Survey Shows Characteristics of Senior Living Not-for-Profit Boards

Ziegler conducted a CFO Hotline^SM poll in December 2015 on the topic of board activities. While every organization has its own approach to governance, whether it is board composition or frequency of meetings, knowing how peers manage board-related activities can be helpful. Nearly 260 not-for-profit senior living providers gave feedback on topics such as frequency of board meetings, board compensation and budgeting.

The 1st question asked respondents how often the full board of directors meets. Roughly 4 out of 10 respondents indicated that they have quarterly board meetings. When looking at the results by single-site versus multi-site organizations, nearly half of the quarterly meetings were held by multi-sites while the most common among single-site providers were quarterly and bi-monthly meetings.

The survey also asked about board compensation. Specifically, respondents were asked if they compensate their board, excluding reimbursement for travel, trainings, etc. The vast majority, 94%, does not compensate their board, as shown below. Among those organizations that do compensate their board members, it is a combination of both multi-site organizations and single-site communities.

Respondents were asked to share their estimated annual budget for board activities, as well as their overall annual revenue. The 2 were then used to calculate the percentage of the budget designated for the board budget/activities.

On average, the respondents devote .037% of their budget toward board activities. Quite a few respondents (more than 25) indicated that they budget $0 for board activities. The two organizations with the largest budget for board activities were both organizations who indicated that they compensate their board. There was not a significant difference between single-site providers and multi-site providers in the percentage of board budget to overall revenue.

When asked how many organizations have corporate-level boards and/or local boards, nearly 62% of the multi-site organizations indicated that they have a corporate board only. An additional 37% indicated that they have both a corporate board and local board. Only one organization indicated the absence of a corporate board; they rely on their local boards only.

For the most part, it was explained that for those with both corporate and local boards, the vast majority of the decision-making power lies at the corporate board and that the local board serves largely in an advisory capacity. For a number of the organizations, at least one corporate-level board member must be a member of the local board.

Printed by permission of the author, Lisa McCracken Senior Vice President of Senior Living Research & Development Ziegler.