Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

Nomination Committee's Strategy for Building Board

Mar 29, 2005

Nomination Committee's Strategy for Building Board


The Nominations Committee (NC) is working to build the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust's Board capacity for effective governance. Currently, the committee has been meeting at least once a month focussing on finding ways and means to assist the board in providing effective leadership. The NC has an ongoing search for resource persons to assist the board by virtue of the professional skills, contact, knowledge and experience. They are also charged with evaluating the persons currently serving on the board. This will initially take the form of self-evaluations filled out in secret by each board member. The results will be evaluated and revealed to the board.

We need to minimize the potential for micromanagement so that director will have the freedom to create the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust's programs and services, and to eventually manage and administer them.


The Nominations Committee is working on building Board Capacity for effective governance. In our ongoing search for candidates for the board, this year's focus is on finding persons to assist in assuring the organizations internal health. In order to do this, the committee is thinking of the Board's responsibilties and the need to improve policies and practices in these broad areas: integrity and accountability; planning and evaluation; and the acquisition and management of financial resources.

The decision-making processes and structures provide the very foundation of the organization. How the BQLT recruits, employs, and the practices used regarding accountability are this year's primary foci. We need to find strong, creative thinkers with initiative to assist us in becoming a strong, sustainable organization that meets the needs of both our member gardens and the communities where they exist.

The call went out to the member gardeners and garden representatives to send in the names of persons that they feel would potentially be a valuable board member. We reach out to the community organizations and leaders surrounding our gardens. BQLT needs diversity of: viewpoints, ideas, skills, experiences, connections, knowledge bases, funding sources, and income making abilities to help build a sustainable organization. The goal is to find diverse solutions, collectively in keeping with our mission and purpose for existing.

Gardeners are asked to submit a written paragraph telling EXACTLY what qualities the recommended individual possesses that would qualify them to make our organization stronger.

Members should consider, when voting, "Does the current representative share information about the board's decisions"? Elect someone who will tell you what is going on and who is knowledgeable about what will eventually affect you. If YOU don't participate, don't complain. You become part of the problem. When participating, you have the potentional to become part of the solution.


We will be sharing our work with you in our newsletters - online and print. Our first edition was published February 24, 2005. It offers a time line of events that led up to the formation of the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust. We have come a long way from the fear of garden destruction or auction, but the work is not yet done. Come and join the committees of the organization and learn more about how the board is working to serve you... and how you can influence the decisions made.

This is OUR land trust. We have nearly 400 garden members and the we need your energy, ideas, and skills. Collectively we are powerful. Our backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and the like make a vibrant human quilt. Participate in the democratic process and voice your ideas. Study the environmental issues that affect us because we do not live in a vacuum. We are interconnected...whether we like it or not.