I was wondering about term limits.  Is this a common practice among community theaters?  Any recommendations on how to implement term limits, when a majority of the current board has served for 10+ years?  How long should a board member be allowed to serve and how long should the waiting period be before he/she can rotate back on?  I ask because I recently was voted onto a community theater board and was surprised to find that there were no term limits.  Before my husband and I moved, I worked professionally in theater for over 8 years and rarely found a board where there wasn't some sort of board rotation policy.  The concept of term limits is going to be brought up by another member (independent of my own thoughts) in an upcoming meeting and I wanted to get some feedback outside the group before hand.

Thanks!

We don't have term limits at our organization. I think our record was a treasurer who held that post for over 20 years.

I have a personal term limit that I adhere to... after 3-4 years (max), I find someone else to run... then I don't have to. As we usually have 7 nominees for 7 seats, this effectively replaces me. Not that we discourage people from running, far from it. However, at this point, it seems that running the organization is a chore that we take turns doing.

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Mike Polo
Chair, Kent County Theater Guild
4th (or 5th, I can't remember) stint on the Board

I have seen this situation quite often, although most theaters I have serious been involved with have the following scenario.

Officers sit for a 1 year term, with the President not to exceed two terms in office.  Other officers may sit indefinately.

Board Directors are elected for two year terms, and 1/2 are elected in alternating years.  They may sit indefinately, but must be elected by the membership, only after being nominated by a committee.

We are currently addressing our BY-Laws to correct a similar situation, placing a two-term limit on all board members, with a minimum period of 1 year before returning to the board.

Nick Charles

Here are a few theaters that I know about:

#1  Trustees may sit for two, three year terms, must have a year off then can run again.  They have had some outstanding trustees that they have lost because of the term limit.  The trustees always say they will continue to help them after they are off the board but it doesn't seem to happen.  The really good trustees are sucked up by another (non theater) organization.

#2  No trustee term limits but each trustee must meet attendance and volunteer requirements.

#3  No term limits but rotation happens anyway.  People seem to stay 5, 7 or maybe 10 years but they all step aside - not through burnout but an understanding that new blood is needed.  They continue to involve past Trustees through a "Trustee Emeritus" designation.

#4  No term limits and there is hardly ever any turnover.

Looking at these organizations, there doesn't seem to anything better about one system or another.  They all have their ups and downs.  If I had to say what I think makes for the good times is an energetic and effective leader.  In those organizations with paid employees - it as an effective CEO who leads the organization.  In those which do not have any employees (at least in a leadership position - I'm not talking about the person who cuts the grass or cleans the building) it is the Board President.