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[ASK AN EXPERT] Are Board Term Limits Recommended? If So, Why?
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Updated - 07/02/2025
Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, also known as Charity Clairity. Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on whether board term limits are recommended:
Dear Charity Clairity,
We currently have no term limits for board members. Some of them (mostly recruited by the founder/E.D.) have been around a long, long time. They’re lovely people, but they’ve long since used up their contacts list. At this point in their tenure, mostly they just give. My boss doesn’t want to lose their donation, but I can’t get them to do anything to help with fundraising. And if I have to hear one more person say “that’s not the way we’ve always done things here…”
— I May Scream
Dear I May Scream,
You are right to be concerned you have no term limits. And you and your nonprofit are not alone. The most recent Leading with Intent: BoardSource Index of Nonprofit Board Practices found only 54% of nonprofit boards report having term limits, despite 95% saying they have terms.
Terms (the length of service prescribed for the position of member or officer) are a start, and if you don’t have those, you may want to update your bylaws (usually a job for the Governance Committee). However, terms should really go hand-in-hand with term limits (the restriction on the number of consecutive terms a person can serve). Generally:
- Board terms are 2-3 years.
- Board members are limited to 2 to 3 terms.
- Officers may have their terms extended a year or two if they would otherwise rotate off in the middle of their service.
You’ve already alluded to some of the reasons term limits are optimal. Let me explain further, with a list of pros and cons borrowed from Board Source.
Term limit pros
Provide opportunity to work with talented community members who can devote only a few years to board service.
Ever heard “if you want something done, ask a busy person?” Often the candidates you’d most like to recruit (the tech billionaire; the head of the local bank; the law firm partner; the serial entrepreneur; the marketing guru, etc.) are the folks least likely to sign on for a long-term commitment. Because — they’re busy! They’ll ask what your term limits are, because they can’t commit to a life sentence.
Bring new ideas and new perspectives to the board.
Sometimes boards get stuck in status quo thinking. They lose the exuberance that made them innovative and forward looking when they began. They often subscribe to the maxim: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” While that sounds good, it may be obscuring the truth. Because sometimes folks have lost the ability to discern the problems. What is required is an infusion of fresh ideas.
Enable you to avoid stagnation, tiredness, boredom, and loss of commitment.
When board members say “we tried that before; didn’t work,” your organization can become stale. As you’re aware, just because something did/did not work in the past is no blueprint for how it may work today or tomorrow. When board members rest on their laurels, they can become drags. One bad apple can spoil the barrel. You need radiators, not drains.
Avoid the perpetual concentration of power within a small group of people and the intimidation of new members by this dominant group.
Term limits mean out with the old, in with the new, thereby providing opportunities to change and improve group dynamics. You may not be the only one who feels like screaming when confronted by your board’s current dynamics. It’s really a shame when you finally do recruit a fresh face, only to have them resign before the end of their term because they don’t feel welcomed or valued.
Provide a built-in balance of continuity and turnover, when staggered.
Staggering terms can provide the best of all worlds. This means dividing members into classes, with each class staggered to end their terms at different times. This enables you to maintain continuity and board memory, while also ensuring people with new ideas, perspectives and energy are regularly joining the board.
Provide a respectful and efficient mechanism for the exit of passive, ineffective, or troublesome board members.
Term limits provide a built-in mechanism for circling people off, as well as a built-in way to welcome them back after a hiatus. Sometimes board members overstay their welcome. While there are others you might like to stick around, if they don’t rotate off there are no spots for new members. Often boards will offer members they’d like to retain a “sabbatical” of one or more years (sometimes the length of a 2 – 3-year term of office).
Enlarge your circle of committed supporters as members rotate off the board.
Always having a few open board spots enables you to amplify loyal service appropriately. For philanthropy facilitators (aka fundraisers), it’s important to have opportunities to get passionate donors more invested with your organization. Volunteer gigs, advisory panels, and committees count (and they’re a great testing ground), but at some point you’re going to want to reward truly dedicated supporters with a board invitation!
Enable the board to easily adjust its membership to reflect the organization’s changing needs.
Organizations that don’t grow die. We live in rapidly changing times. Nonprofits must adapt. If you’re still doing things the same way you did ten or twenty years ago, you’re likely falling behind. Leadership is key to success, and it starts with the board.
Term limit cons
These are things I often hear boards and executive directors say. They’re all excuses to justify inaction.
Potential loss of expertise or institutional memory.
It’s easy to get around this if you stagger terms. At any point in time, you’ll have two-thirds seasoned members and one-third new members.
Requires the governance committee to dedicate more time to the identification, recruitment, and orientation of new board members.
If you don’t put in the work, you won’t reap the rewards.
Need to dedicate additional time to building the cohesiveness of the board as members rotate on and off the board.
You should always actively promote board development. This is not their day job, so it better be offering them something of value if you want it to offer your organization something of value. If you don’t dedicate time to this, board service will inevitably become stagnant.
Don’t scream. Make a scene!
Proactively arm yourself with this list of pros, and easy-to-overcome cons, and march yourself into your boss’s office. Describe to them what the scene around your place of business might look like if you developed a pipeline of fresh, energizing volunteer talent. Explain how initiating terms and limits will get you where you want to go – and in a widely-accepted, elegant manner.
— Charity Clairity (Please use a pseudonym if you prefer to be anonymous when you submit your own question, like “I May Scream” did.)
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