Mission
To invigorate St. Louis nonprofit organizations by enhancing governance boards through innovative recruitment, matching, and education services.

Nonprofit boards can better serve their communities when they have knowledgeable and diverse board members.

Objectives

• Prepare and support nonprofit board leaders and professionals to develop and maintain strong governing boards.
• Identify, recruit and prepare individuals to serve on nonprofit governance boards and board committees with emphasis on the recruitment of diverse individuals.
• Operate web portal as the online matching tool.
• Establish a centralized, collaborative access point for resources on effective nonprofit governance
• Create multi year sustainability through corporate and funder partnerships

Summary

BoardLinkSTL introduces talented, interested and informed individuals from diverse backgrounds, willing to share their enthusiasm and expertise serving as members of boards to nonprofit organizations ready to take their boards to the next level. BoardLinkSTL utilizes a web portal for creating profiles, matching, and providing access to resources on nonprofit governance and information about the United States nonprofit community.

BoardLinkSTL is positioned as the "match.com with readiness training" for nonprofit boards/board candidates. The venture will change the face of nonprofit directorship and the behavior of nonprofit boards, with outreach to young adults, leaders from a diversity of minority backgrounds and small to mid-sized nonprofits. The web portal begins with descriptive profiles which capture information integral to assessing the appropriateness and the fit for a board volunteer position. A targeted search can be localized within the your selected region, or by organization name, budget size, or service type. The matching capacity compares specific areas of a profile to potential individual or board profiles and provides a ranked list order according to the percentage of match between the two profiles.

Prior to actively matching, both the individual and representatives of the nonprofit are required to pay a BoardLinkStL membership fee and attend a 2 hour "readiness" workshop. Representatives from Washington University's George Warren Brown School of Social Work and University of Missouri Nonprofit Management Program prepared the curriculum, materials and lead the workshop training staff. The one-time membership fee provides unlimited access to our website and matching. Nonprofits are encouraged to invite their entire board and staff to the workshops as an added value.

Once activated the connections between boards and individuals are routed through the site and the user is able to include a personal message and one-click access to the profile of the initiated party.