Member Board relations guidelines

Max Dana Updated by Max Dana

Purpose

The purpose of these guidelines is to guide ArtsPool workers in their interactions with member organizations’ Boards. ArtsPool's goal is to support the Board in their governance duties without interfering in relations between the Board and the member organization’s staff.

Guidelines

A member's ArtsPool service team primarily supports the member's staff. As such, an ArtsPool employee should never make contact with a member organization’s Board member on their own initiative (except as required by #5 below).

In the context of this Guide, primary contact means the most senior decision maker at the organization, e.g. the Executive Director.
  1. If a member's primary contact asks an ArtsPool employee to send an approved document to the Board, a Committee, or an individual Board member (for signature or review), the ArtsPool employee may do so, but they will always copy the member’s primary contact on the communication. An exception to this is Conflict of Interest Disclosures, which many auditors require to be kept confidential during the audit process.
  2. If a Board member approaches an ArtsPool employee for information, the best practice is to check with the member's primary contact before replying, and to copy the member's primary contact on any reply.
  3. ArtsPooler employees should avoid expressing any opinion as to the behavior or job performance of a member organization’s staff to their supervisor or Board, or of their Board/Supervisor to their staff.
  4. ArtsPooler employees should avoid volunteering advice on Board/staff relations to either party. If asked for advice, the response should be confined within the scope of the ArtsPool employee's specific services to the company (i.e., financial maintenance, financial operations, or workforce administration).
  5. In the event of an allegation or suspicion of fraud, theft, embezzlement, accounting or auditing irregularities, bribery, kickbacks, or misuse of the organization’s assets or personnel, these guidelines will be superseded by the relevant Whistleblower laws and policies. In such a situation, ArtsPoolers should:
    1. Follow the member organization’s Whistleblower policy.
    2. If the organization has no Whistleblower policy, alert the member's primary contact.
    3. If the member's primary contact is implicated, alert the Board Treasurer or Chair of the Audit Committee.

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