Common types of standing committees for nonprofits

Most nonprofit and mission-driven organizations run lean operations, with employees wearing several hats and having multiple responsibilities. Board members volunteered or were appointed because of their skills and interests in their organization. They tend to be hands-on, working side-by-side with staff to work toward the organization’s goals. 

Key tasks tend to fall on the board of directors unless the board delegates them to board committees. The board will set up a standing committee and charge it with fulfilling certain duties continuously. Boards generally assign a committee chair and add to the committee with some combination of volunteers, employees, other board members and outside experts. 

Having multiple committees means that the work gets divided up. This is a good thing when everyone works together, but it also can create silos and a disconnect to the main board.  

This is where board management software can help. It maintains connections between committees and the whole board. It offers a common, secure digital platform with an online gathering place for collaboration and communication. It also offers a feature for granular permissions so that only those who need to access workspaces or key documents can do so. User permissions prevent sensitive information from leaking and the high level of security within the platform helps to keep hackers at bay. 

Types of standing committees for nonprofits

There is no typical number of standing board committees; each nonprofit has its own needs and requirements. To avoid the problem of having too many or too few committees, boards should evaluate their committee structure periodically to make sure they’re fulfilling the needs of the nonprofit.  

Here we explore some of the more common types of committees that nonprofits create and the duties they perform. Each committee should have written expectations, duties and goals. Some boards even include these duties in their bylaws.  

Fundraising committee 

For most nonprofit organizations, fundraising is their primary activity. Fundraising committees  manage and coordinate fundraising efforts. 

Fundraising committees coordinate events like raffles, galas, silent auctions, 5k or 10K runs and other events with the main goal of raising money for the organization. Fundraising committees also seek out opportunities to attract corporate sponsors, philanthropists, large donors, grants and endowments, as well as other ways of generating funds for the organization. 

Membership committee 

Some nonprofit organizations allow people to become members, which helps fund the mission. The membership committee keeps track of membership fees and looks for ways to attract new members. Membership committee members also create strategies to keep their current members active and involved to preserve their retention numbers. Members organize membership drives or campaigns, setting up direct mail or email campaigns and conducting membership surveys. The committee keeps members notified of updated benefits and how to use them. 

Marketing committee 

Marketing committees often go hand-in-hand with fundraising committees. Marketing committees create awareness of the good work that nonprofits do by building marketing campaigns, promoting events, creating advertising and posting on social media platforms. Some nonprofits opt to combine the marketing committee and the public relations committee into one committee, as they often work closely together. 

Public relations committee 

The public relations committee manages all printed and online publications, such as brochures, flyers, leaflets and whitepapers. This committee often also manages the website directly or oversees someone who does. The public relations committee chair often shares the responsibility of being the organization’s spokesperson with the board president. 

Executive committee 

Larger nonprofits sometimes require an  executive committee. Typically, it acts as a steering committee for the larger board. Members vet issues and help narrow the board’s agenda to the most important ones. In many cases, a nonprofit’s bylaws will give the executive committee some limited authority to act on behalf of the board directors. Members of executive committee include  

• Board chair
• Vice president
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Immediate past president
• The organization’s executive director. 

Finance committee 

Members of finance committees keep track of the organization’s assets and liabilities. The committee prepares the annual budget and makes recommendations to the board. The financial report appears on all board meeting agendas and the finance committee answers questions about it.  

This committee also has many oversight duties, including the work of employees and contractors, endowments and other significant financial assets, and investments and tax strategies. All members of the finance committee should have some degree of financial knowledge, and at least one person should have major expertise in finance, budgeting and accounting. 

Meetings committee 

Nonprofits that host meetings and other events use standing meeting committees to coordinate and facilitate. Meetings committees organize annual meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops, trade shows and other events. 

Some meetings committees do the work themselves, while others hire professionals to manage the many details of choosing a venue, planning for food and entertainment, renting equipment, budgeting and setting up the schedule or format of events. This committee may also work closely with the marketing and public relations committees to help get the word out about events. 

Hospital Sisters Health System makes use of BoardEffect’s Workrooms feature which enables subsidiary and affiliate boards and committees to have their own confidential and secure spaces to collaborate, review documents and discuss matters pertinent only to them. “Workrooms help keep everything organized, ensuring that sensitive and necessary information is available only to those that need it without overwhelming them with extraneous details,” says Dani Glascock, System Director of Governance at Hospital Sisters Health System.

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Ad hoc committees 

In addition to standing committees, boards can sometimes form ad hoc committees. These committees serve a limited function and disband after the work is completed. Examples include: 

• Bylaws committee: oversees rewriting and refreshing the bylaws
• Capital campaign committee: oversees raising money for a specific purpose, such as a new building or a scholarship fund.
• Strategic planning committee: does the foundational work when the board is looking to develop or refresh their strategic plan.
• Executive search committee: works with outside search firms and others when looking to hire a new executive director. 

Board management solutions are an important tool for committee work 

BoardEffect was created with the specific needs of nonprofit organizations in mind. It is a software solution that streamlines the processes for creating agendas and meeting packets. It offers an online platform in which boards and committees can join separately or together at any time of the day and using any device. 

Committee members can meet in secure online workrooms. They can collaborate and discuss, review key documents and more. BoardEffect also offers a document library feature that simplifies digital document management to securely store files in a centralized location for users to access as required.  

Contact us today for a demo to see how BoardEffect can help make your board and its committees more effective, efficient and ultimately successful.