The Board Bank is a confidential register of people with business skills who are offering to share their skills and expertise with the arts and museums by serving on boards of management. It is often described as a sort of dating agency for prospective board members. The Positive Action Board Bank targets Black and racial minority candidates.  Board Bank Extra targets Deaf and Disabled candidates.  Research and development pf participation by more marginalised disabled communities, such as people with learning disabilities, is under way.

Who is it for?

Not for profit arts organisations and museums are governed by non executive boards or committees who have legal responsibility for their management. To operate effectively, these boards must possess a range of skills, including business skills such as finance, law, marketing, HR and planning.  However, arts organisations often find it difficult to recruit such experienced people. Through the Board Bank arts organisations can strengthen their boards with new people who possess the specific expertise and interests they are seeking.

Business Managers and professionals who have specialist expertise to offer and about five years of management experience. This programme is suitable for people who wish to develop a longer term relationship with a single organisation and are interested in working at a strategic level on a board.

How does it work?

Arts organisations and museums seeking new board members should discuss their needs with BIA:NW and then submit an application form with supporting information.

After acceptance and registration onto the scheme, the volunteer is asked to attend the Introduction to Board Membership course.  An early evening session which introduces the candidates to the sector, the sort of responsibilities that they will be accepting and good practice in board management.

BIA:NW matches candidates and applications on the basis of skills, arts interests, geography and other factors.  Once the candidate has reviewed the opportunity and made the decision to go forward, BIA:NW writes to the arts organisation asking them to contact the candidate. The two parties meet without obligation, to decide if the match is a good one. 

Since 1995 BIA:NW has placed over 340 people on boards.  Visit the Case Studies page for some examples

THE POSITIVE ACTION BOARD BANK

Supported by ACE, NW, BIA:NW is also running a Positive Action arm of the Board Bank to target black and racial minority candidates. The programme has been developed as a response to the under representation of Black people on the boards of arts organisations.  It is not open to museums.

The process for candidates is identical to the mainstream programme, but arts organisations need to fulfil some additional criteria to ensure that they make the best possible use of new members provided through this initiative.

Candidates are sought from not only private sector, but also from the education and public sectors providing the individuals possess relevant skills.

22 candidates have been matched so far.

BOARD BANK EXTRA

Building upon the success of the Positive Action Board Bank (PABB), from 2002 to 2004 BIA:NW was supported by ACE, NW to carry out action research into the feasibility of running a Board Bank scheme for Deaf and Disabled people in order to increase diversity on boards in the arts sector.

With guidance from a Steering Group made up of representatives from North West Disability Arts Forum, Full Circle Arts, Breakthrough UK, Prism Arts and Wirral MBC, BIA:NW recruited Deaf and Disabled candidates, identified interested arts organisations and achieved eight successful matches.

The process for candidateshas been identical to that for the mainstream Board Bank.  Arts organisations receiving candidates received guidance in terms of access and diversity issues and were provided with an information pack for circulation to all their board members.

Eight candidates have been matched through this pilot programme. One of them, Susan Bennett of LCS Limited, was named Board Bank Member of the Year at the Bravo! Awards in April 2005 for her board membership of Sunbeans Music Trust

Some candidates are still available for matching.

At the conclusion of the action research, a full evaulation report was produced by independent consultants G&M Associates.  A summary of the report may be found here

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

BIA:NW has recently appointed Susan Bennett (see above) to research and develop participation in the Board Bank programme by marginalised and excluded disabled people - for example people with learning disabilities and BRM communities.

Susan can of course add direct experience of the programme to her excellent credentials as a consultant who has worked extensively with disabled people and disability organisations.

Organisations and individuals who are interested in getting involved should contact Susan at susan.bennett@lcslimited or speak to Dorothy Taylor at BIA:NW.