Orientation Overview
A formal board orientation is the first step to ensuring your directors are active, engaged, educated and ready to participate in credit union governance.
This is your opportunity to acquaint directors with your organization and the wider credit union movement and make them feel comfortable with their responsibilities. Don’t assume that directors remember the information conveyed to them during the recruitment process. A formal orientation is a continuation of that process and should take place before new directors attend their first meeting. The goal of orientation should be to prepare directors for their first meeting so that they can participate actively and confidently. It should bring people up to speed quickly without confusing or overwhelming them.
Who Should Lead an Orientation?
In many credit unions, the governance committee works together with the chief executive to plan and execute an orientation. Since orientation is a board issue, the governance committee should handle the bulk of the responsibility. It may be best for a member of the governance committee, the board chair, or the chief executive to deliver this presentation to the board. Key board and staff members should take part as well.
Who Should Attend?
Orientation is important for all incoming directors, regardless of their prior experience with the organization. Directors who previously served on the supervisory committee or volunteered in other capacities should attend orientation to gain a different perspective of the credit union and to learn about things they would not have otherwise had experience with, such as governance or legal aspects of the organization. Orientation can be an opportunity for returning directors who have spent a term or two away from the credit union to learn about changes within the organization. Consider inviting current or emeritus board members to attend all or part of the orientation sessions as a refresher and to meet new directors.
Where and When Should It Be Held?
If the orientation is held at your credit union’s main office, new members should be given a tour of the facility to get a sense of the working environment. If the main office is not appropriate, find a quiet, comfortable location off-site, perhaps at the home or office of a board member, or at a meeting facility.
Schedule the orientation well in advance, particularly for directors who have busy schedules or need to make travel arrangements. Hold the orientation as a separate event, as part of a board retreat or before or after a regular board meeting. The orientation session can be tailored to fit varying amounts of time, usually from an hour or two to half a day. To avoid information overload, you may find it necessary to schedule more than one orientation session.

What Should Be Included?
An orientation should cover the roles and responsibilities of directors, the credit union’s mission and programs, its strategic plan and finances, and the structure of the board and staff. It should touch on the credit union’s finances, explain liability and insurance coverage, and reiterate the time commitment involved. This is also the time to go over the board’s committee and task force job descriptions. For more suggestions, see About the
Presentation, below.
Suggestions for the Presentation
While the main intent of this presentation is to serve as an orientation tool to present to a group of new directors, it can provide education and training in other areas as well.
Orientation begins at the time of recruitment. Consider sharing appropriate sections of the presentation with prospective directors. Using a laptop or available computer, present the prospect with information about your organization and the nonprofit sector in general.
Other sections of the presentation may serve as a helpful refresher for current board members as well. Invite them to sit in on the parts of the orientation that deal with the specifics of the organization such as its history, programs and services, and strategic plan.
1.
Plan the orientation for the most convenient time and location for all directors. Set the date well in advance to accommodate busy schedules.
2.
Keep it simple. Orientation is not the place to teach directors how to interpret financial ratios. Provide an overview of important information and what board members should be looking for in the future.
3.
Pace the presentation to fit the time allotted. Don’t try to squeeze a day’s presentation into two hours. Create a timed agenda and stick to the schedule.
4.
Allow time for directors to get to know each other better. Have participants choose someone in the room who they don’t know well and interview him or her.
Take turns around the room introducing this person to the group.
5.
For half-day or day-long orientations, plan breaks for snacks, beverages and a meal. Have mints and water available on tables or at the back of the room.
6.
Pay attention to the room’s seating arrangements. Seat participants around a ushaped table or in an informal circle with comfortable chairs or couches. This ensures that everyone can see and hear the presentation and each other. Make sure the room’s temperature is comfortable.
7.
Ask seasoned or emeritus board members attending to share stories from the credit union’s past.
8.
Include an official “swearing in” ceremony at which time new directors pledge their service to the credit union and formally acknowledge their responsibilities as board members.
9.
Fill directors in on some of the more informal board procedures, like what directors wear to meetings or what they do during down time at meetings.
10.
Pair a new director with a seasoned board member to serve as a mentor who can befriend the new director, make him or her feel welcome, and address questions that crop up from time to time.

11.
Maintain a sense of humor. Include a funny cartoon or photograph in the presentation. Humor can lighten the mood and help directors feel more comfortable with each other in a tense situation.
12.
Learn from experience. Ask seasoned directors ahead of time to answer the question, “What do you wish you had known when you first became a director that would have made a difference in the way you did your job?”

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The presentation contains a set of predesigned slides divided into four sections:
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Section 1. Overview of the Credit Union Movement
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Section 2. About the Credit Union
Section 3. About the Board
Section 4. Board Roles and Responsibilities
The slides are in Microsoft
®
PowerPoint
®
graphics presentation format that can be used as an on-screen presentation or printed out as overhead transparency slides or handouts for your board.
Because of the diversity of mission and structure of credit unions, this is not intended to be a one-size-fits-all presentation. Rather, it provides a basic framework for board orientation. Use some or all of the sections depending on how they apply to your credit union and the time you have allotted for the orientation.
Each slide comes with a set of presentation notes or talking points to guide you through the presentation. The presentation notes in sections 2 and 3 include recommendations for content and discussion for slides that require customization. Sections 1 and 4 include a set of talking points designed to provide a loose script for facilitators to follow throughout the presentation.
Section 1: Overview of the Credit Union Movement
Section 1 is designed for directors who may not be familiar with the history and mission of the credit union movement and what sets it apart from other sectors of the financial services industry. The information in four slides provides a context for the work of the board. Discuss how your organization fits into and carries on the philosophy of the credit union movement. How does it compare in size and growth trends to other financial institutions? Is it a federal credit union regulated by the National Credit Union
Administration (NCUA) or a state credit union overseen by a state regulator? What are some of the key challenges and trends currently facing the credit union movement and your organization in particular?
If you would like to include more information on the history of credit unions, see the overview provided by the NCUA at www.ncua.gov/AboutNCUA/historycu.html
.
Statistics about the credit union industry are also available at the NCUA site. For articles on critical issues facing the industry, visit the Credit Union Management archives on the
CUES Web site ( www.cues.org
).
Section 2: About the Credit Union
Section 2 provides directors with an overview of the people, programs, and history of your credit union. Areas you will want to discuss include:
 Mission and Vision: Display your credit union’s mission and vision statements.
Talk about how they came about, who wrote them, and when they were last

 rewritten or revisited. How does your vision statement frame your credit union’s future?
History: Present a brief history of your credit union and include any pertinent facts or historical landmarks. This helps board members gain a deeper understanding of their role in the organization and can give them a better sense of the character of the credit union. When was the credit union founded? What were some significant dates in your organization’s life cycle? How have significant events in the history of the sponsor groups or communities your credit union serves affected the development and growth of your financial cooperative? It’s not necessary to present too much detail; just provide the highlights. Include photos if they are available, or ask seasoned or emeritus directors to relate a story.
The sample slide presents historical information in a time line format. If necessary, present the history on a series of slides or provide more detail in handouts or in an oral presentation.
 Products and Services: Create a series of slides that describes the work of your credit union. What are the specific programs and services the credit union provides and to whom? When was the program started? How many members have you served? What has been the impact of those programs? The slides included in this section provide some generic examples of the types of information you may want to present about your credit union. Provide more detail in the oral presentation or in handouts.
 By the Numbers: Board members should leave the orientation with an understanding of their fiduciary responsibilities. They should also get a snapshot of the credit union’s status in terms of membership and asset size and key financial indicators. Using charts or graphs, or in bullet form, provide an overview of the organization’s financial condition. Include financial ratios, trends and comparisons that relate to the credit union’s strategic objectives. You may want to connect the overview presented in the PowerPoint® presentation to the credit union’s most recent annual report or other financial performance summary.

 Strategic Goals: Hand out a copy of the strategic plan and adapt a summary of the plan and its major goals and objectives for inclusion in the presentation. The slides should illustrate specific goals with a strategy for meeting those goals. In your oral presentation, include these points: When was the plan adopted? What time frame does it cover? How often is it revisited? Is the strategic plan developed in a board or staff-led process?
 Structure: Either graphically or in list form, present the staff of the credit union.
For most credit unions, an organizational chart or list of the executive team or top
 management staff should suffice. If appropriate, make introductions of key staff members at the orientation. What role, if any, do volunteers play in your credit union’s operations? Do board members serve on a credit committee or as presenters in community forums, for example?
Community Partnerships: Spend some time talking about any strategic partnerships your credit union has with other nonprofit or for-profit groups.
Discuss any collaborations, sponsorships or other relationships your organization has developed. If your credit union is an active participant in credit union trade

associations, include information about those groups and how directors participate in those associations.
Section 3: About the Board
Customize section 3 with information about your board. Who are the board members?
What committees and task forces does the board have? What are the particular expectations the board has of its directors, and how do they stay informed and engaged in the work of the board? A board roster with short bios of each member should be included in the board handbook.
 Board Composition and Structure : List the names of the board’s officers and the length of each director’s term. On separate slides, list the names of board
 committees and task forces along with their chairs. If time permits, discuss the current projects on which each committee or task force is working. Written job descriptions for each committee or task force should be included in the board handbook.
Board Operations: To help directors understand how the board elects new directors, provide information about board term limits and the nominating and selection process. This information can be found in your credit union’s bylaws and policies. The bylaws and board policies should be included in the board handbook.
 Board Consultants: Often, organizations contract for professional services such as accounting, board consulting or legal guidance. If a consultant was either contracted by the board or has a relationship with the board, describe the work he
 or she was hired for, the length and cost of the contract, and the status of the work.
Reading List: New directors usually have a long list of important documents to review to prepare for their role. Provide a list of the key documents new board members should read before their first meeting.
 Board Calendar: Set up a board calendar at least one year in advance. Present a list of important dates directors should know about such as board meetings, regular committee meetings, board retreats and the annual membership meeting.
Reinforce the board’s attendance policies and any consequences for nonattendance.
Section 4: Board Roles and Responsibilities
Section 4 is adapted from BoardSource’s book,
Nonprofit Governance: Steering Your
Organization with Authority and Accountability , by Berit M. Lakey. This section provides a basic framework of the board’s roles and responsibilities, both collectively and as individual directors. The slides and accompanying talking points present a discussion of the board as a governing body and the key roles of directors to set organizational direction, provide oversight and ensure the necessary resources for the organization. You can adapt these slides and your oral presentation to reflect your credit union’s governance philosophy and approach.