Trying to figure out if a merger with another nonprofit makes sense for your organization? Looking for tips on improving your board meetings? BoardSource, (formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards) has provided answers to those and many other questions challenging nonprofit boards in two publications.

The new and expanded edition of Nonprofit Board Answer Book: A Practical Guide for Board Members and Chief Executives (NBAB) was published by BoardSource in early 2002. It includes much of the information from the original edition and addresses more of the questions the staff at BoardSource hear in their work with boards, providing creative and practical solutions concerning emerging issues in the nonprofit sector.

Co-authors Dr. Robert Andringa and Dr. Ted Engstrom bring decades of experience working with nonprofit organizations to this discussion. Their focus is on the governance functions of board members, the structure of boards and committees, and other principles of good governance. This expanded edition of NBAB offers comprehensive coverage of nonprofit governance by answering sixty of the questions most frequently asked by nonprofit board members and chief executives.

In August 2002 BoardSource issued Nonprofit Board Answer Book II: Beyond the Basics, which covered topics more involved than those in NBAB. Book II was also written by Dr. Andringa, with assistance from Outi Flynn and Sandra R. Sabo. The book focuses on seventeen of the broader challenges and issues facing nonprofit boards. It is written for both board members and senior staff and addresses issues that are usually worked out with substantial interaction between the board and staff.

In both books, each chapter begins with a question, such as "What if a board member opposes a board position?" or "One of our programs is making too much money, putting our nonprofit status in question. Should we consider forming a for-profit subsidiary?" The answers that follow provide information and examples from current nonprofit boards. The questions and answers in NBAB deal primarily with basic issues concerning the operation of the board, while questions in Book II tend to be more complex and focus on the board's responses to challenges faced by the organization. There is very little overlap in the questions answered by the two books.

Both of these books provide helpful ideas on how to handle problems faced by nonprofit boards. They would be helpful to anyone struggling with such challenges.

 For citations to additional materials on this topic, refer to Literature of the Nonprofit Sector Online, using the subject headings "Nonprofit organizations-administration" or "Board members."