Mission

Founded in 1922, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), is the nation’s first organization of college coaches. The mission of the CSCAA is to advance the sport of swimming and diving with coaches at the epicenter of leadership, advocacy, and professional development. 

Position

The Board will support the work of the CSCAA and provide mission-based leadership and strategic governance. While day-to-day operations are led by the CSCAA’s Executive Director, the Board-Director relationship is a partnership, and the appropriate involvement of the Board is both critical and expected. Specific Board Member responsibilities include:

  • Serving as a trusted advisor to the Director as s/he develops and implements CSCAA's strategic plan 

  • Serving on committees or task forces taking on special assignments 

  • Preparing for, attending, and conscientiously participating in board meetings and reviewing minutes and reports. 

  • Faithfully reading and understanding the organization’s financial statements; being informed of, and meeting all, legal and fiduciary responsibilities 

  • Serving as active advocates and ambassadors for the CSCAA and fully engage in identifying and securing the financial resources and partnerships necessary for the organization to advance its mission

  • Leveraging connections, networks, resources and personal connections that can benefit the organization’s fundraising and reputational standing, and can influence public policy

  • Assisting the Director and Executive Committee in identifying and recruiting other Board Members 

  • Partnering with the Director and other board members to ensure that board resolutions are carried out 

Board terms/participation

CSCAA's Board Members will serve a two-year term to be eligible for re-appointment for two additional terms.  Board meetings will be held quarterly and committee meetings will be held in coordination with full board meetings.

Qualifications

This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual who is passionate about CSCAA's mission and who has a track record of board leadership. Nominees should be respected by their peers on on the basis of their leadership and demonstrated competitive success. His/her accomplishments will allow him/her to attract other well-qualified, high-performing Board Members.

Ideal candidates will have the following qualifications:

  • A commitment to and understanding of CSCAA's beneficiaries, preferably based on experience 

  • Savvy diplomatic skills and a natural affinity for cultivating relationships and persuading, convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals 

  • Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, and a passion for improving the lives of CSCAA's beneficiaries

Service on CSCAA's Board of Directors is without remuneration, except for administrative support, travel, and accommodation costs in relation to Board Members’ duties.

Selection Process

The board nominating committee is responsible for identifying and recruiting the best-qualified candidates for CSCAA's Board of Directors and other leadership positions. The process for becoming a member of the board is as follows:

  1. Individuals interested in serving should complete an application by April 1 in the year they would like like to be considered.

  2. After this date, the board nominating committee will screen applicants, nominees and potential candidates and narrow the list of candidates to a manageable number.

  3. Candidates selected for election will have their applications published to the membership for consideration in advance of the elections to be held at the annual CSCAA Convention.

  4. Member head coaches in attendance at the convention will then vote for Their divisional representative; At-large representatives; Elected Executive Board Position

Staff Obligations to the Board Members

Staff will prepare and send quarterly financial reports and an update of organizational activities that allow me to meet the “prudent person” standards of the law. (The “prudent person rule,” applied in many legal settings in slightly differing language, states that an individual must act with the same judgment and care as, in like circumstances, a prudent person would act.)

Staff will provide opportunities to discuss with the executive director and the board president the organization’s programs, goals, activities, and status.

Board members and staff will respond in a straightforward fashion to questions that the board feels are necessary to carry out their fiscal, legal, and moral responsibilities to this organization.