Boards are not — and should not — be static. To be effective, they must change and evolve as their organizations change and grow. Many years ago, Karl Mathiasen III wrote a paper for BoardSource in which he identified three different and quite distinct types of nonprofit boards that develop as their organizations grow and change, including

  1. organizing/founding boards
  2. the governing board
  3. the institutional board

Read more about nonprofit board cycles at BoardSource.