Too often, the board of a nonprofit organization is little more than a collection of high-powered people engaged in low-level activities. But that can change, the authors say, if trustees are willing to discover and take on the new work of the board. When they perform the new work, a board's members can significantly advance the institution's mission and long-term welfare. The authors give many examples of boards that have successfully embraced the new work. The stakes are high: if boards demonstrate that they can change effectively, the professional staff at the institutions they serve just may follow suit.

Executives who become trustees for nonprofit organizations frequently get bogged down in operating details while ignoring issues that could determine the enterprise's success or failure. An administrative model, identifying six policy levels - major, secondary, functional, minor, standard operating procedures, and rules - can guide their interventions. In general, board members should devote their energies to policy levels having the most impact on the organization's future and let the rest of the issues go. They also must attend to the four phases of policy development - establish objectives, formulate a statement, implement, and evaluate. Finally they must recognize that information is their most critical resource.