Performance Review: The Complete Guide to Evaluating Family Foundation CEOs
Performance review of family foundation CEOs (top paid staff person) can take many forms. It does not have to be a complex, time-consuming process. At its most basic, it’s about asking what you need to know to be successful. The CEO needs to know the board’s goals, and the board needs to know how effectively the CEO is leading the process to achieve them. Ideally, the review is focused on progress toward goals, not on behavior.
Much has been written about how to conduct performance reviews. Most people have experienced an evaluation process at some point in their working lives. Often these processes have been devised for the for-profit sector—where progress can be more easily measured–and adapted by the nonprofit sector. But little has been written about how to review family foundation CEOs specifically. The job carries a unique set of roles and responsibilities including some that are family-related such as supporting effective board governance, working within the family’s culture, representing the family in the community, and engaging in grantmaking in the context of the family legacy.
Every foundation is different, and there are many ways to review a CEO’s performance. If you aren’t doing any kind of formal CEO evaluation now, we hope that the stories, tools, and case studies in The Complete Guide to Evaluating Family Foundation CEOs will help get you started. If you already have a performance review process, we hope you will find ideas to make it a more productive and satisfying experience for everyone.