DE&I: National Recreation Foundation Board’s Transformation

Bringing the right mix of people on board

Historically, The National Recreation Foundation’s (NRF) board consisted primarily of successful white businessmen, a demographic that might not have as complete an understanding of the experiences and needs of BIPOC youth as might be desired. After thoughtful consideration and discussions, NRF’s leadership determined that their board would benefit from having a wider range of members – and thus a wider range of perspectives. Transforming the board in this way would better position NRF for greater impact, reaching more youth and changing more lives.

The Road to a New Board 

NRF wanted a mix of people on its board, but it needed to be the right people.

NRF leaders wanted trustees that represented a mixture of backgrounds across many dimensions, including age, gender, ethnicity, race, geography, and profession. They believed that Board leadership should reflect a broad range of perspectives, expertise, world views, and lived experiences.

Recognizing the need for deeper, more varied experience on the Board, the NRF team vowed to recruit Trustees with expertise in public health, outdoor recreation, youth development, academia, and social justice. They also needed several Trustees with investment expertise to oversee NRF’s nearly $50M endowment portfolio. Additionally, NRF wanted all new recruits to be passionate about serving young people experiencing economic or health challenges.

NRF needed a plan – a road map that outlined where it was and where it wanted to go.  As part of the process, NRF:
 

• Created a matrix/spreadsheet with the details of its current roster of Trustees: each person’s name, gender, age, ethnicity, geographic region, length of service on the Board, and area of expertise, to readily identify the gaps needing to be filled. 
• Set a goal to boost diversity by recruiting new Board members and pledged that within 5 to 8 years, NRF would undergo a 100% turnover of its Board. 
• Retained executive search firm Koya Partners to bring its expertise, objectivity, discipline, and high-quality network to this project, and to develop a “big picture view” of what NRF’s Board had as well as what it was seeking. 
• Leveraged Koya’s wide network of contacts in the fields of environmental education, conservation, and youth development.

The driving force for undertaking this initiative to transform its Board? NRF’s leadership wanted to do more for more young people. To achieve that goal, they needed a group of Trustees with varied perspectives who collectively have a more comprehensive understanding of the needs of today’s youth. 

Challenges

As NRF considered this project, it faced some challenges:
 

• Transitioning and concluding service for passionate and dedicated long-serving Trustees as the Board moved to term limits of three renewable, three-year terms;
• Casting a wider net for a set of criteria to reflect diversity of age, geography, ethnicity, race, gender, and profession; 
• No longer relying on the same spheres of influence they had always used to recruit new candidates; and 
• Integrating new Trustees into NRF’s history and culture through structured mentorships.

The board – in collaboration with Koya – debated how to structure the transition of long-serving Trustees who gradually would be rotating off the Board. They opted for a well-known inventory concept, FIFO – “first in, first out” – where the Trustees who had served the longest would be the first to rotate off. NRF also implemented a mentoring program, where each new Board member was assigned a seasoned Trustee mentor to provide guidance and serve as a sounding board for new Trustees.

Another significant challenge: midway into this project Covid-19 hit, and NRF’s leadership had to pivot from its plan to travel the country, interviewing candidates in person. Instead, they relied on Zoom conversations to meet prospective candidates and discuss the NRF Trustee opportunity via video calls. 

Seeing Positive Results Already

By the end of summer 2020, eight Trustee candidates were approved to join the Board. Of these eight new NRF Trustees, 50% are women. Seven of the eight identify as persons of color, as well as represent new geographic regions where NRF sought representation. 

By late 2020, the board membership had expanded from 17 to 27 qualified, diverse Trustees. The Board was “remade” in under two years. Also significant: some of the new Trustees spent their youth in under-resourced communities themselves, providing unique insight into the challenges faced by our nation’s more vulnerable children.

NRF already is seeing valuable benefits from its newly expanded Board. For instance, new Trustees have allowed NRF to:
 

• Identify excellent programs across the country for NRF support, which were not previously on NRF’s radar. 
• Engage in new partnerships, due to Trustees with strong partnership experience and wider networks of contacts. 
• Serve as a thought leader in equitable outdoor recreation and youth development. For instance, Trustees with medical, environmental justice and public health perspectives provide NRF with new lenses for responding to crucial issues like the impact of Covid-19 on underserved communities.

Kara Teising is Managing Director, Executive Search at Koya Partners, and has over 17 years of dedicated experience in the mission-driven executive search space. Based in Nashville, her expertise lies in leading searches for C-Suite and executive-level roles in senior leadership, development, marketing, communications and program for nonprofits, private foundations, corporate foundations, and mission-driven private sector companies. Visit www.koyapartners.com  Connect Kara Teising

Naree W.S. Viner, Managing Director, Executive Search at Koya Partners, and has 17 years of experience in executive recruiting with an exclusive focus on mission-driven clients. She has placed seasoned executives and next-generation leaders in critical roles for a variety of clients across the US. Naree has partnered closely with board members at prominent public and private art, education, and social service organizations to identify, develop, and evaluate executive talent.  Visit www.koyapartners.com Connect Naree W.S. Viner