The board is also responsible in ensuring the financial sustainability of the organization by assessing and comparing the current and the previous performances.
References
