Duty of care: Every member of the Board has a responsibility to participate in decision-making on behalf of the organization, and must make certain they are adequately informed and following standards that are not fraudulent or illegal. Not doing so is not demonstrating care for the membership.
Duty of loyalty: When acting on behalf of an organization, board members must set aside their own interests, or the interests of any other organization. Confidentiality is broken when confidential information is shared with outsiders and a breach of loyalty occurs.
Duty of obedience: Board members have a responsibility to be faithful to the organization’s stated mission and not to act or use its resources in incompatible ways or purposes.
Putting appropriate policy and procedure in place, the establishing of effective working committees, measures for effective board performance, and ongoing procedure for regular review of activity making certain mission and purpose is being fulfilled will help insure the legal duties of the board are being followed.
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