Anglican Church of Australia General Synod future proofs its board portal outcomes with BoardEffect

The Anglican Church of Australia represents 23 dioceses across Australia. The General Synod functions as a forum for the 23 Dioceses and is focused on projects, programs or research around themes and topics that affect the life and ministry of those within the Anglican Church and broader community.

 “BoardEffect is an excellent board management platform investment for the General Synod. It’s extremely efficient and easy to use. It has provided significant administration benefits in our communication processes with our Standing Committee and sub-committee members. We also have the option to scale and add more committees and staff, further maximising our ROI.”

Marianne Yacoel, Finance & Operations Manager

The Anglican Church of Australia’s General Synod Standing Committee meets bi-annually to discuss strategic issues affecting the general welfare of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is a 30-person committee, designed to represent the interests of national diocesan Bishops, clergy, laity and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council (NATSIAC).

Its meetings span two days with a comprehensive 500-page board pack and agenda being prepared by a single staff member for each meeting. In conjunction, the General Synod was managing a custom-built portal for board governance, developing a solution from the ground up with an external web service provider. It faced regular updates requiring additional investment and slow response times when improvements were requested.

Following the realisation an off the shelf solution may be more in line with their requirements and budget, the General Synod Office for the Anglican Church of Australia went in search of a purpose-built offering. Following an approach to stand-out Board governance provider, Diligent Corporation, its more suitable NFP solution in the Diligent suite, BoardEffect, was selected for its board management platform expertise.

BoardEffect is now responsible for the Anglican Church of Australia’s General Synod Standing Committee and sub-committee meetings plus additional committee meetings.

“The moment we selected BoardEffect all of the support and administration overheads we were grappling with just disappeared. Production time for agenda and board packs has drastically improved from a long lead up to now being able to finalise board pack formats in an hour confidently. Our Standing Committee members have no problem navigating through electronic board packs, and it’s inherently easy to use. BoardEffect has transformed the efficiency levels of our small team,” said Sarah Mayhew, Executive Officer.

• [1 hour] turnaround for digital Board pack collation versus one day
• [20%] productivity and time saving with managing off the shelf solution
• [100% transformation] to electronic Board meeting book during COVID-19