NONPROFIT BREAKFAST FORUM SERIES for 
NONPROFIT BOARD and STAFF MEMBERS

Session II
Rising to the challenge or running for the door:

What can boards do when things go wrong?

March 30, 2005
7:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.
Cost - $15.00

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Session II:  Rising to the challenge or running for the door:

What can boards do when things go wrong?

Chris Cornforth, Senior Lecturer in Voluntary Sector Management and Head of the Public Interest and Non-profit Management Research Unit (PiN) at the Open University Business School in the United Kingdom (UK), and Dr. Jill Mordaunt, academic researcher at the Open University Business School in the United Kingdom (UK), will give an overview of their research on effective nonprofit board work in difficult times.  We have invited these British researchers to describe the findings of their recent research on nonprofit boards and how they contribute to nonprofit success or failure when their organizations are having problems.  Cornforth and Mordaunt will speak on what boards can do when things seem to be going wrong, and discuss the ways that boards can make a difference in making problems and crises better or worse.  In addition to their research background, both of these skilled presenters share significant experience as consultants, members, and executives working with boards.

Chris Cornforth is a Senior Lecturer in Voluntary Sector Management and Head of the Public Interest and Non-profit Management Research Unit (PiN) at the Open University Business School in the United Kingdom (UK). His research focuses on the governance and management of nonprofit organizations. Two of his recent publications include ‘Recent trends in charity governance and trusteeship’,  London: National Council of Voluntary Organizations, 2001 and ‘The Governance of Public and Non-profit Organizations: What Do Boards Do?’ (Ed.), London: Routledge, 2003.  Cornforth serves as a member of the steering group overseeing the development of national occupational standards for board members in the United Kingdom, and recently has been serving on a development team that has a government contract to develop a national strategy for improving the quality of governance in the voluntary and community sector. In addition to his research and consulting, Cornforth has served on various nonprofit boards throughout his career. 

Dr. Jill Mordaunt has experience both as an academic researcher and as a practitioner in nonprofit management. She has worked for the Open University since 1986 and now lectures in social enterprise and nonprofit management. She has extensive experience of the voluntary and community sector as a practitioner, consultant and board member, and her current research interests are in organizational failure, recovery and governance.  She also served as part of the development team commissioned by the government to develop a strategy for strengthening governance in the voluntary and community sector in England.