SAMPLE BOARD AGENDA

NAME OF ORGANIZATION

BOARD MEETING (specify here if this is a special meeting in some way)

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

PRESENT: (The secretary fills this in with the names of those present. If some attend via phone or video conference, that is noted). Some organizations list who is absent.

AGENDA

(This agenda should have been sent out prior to the meeting so that if there is important business that was forgotten, priorities can be re-arranged prior to the meeting. In this way, board members should not be spontaneously bringing items to discuss to the meeting). 

CALL TO ORDER: (This is when the board chair calls the meeting to order. The time is noted by the secretary and documented in the minutes. In the chair’s absence, the person designated by the Bylaws or Board Policy Manual may chair the meeting.)

PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (The minutes should have been sent out following the last board meeting for members to review and make corrections. This is a short formality unless there are “disputed” items. Previous meeting minutes are voted in and approved. The approved minutes then are the formal, legal record of what happened.)

REPORTS: This is a time to receive reports from the Executive Director, the Treasurer/Finance Committee and any committees that exist. Best practices are that any documents reviewed during the reports should be sent out in advance for the board to review. That way the board is not just familiarizing itself with the material, but is ready to ask pertinent questions. So it might look like this: 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/OPERATIONS REPORT - The ED might have a brief report on operations. Key word: Brief. The best scenario for this is for the ED to provide an updated handout with metrics (e.g. How many people have been served, % of goals reached, etc). A small organization might only have an ED and a finance report, which is totally fine. 

FINANCE REPORT - Bill

FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE - Nancy

BOARD DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE - Sherry

BUILDING COMMITTEE - Will give report next month

OLD BUSINESS – This includes anything that was not covered on last month’s agenda due to time, or where there was a delayed vote because more information needed to be gathered. 

This is the time in the meeting where you review Board Accountability Logs (if using). This is a system to keep the Board moving towards stated goals. 

NEW BUSINESS – You want to try to get quickly to this point in the meeting (well, sometimes Old Business is just as important, but you get the point). So everything up to this point should be perfunctory and provided in the most succinct manner. This is where pressing decisions should be announced: (E.g. you find out your building is being sold and you must move in 3 months). This is also the place to plug in things that should be on your annual calendar of board responsibilities. For example:

  • ED evaluation

  • Strategic Planning 

  • Budget proposals and Approval for upcoming fiscal year

  • Fundraising Planning for next fiscal year

  • Board self-evaluation

  • Audits and Taxes

  • Board Development (e.g. Board recruitment plan)

By putting these yearly board activities into a calendar, it can be helpful to know how to plan for the next board meeting.

TEAM BUILDING/MISCELLANEOUS - This can be moved to the beginning of the meeting, but the danger is of this going too long, so NEW BUSINESS never gets addressed. On the other hand, spending time building group camaraderie through celebrating birthdays and getting to know each other is an important part of working together. Some suggestions: Personality assessments, taking turns sharing about a hobby, or bringing in a picture from your senior year in high school and describing what you were like.

CLOSING: The board chair calls the meeting to a close and the time is documented by the secretary. If a “fun” time (see team-building above) is planned, this can happen after the business is concluded. BUT, anything (conversations, agreements) that concerns the organization that occurs outside of the start and close documented in the minutes is not legally a part of the board activities. Only business conducted during the official meeting is “official.”