Question: How can a law firm find non-profit boards for attorneys to join? We want to encourage attorneys across the nation to join non-profit boards in their area.

Answer: We received several responses to yesterday's question about finding and matching non-profit boards to attorneys. Contributors include Patricia Wolff (Business Maven, LLC), Reed Stockman (Association of Fundraising Professionals) and Holly Bryan (NC Academy of Trial Lawyers).

Patricia Wolff: Go to GuideStar, a database of non-profit organizations, and search by city or state.

Anonymous: It is my experience that virtually every community in this country--whether large or small--has a United Way or a Community Chest. In my home town, the United Way provides a service called community volunteer. It links people and their unique talent with not-for-profit organizations. I suspect any community fund organization such as United Way would be willing to share names of attorneys, who want to serve on boards, with the leadership of the not-for-profits in the community.

Reed Stockman: The Web site of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) refers visitors to BoardNetUSA without endorsing or attesting to the accuracy of information at the site. The description on the home page reads: "boardnetUSA is the unique website revolutionizing the way nonprofit boards and new leaders find each other."

Holly Bryan: I serve on a nonprofit board, and receive an e-newsletter, called Board Cafe, from CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. They have a "board matching" area on their Web site (boardnetUSA), where you can find just this kind of information. You can post what you're looking for, or view available board positions. (See <http://www4.compasspoint.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=653>) Some of it is specific to California, but I think some of it is nationwide as well.

Also, many states have centers or groups that would have this kind of information--for example, Maine has The Board Network; North Carolina has the NC Center for Nonprofits.