Board CANDIDATE scorecard

Start with the board you have and identify what it needs most. Select up to five priorities based on the gaps you want your next board member to fill, whether that means stronger philanthropic connections, fundraising participation, specific expertise, lived experience, community influence, major gift capacity, or something else.

Evaluate the prospective board member across each of the 11 criteria. Score them based on what you actually know today, not what you hope they might contribute later. If you do not yet have enough information to assess a criterion, select “No Evidence.” That may simply identify something you need to explore further with the candidate.

The tool will calculate the candidate’s overall score out of 100 and show how many of your selected board priorities they strongly match. Pay attention to both. A candidate can be impressive overall without bringing what your particular board needs next.

Use the Due Diligence + Red Flags section to identify concerns that require further investigation. These do not automatically reduce the candidate’s score because context matters, but they should not be ignored. A high numerical score never outweighs a serious conflict of interest, governance, conduct, commitment, or reputational concern.

Your final score is a decision-making tool, not an automatic yes or no. Use it alongside interviews, references, conversations about expectations, your board’s current composition, and the judgment of your governance or nominating committee to decide whether to cultivate, recruit, or pass on a candidate.

Export the completed scorecard to Excel so you can save the assessment, share it with your governance or nominating committee, and evaluate multiple prospective board members using the same criteria. Over time, this creates a more consistent, intentional, and defensible board recruitment process.