Serving as a board member on a board of directors for a nonprofit organization can provide a chance to give back to a community or institution in a rewarding and impactful way. Through their decisions, board members determine an organization’s purpose and path, how funding is gathered and spent, who controls operations and much more.

Almost anyone from a variety of backgrounds can become part of a board. A starting point for those looking to sit on a board is generally the so-called “middle-market nonprofits”—those which may not have thousands of employees but still have significant budgets. These boards, of course, include attorneys—but as legal professionals, there’s always a catch.