Roles & Responsibilities

 Getting Started

After accepting a position to become a board member of a state or local CASA program board, it is important for you to understand the roles and responsibilities of your new position.  There are many tools and resources available to help you get started. 

By-laws and Job Descriptions

A great place to start is familarizing yourself with the by-laws and any written job descriptions that exist for board members in your program.  Both of these documents often outline the expectation and duties of board membrship.  If your board does not have a written job description you might be interested in looking at these samples (link) to use in developing one for your program.  In addition, some states have rules and regulations for nonprofit boards as does the IRS.  It is important that you have access to someone in the community that can help your board fully understand these requirements.

National CASA Standards

Board responsibility is addressed in Standard 2 of both the state link and local National CASA standards.  Additional expectations of governing board members are found throughout the standards.  As a member of the National CASA network, it is important for for board members to be familiar with these standards.

Resources for Understanding your Role

BoardSource offers many great resources on this topic.  A section is devoted to What Every Board Member Should Know  that offers information on questions you should ask prior to joining the board, roles and responsibilities, job descriptions, along with many other topics that might be of interest.

Non-Profit Rescue created an overview of board roles & responsibilities.

National CASA offers a series of customizable board training modules as part of its Moving Forward for Children training series.   These modules are located in the members only section of our website.  If you are interested in learning more contact your program staff or your regional program officer.

National CASA assigns a regional program officer (RPO) each program.  Your RPO has a wealth of resources on board development and can assist with all aspects of board development.  (link)

State organizations exist in 46 of the states and can be another valuable resource for assistance with board development and training.  (link)