Additional Resources for Board Improvement
Whether you're just starting your journey as a board member or stepping into a leadership role, we offer flexible, self-paced learning options to help you strengthen your governance knowledge and lead with confidence.
Free Courses On YouTube
The Board Member 101
The Essential Supplement to Your On-Site Orientation
Start with the basics. This foundational course covers your key roles and responsibilities as a board member — from understanding fiduciary duties to reading financial reports and participating effectively in board meetings.
Ideal for: First-time board members or those looking to refresh the fundamentals
Self-paced, with downloadable handouts
Certificate of completion provided
Better Boards. Better Communities - Our Signature Program.
Improve Governance Practices, Lead with Confidence, and Make a Lasting Impact
Strengthen your nonprofit board with the Better Boards. Better Communities. Signature Program. This video training series is designed for board members, board chairs, and CEOs who want to improve governance practices, lead with confidence, and make a lasting impact in their communities.
Across the series, you’ll learn:
The four essential functions of nonprofit boards
How to define and measure your mission, vision, and values
Building an effective partnership with the Chief Executive Officer T
ools for more intentional board meetings (including consent agendas)
Best practices for advocacy, financial sustainability, and risk management
How to assess board performance and plan for succession
Use these videos at board meetings, in training sessions, or for self-study. Each episode provides practical strategies, key questions, and actionable steps to help your board perform at its best — because better boards truly do make for better communities.
The Board Leader Academy
Leadership Essentials for Board Chairs and Future Leaders
Step into your leadership role with clarity. This course is designed for board chairs, vice-chairs, committee leads, and aspiring board leaders. Learn how to set agendas, guide strategic conversations, manage board dynamics, and work effectively with your CEO.
Designed for: Board chairs, vice-chairs, committee leads
Downloadable handouts you can share with your board
Certificate of completion provided
Upcoming Webinars
Live and recorded events on hot topics in governance — like CEO evaluation, board recruitment, and strategic planning. Is there a topic you’d like to have covered in a live webinar? Send Ken your requests here.
Webinars & E-Books
E-books by Ken Haycock
10 Questions Every Board Needs to Ask - Available now on Amazon!
A practical guide to asking what matters and leading with clarity, purpose, and results.
Let’s be honest: your board might be busy—but is it effective?
Meetings feel routine. Roles are misunderstood. And impact? Unmeasured.
Ten Questions Every Board Needs to Ask Itself is your roadmap to renewal. These ten tough, transformative questions will change how your board understands its purpose, governs its mission, and defines its role. Each chapter offers clarity on strategy, oversight, and continuous improvement—without guilt, jargon, or fluff.
Written by governance expert Dr. Ken Haycock—a seasoned board chair, CEO, and professor with decades of experience in board development across North America.
Ken’s Governance as Leadership work has guided hundreds of boards—municipal, campus-based, sectoral, and membership organizations—toward greater impact and credibility.
Bring this book to your next board meeting.
Start a conversation.
Choose one question.
Begin improving today.