Templates for Trustees is a four-part series designed by the Museum Trustee Association to focus attention on key processes and tasks of governance. The books and web-based customizable templates include tools that collect information and then guide the board in using that information to organize their thoughts, identify their priorities, and plan their actions. All templates in the series have two parts: a printed guide and an on-line website. Purchasers of the books have access to the ongoing assistance of MTA staff. Building Museum Boards examines emerging practices in nonprofit governance including diversifying board composition, improving board effectiveness, and strengthening the governance committee. The text and templates guide the governance committee through every step of the nomination and board-building process including identifying and cultivating board prospects; crafting job descriptions for members, officers, and committees; ensuring compliance with conflict of interest standards; and orienting and activating new board members. The entire process is summarized in an interactive calendar.

Executive Transitions is volume three in the Museum Trustee Association's Templates for Trustees series. The book and customizable web-based templates feature tools that help boards to consider their options, identify their priorities, and plan their actions at this critical moment in a museum's life cycle. In addition to the manual and on-line website, purchasers have access to the ongoing assistance of MTA staff. Executive Transitions encourages board and staff members to see leadership transitions as opportunities for strategic growth. Whether a director's departure stems from a carefully crafted succession plan or is a completely unanticipated event, the text and accompanying templates will be useful to museums of all types and sizes. They guide the search committee through each step of the executive search process: announcing the previous director's departure and considering interim leadership options, conducting an institutional audit that will serve as the basis for identifying professional skills and personal qualities needed in the new leader, writing and posting the position announcement, screening initial candidates and interviewing finalists, conducting reference and background checks, and extending an offer. And because it is the board's responsibility to not only hire the new director but to facilitate his or her success, the final chapter focuses on the all-important transition year.

The Leadership Partnership is volume two in the Museum Trustee Association's Templates for Trustees series. The book and customizable web-based templates feature tools that help boards to consider their options, identify their priorities, and plan their actions at this critical moment in a museum's life cycle. In addition to the manual and on-line website, purchasers have access to the ongoing assistance of MTA staff. As nonprofit management becomes more challenging, thinking about the relationship between the board and the director is evolving. The bright line between the board's responsibility for policy and the staff's responsibility for management is blurring. The Leadership Partnership explores and supports this critical partnership between the executive director and the board and helps leadership develop strategies and approaches appropriate for the individual institution. A series of online surveys allows board members to look at their own performance, that of the board as a whole and that of the executive director across ten critical areas of museum management: mission, vision and strategy; professional development, board operations, individual relationships, oversight, finances and fundraising, collections, facilities, and public engagement. The final template guides users into turning the findings from the surveys into a leadership plan, to be presented and discussed with the board.

Strategic Thinking and Planning, Second Edition is volume four in the Museum Trustee Association's Templates for Trustees series. The book and customizable web-based templates feature tools that help boards to consider their options, identify their priorities, and plan their actions at this critical moment in a museum's life cycle. In addition to the manual and on-line website, purchasers have access to the ongoing assistance of MTA staff. This book and the accompanying templates models the kind of thinking that is required not only to create a strategic plan that is tailored to each institution, but also to stay focused on the strategic aspects of governance while implementing that plan. Planning teams are introduced to exercises and tools that will help them focus on what's most important to the future of their institution. In using the templates, they will adopt new ways of analyzing information and thinking about their museum's mission that will make them more effective leaders.