“‘Boardography’ will help match people wanting to serve with right organization
The University of North Texas Health Science Center and the University of North Texas have joined together to introduce a new program that matches people who want to serve on nonprofit boards with nonprofit organizations that need board members, officials announced last week.
Called “Boardography, the program began when Kimberly Mills, program director, approached the Office of Professional and Continuing Education at the UNT Health Science Center and the UNT Denton’s Department of Public Affairs and Community Service, looking for a home for the program.
“I helped start a program similar to this at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh,” Mills said. “It was wildly successful. When my husband and I relocated back here for his work, I saw that the Dallas-Fort Worth area didn’t have anything like this, so I started knocking on doors. The response has been tremendous.”
Mills continued, “Our community is filled with nonprofits. They all have boards, and they all need board members. At the same time, there are lots of professionals who really want a chance to develop personally and professionally through leadership experiences.”
Mills facilitates the process by meeting personally with people who sign up for Boardography to determine a candidate’s interests and skills. She also meets with nonprofit organizations throughout the Metroplex to determine what their specific needs are in terms of board members.
After matching candidates with organizations, she sends the information to the organization.
“At that point, it’s up to the candidates and the nonprofits to make a mutual decision to see if the nonprofit wants to invite the candidates to join the board and the candidate wants to accept,” Mills said. “So I don’t actually make matches. I make introductions.”
Boardography is free to both nonprofit organizations and candidates, so it exists based on donations from individuals and groups. Radio Shack is the founding funder.
“Everyone in the community benefits from the program,” Mills said.
“Nonprofits get stronger board members; people in need get stronger nonprofit organizations. Professionals get to join boards they are interested in, and corporations get employees who are more engaged in the community.”
For information, call Mills, at 817-735-0177, e-mail her at kmills@hsc.unt.edu, or go online to www.boardography.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, September 8, 2006.
