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Other Events. The Nomination Process. The Judging Process. Awards FAQ. Do's and Don't's. EGAs Sponsorship. Membership Membership Benefits. Member Spotlight. Membership FAQs. However, the task is incredibly important. In fact, many organizations have learned that referring back to well-kept minutes has helped them deal with legal issues, saving both time and money for the organization.
Learning how to take effective minutes at a board meeting is worth the time and energy investment, and your fellow board members will appreciate the end results. Download our free ebook to learn how to do exactly that! You can shave your meeting prep time from hours or day to just minutes. Download My Ebook. They serve as an official and legal record of nonprofit board meetings, which means they should include more than a simple overview of discussions. The core purpose of board meeting minutes is to show that the board members did the following:.
How to Take Minutes at a Board Meeting. Board Meeting Minutes Template. Feel free to use the jump links above to navigate to the section most pertinent or intriguing to you. Beyond documenting that a meeting did in fact occur, nonprofit board meeting minutes are helpful for a number of reasons. As you can see, nonprofit board meeting minutes are an important resource, not just for future reference by the board itself but also for legal purposes. Creating complete nonprofit board meeting minutes that meet the needs of those who use them is crucial for effective decision-making and record-keeping at your organization.
As with most meetings, planning ahead is critical to create a defined outline that will lead your board meeting in effective conversation. Many board secretaries or administrative staff create a note-taking outline a few days before the meeting. Consider using the meeting agenda as a guideline, and outline important issues that will be covered. This outline gives you a predefined structure to follow, so you can spend more time listening and accurately capturing the conversation, rather than trying to start from scratch and record everything on the fly.
Putting a board member on the spot could come as a very unpleasant surprise. Have the same person take minutes at every meeting and designate a backup person to take them for when that regular minute-taker is unable to attend. This allows these individuals to familiarize themselves with the process and will ultimately lead to stronger, clearer board minutes.
This includes:. One of the most important aspects for your board secretary to remember is that board meeting minutes must be written objectively.
When you encounter controversial issues or contentious votes, attempt to summarize the debates and arguments. Weed out all the emotion by following these suggestions:. Stick to the facts, including votes in favor of a motion, votes against a motion, abstentions, and pertinent details about discussions. Listen carefully to the main topics and simply document significant portions of the discussion.
Ask a third party — someone who is not on the board— to read the board minutes to give you an unbiased opinion. When doing so, make sure the third party is not privy to any confidential information.
Return to them the next day. Since the secretary is also a voting board member, recording information objectively can be challenging.
Download Your Copy Here. Board minutes should include an overview of what took place at the meeting, without being overly wordy. The board secretary should document the date, time and location of the meeting and whether it was a regular or a special meeting.
The minutes should also include a list of the presiding officer, directors, staff, guests and any other attendees. The secretary only needs to document whether a quorum does or does not exist. The minutes should include a statement of whether the minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. The most important part of the minutes is documenting an accurate statement of any actions that board members took during the meeting.
Board meeting minutes should not read like a manuscript. Instead, they should serve as an accurate and general record of board actions. Board minutes should reflect the name of the members that make and second a motion. Regarding ensuing discussions, minutes should include the major arguments for or against the motion, without naming names.
Including too much information in the board minutes could cause board members to hold back on free-flowing ideas during board discussions. There is a legal risk to including too much information in board minutes. Board secretaries should be aware that board minutes serve as a legal record and may be used in a court of law.
Discussions and direct quotes by board members could be misinterpreted by courts many years down the line, when board members may have forgotten the context in which they spoke. Nonprofit organizations should take note of D. For this reason, board secretaries should note in the minutes that a member or members objected to an action taken by a vote of the full board.
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