Public Administration NPO Majors Want to Help Your Board

I, Michael Norman and my partner Ahmed Iya are doing a project this term for a class called Governance of Non-Profits. It is basically a class that focuses on boards and how they function. Our professor is Dr. Linda Golaszewski, who is a professor through the Hatfield School of Government MPA (Masters in Public Administration) program.

We would like to learn more about how your board functions and do our part to provide any insight or commentary from the viewpoint of students who are coming into the Nonprofit field.

Ahmed Iya is a very interesting man. He is from Africa and has spent many years working in NGO's and has some great knowledge and experience to share with any organization.

I, MIke Norman, am very new to the field. I have been a line staff member for homeless youth centers as well as for Neighborhood House Sun School Programs here in Portland, OR.

I would say that the most common element, Ahmed and I share are that we are both people of faith and are not uncomfortable or afraid to deal with issues of faith. I am Christian and he is Muslim. We are happy to explore any opportunity that is faith based or not faith based.

Here are the ways in which we look to interact with you for this assignment:

Research and Create a History document that combines organizational history with changes in its board over time, trend information and/or recommendations for the future.

Identify possible governance models that the board could utilize, identify policy gaps and recommend policy statements.

Develop a board manual and orientation activities.

Create a board evaluation system.

Create a board recruitment and outreach program.

Identify significant governance issues and recommend alternatives and/or solutions.

Do any of those sound interesting to you? Whatever you would like to do, especially if it can help you or your board, would be exciting for us to be apart of.

Thank you again for your time.

SIncerely,

Mike Norman and Ahmed Iya