Section 1
WYO HELP at a Glance
Goshen HELP, doing business as WYO HELP, is a private nonprofit Community Services Block Grant eligible entity. Its work is rooted in the causes and conditions of poverty, client dignity, community voice, measurable results, responsible stewardship, and partnerships that expand local capacity.
What makes governance here different?
Rural service area
Geography, local relationships, access barriers, and realistic county-level service delivery matter in every major plan.
Single-staff model
One paid Executive Director means documented systems and board-approved compensating controls are especially important.
Public funding
CSBG designation creates governance, monitoring, reporting, representation, and accountability requirements beyond ordinary charitable board service.
FY2027 delivery approach
WYO HELP increasingly delivers services through community partners while retaining federal grant administration, contracting, reimbursement, data quality, reporting, monitoring, corrective action, financial oversight, and closeout responsibility. Goshen County food pantry services remain a direct WYO HELP operation.
Facilitator prompt
Explain the current six-county service area and any pending expansion or application work. Emphasize that a partner may deliver a service, but WYO HELP does not transfer away its accountability for the grant.
Section 2
What It Means to Govern
A director is a voting member of WYO HELP’s governing body. The role is fiduciary and decision-making—not honorary, merely advisory, or operational. Directors exercise authority collectively.
Duty of Care
Prepare, ask questions, use reasonable judgment, review information, and make informed decisions.
Duty of Loyalty
Act in WYO HELP’s best interests, disclose conflicts, and do not use board service for personal or organizational advantage.
Duty of Obedience
Keep the organization aligned with its mission, governing documents, grants, policies, and applicable law.
Board work vs. management work
| Board responsibility | Management responsibility |
|---|---|
| Approve mission, major policies, budget, plans, and governance decisions. | Implement approved policies, plans, programs, and daily operations. |
| Review financial condition, controls, outcomes, risks, and monitoring. | Maintain records, process transactions, administer grants, supervise operations, and prepare reports. |
| Hire, support, evaluate, compensate, and plan succession for the Executive Director. | Direct contractors, subgrantees, volunteers, vendors, and day-to-day work. |
| Ask for information and hold management accountable collectively. | Respond to the board as a governing body and carry out delegated authority. |
Facilitator answer
Clarify whether the individual has delegated authority. If not, the issue belongs with the Chair or full board. An individual director’s preference is not automatically a board directive.
Section 3
CSBG and the Tripartite Board
WYO HELP’s board structure is not simply a preferred governance model. As a private CSBG eligible entity, it must maintain a tripartite governing board consistent with the CSBG Act, WYO HELP’s bylaws, and current state guidance.
Low-income representation
At least one-third of the board represents low-income individuals and families and must be selected using the approved democratic-selection process.
Public officials
One-third are elected public officials or their representatives, as applicable under governing requirements.
Private/community sector
The remaining members represent business, industry, labor, religious, law enforcement, education, or other major community interests.
Representation is more than filling a seat
Board recruitment should consider county and tripartite needs, mission fit, lived experience, skills, availability, conflicts, community relationships, and willingness to complete training. WYO HELP should document recruitment and selection activity.
How low-income representatives are selected
WYO HELP’s governance manual permits democratic selection methods such as community meetings, voting at service locations, written ballots, and virtual or hybrid participation. Staff may facilitate the process but may not control the result. The process and seating action are documented.
Facilitator answer
Because compliance depends on category, selection method, terms, bylaws, representation, and documentation—not only head count.
Section 4
ROMA: From Need to Results
Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) is Community Action’s framework for turning community needs into deliberate action and measurable change.
1. Assess
Use the Community Needs Assessment, local data, surveys, lived experience, and community input to understand causes and conditions of poverty.
2. Plan
Set priorities, outcomes, strategies, partnerships, budgets, and responsibilities through the Community Action Plan and strategic planning.
3. Implement
Deliver or contract services, maintain controls, document services, and support community-level work.
4. Measure & Improve
Review services, demographics, outcomes, client feedback, costs, and gaps. Ask what changed and what should change next.
The board’s role
- Participate in and review the Community Needs Assessment.
- Approve planning documents and major organizational priorities.
- Review program and outcome reports—not only service counts.
- Ask whether results support continuing, changing, expanding, or ending an approach.
- Make sure minutes show meaningful review and decision-making.
Section 5
Meetings, Motions, and Board Decisions
Good governance happens before, during, and after the meeting. Directors should review materials in advance so meeting time can focus on questions, decisions, risk, and follow-up.
Before the meeting
- Review the agenda and prior minutes.
- Review financial, program/outcome, monitoring, and proposed-action materials.
- Identify questions, variances, missing evidence, conflicts, or items that should be pulled for discussion.
- Notify leadership promptly if attendance is uncertain; quorum failures can delay required action.
During the meeting
- Ask hard questions respectfully and focus on evidence, risk, mission, and outcomes.
- Disclose conflicts and recuse when required.
- Make clear motions. The minutes should capture the motion actually made, amendments, vote result, recusals, and follow-up.
- Avoid making required board decisions by informal side conversation.
Facilitator activity
Open a recent real board packet. Ask the member to identify one information item, one oversight question, and one item requiring formal board action.
Section 6
Financial Oversight
The board is responsible for financial oversight, not bookkeeping. Directors should understand enough to identify trends, ask questions, approve major decisions, and verify that controls are working.
What the board should routinely review
- Budget-to-actual performance and material variances.
- Cash position, restricted funds, grant reimbursements, liabilities, and unusual transactions.
- Internal controls and compensating controls needed for a one-person staff structure.
- CPA financial review/audit results, management recommendations, and corrective action.
- Financial access, bank signers, software permissions, audit logs, and continuity arrangements.
Warning signs
Repeatedly late reports, unexplained variances, reconciliation problems, unclear restricted funds, unusual vendors or card charges, or financial access that depends on one person.
Healthy response
Ask for explanation and evidence, document follow-up, set a deadline when needed, and verify that the issue is resolved. Oversight is more than simply receiving a report.
Facilitator activity
Use the most recent board financial packet. Ask the member to identify one trend or variance, one control question, and one item that requires board approval versus routine management action.
Section 7
Programs, Subgrantees, and Outcomes
Community partners can extend WYO HELP’s reach, but contracting out a service does not contract away WYO HELP’s responsibility for the CSBG funds.
What the board oversees
- Whether agreements, budgets, assurances, documentation requirements, eligibility rules, and reporting expectations are clear.
- Whether reimbursement and monitoring systems are functioning.
- Whether services and outcomes align with the Community Needs Assessment and approved plans.
- Whether problems are identified, corrected, documented, and followed through to closeout.
| Board | Executive Director |
|---|---|
| Approves the oversight framework and receives meaningful monitoring/performance information. | Administers contracts, routine monitoring, reimbursement review, data follow-up, corrective action, and closeout. |
| Acts when risk, performance, policy, funding, or contractual issues rise to the governance level. | Handles ordinary operating communication and contract administration within delegated authority. |
Facilitator answer
No. Management should address the routine problem first, but repeated documentation/control failures can become a board risk issue because WYO HELP remains accountable for the federal funds.
Section 8
Executive Director Oversight and Succession
The Executive Director reports to the board as a body. The board hires, supports, evaluates, compensates, and plans for succession of the Executive Director.
Healthy board/ED relationship
- Clear authority and policy boundaries.
- Timely, candid information flowing to the board.
- Regular evaluation against agreed responsibilities and organizational priorities.
- Support without micromanagement.
- Documented accountability when expectations are not met.
Why succession matters especially here
Because WYO HELP has a single paid staff member, continuity cannot depend on one person’s memory, passwords, relationships, or access. The board should ensure essential service, financial, grant, records, technology, and governance functions can continue during an unexpected absence or leadership transition.
Facilitator prompt
Show the member where the current succession plan is stored, who can activate it, and what board officer responsibilities apply.
Section 9
Ethics, Confidentiality, Whistleblower Protection, and Security
Conflict of interest
Directors should disclose actual, potential, and perceived conflicts when joining, at least as required by policy, and whenever circumstances change. The board—not the interested director acting alone—determines the appropriate response, and recusals should be documented.
Confidentiality
Protect client, personnel, candidate, legal, security, vendor, and other nonpublic information. Board status does not create unrestricted access to confidential client or personnel records.
Whistleblower protection
Directors should know how concerns involving fraud, misuse of funds, retaliation, safety, discrimination, records, conflicts, or policy violations may be reported. Good-faith reporting must be protected from retaliation and credible concerns should be assessed promptly and objectively.
Cybersecurity and authorized access
- Use individual accounts rather than shared credentials whenever possible.
- Use multifactor authentication and approved secure storage.
- Access systems only when the board has authorized a defined role.
- Promptly change or remove access when roles change.
- Do not move confidential records into personal email, devices, or storage without authorization and safeguards.
Facilitator answer
Disclose the relationship promptly. The board should determine the response under the conflict policy. Recusal from discussion and voting may be required, and the disclosure/action should be documented.
Section 10
Practice, Current Priorities, and the First 30 Days
The final part of orientation connects the governance concepts to WYO HELP’s real work. Current priorities change over time, so the orientation lead should review the latest board packet, monitoring status, organizational risks, representation needs, planning work, and major pending decisions.
Required live practice
- Open the most recent board packet.
- Have the member identify one financial oversight question.
- Identify one program/outcome question.
- Identify one matter that belongs to management rather than the board.
- Identify one matter that requires formal board action.
- Review current open monitoring, representation, planning, succession, or compliance priorities.
Documents every director should receive or know how to access
First 30 Days checklist
- Roster, tripartite matrix, term record, and required state/funder records updated.
- Conflict-of-interest, confidentiality, whistleblower, and board-member acknowledgments completed.
- Meeting calendar, secure packet access, key contacts, and reporting schedule provided.
- Required governance and financial/program documents provided or access demonstrated.
- Orientation conversation and required training completed.
- Real financial and program reports practiced.
- Member identifies at least one county/community connection and one meaningful board project or development goal.
- Any special bank/software/emergency access is separately authorized, provisioned, tested, and documented.
Official Record
Orientation Completion Certification
Submit this only after the orientation lead and board member have completed the required training and live-practice elements. The submitted record should be retained in WYO HELP’s board-governance files.
Orientation web version 2026.1 · Based on the WYO HELP Board Orientation Packet and CSBG Board Governance Manual.