The secret to successful nonprofit board meetings? The right materials at the right time

Every board administrator knows: by the time your organization’s board meets, prep work has been long underway. Board members gather with everything they need in hand, including prepared notes on board materials, and ready to roll through the agenda. At least, you hope that’s the case. Because, to get to this point, nonprofit administrators have a lot to navigate.

Assembling board meeting materials is often the most time-consuming and particular task a board administrator has, and it is fraught with opportunity for human error. But a well-prepared agenda packet is imperative to the board to ensure their preparation and efficiency as well as the transparency of their work. So how can an administrator improve the quality of delivery and reduce the risk of error?

Let’s take a look at what goes into compiling board meeting agenda packets, how this job can be both expedited and fool-proofed and how technology can help.

What goes into the board meeting agenda packet?

While every organization’s situation is different, the board meeting agenda packet will usually have the same elements no matter the work.

• Agenda: First, the agenda is the backbone of the materials, outlining what the board will cover in the meeting — no more, no less. Crafting an accurate agenda that realistically reflects the available meeting time is an art form and often takes some trial and error on the part of the board.
• Previous meeting minutes are also critical for several reasons, from proving a record of previous board actions, to refreshing board members on any ongoing work and maintaining accountability and transparency for what the organization is accomplishing.
• Then, a number of timely reports are included. The executive director often includes a report on the nonprofit’s activities, achievements and challenges since the last meeting. Committees may include reports on their specific work. Financial reports such as statements, budget updates and any financial forecasts will be of critical interest to board members.
• Last, the board packet is likely to include various supplemental documents that support agenda items: proposals, policy drafts, strategic plans and more.

What are the challenges in board material assembly?

Board administrators and contributors must follow a rigorous schedule for producing, publishing and distributing the agenda packet to adequately prepare board members to deliberate and take action during meetings. Most organizations’ bylaws specify when board members should have meeting materials — often five to seven days before a meeting — to allow enough time for them to become familiar with the contents.

However, the realities of assembling board member packets are often at odds with these built-in, inflexible deadlines. Board administrators face a number of challenges in assembling packets on time:

• Organizing documents gets complicated: Board administrators must keep track of what goes into each packet for each meeting, which can be complicated by irregular committee schedules, unexpected new efforts and the like.
• Getting submissions on time from various stakeholders can be an entire part-time job for the administrator, who can be forced into sending regular reminders — no one’s favorite part of the job.
• Assembling agenda packet updates is tricky. Items can be left out by accident or put in the wrong order, different page layouts can cause confusion and required materials can simply be overlooked.
• Sending files by email is risky, with NGOs frequently targeted by phishing attacks. And it’s tricky to track receipt and often requires multiple follow-ups, keeping the administrator in the position of managing frequent follow-ups.
• Many board documents, including personnel information or financial records, are sensitive, and organizations risk significant harm if the data is misplaced or intercepted.

Many of these challenges can be overcome with a board management solution, which can help streamline all of your workflows and overcome these challenges.

Board packet tips for administrators

There is a reason board administrators must have a high level of attention to detail (and if they don’t have it when taking the job, they quickly develop it!). The complex task of assembling agenda packets and setting up a successful meeting requires a lot of precise, timely and organized work. Here are a few tips that can help.

1. Prioritize careful organization and formatting

Documents’ appearance matters. Ensuring all the documents appear in appropriate templates (with organization identifiers such as name and logo) and follow standard layout with page titles, meeting dates, etc. Everyone should be using spell-checker tools no matter their editorial skill. Remove extra spaces between sentences, lines and paragraphs. Use consistent margins. Number pages.

Different boards will benefit from different presentations of documents, so how you present the material may be different than how another board administrator completes the same work. Which leads us to the next tip …

2. Ask for feedback

Building strong volunteer board communications is part of the administrator’s responsibilities. Many board members are volunteers, and making the role as straightforward as possible — encouraging continued service — is in everyone’s interest. When you ask for feedback on the packets, you may gain ideas on how to improve the assembly or distribution process — from something as simple as changing the type size to what time of day packets are received.

3. Encourage board members to prepare

Every meeting attendee should arrive having read the materials and knowing what actions are expected. While it is difficult if not impossible to enforce, ensuring the documents are easy to understand and readable is key to increasing engagement, a cornerstone of mastering communication with volunteer board members. Consider including a subject line or brief initial paragraph that includes highlights. You might also consider flipping the board agenda completely to change the way preparation is done.

4. Follow up once board packets are sent out

Let recipients know by sending out a notification that board packets are on the way and to let you know if they have not arrived.

The role of technology in streamlining this process

So many of the complexities of board material preparation and distribution are addressed by a powerful digital board management solution. Consider how these organizations have used board meeting management software — and BoardEffect in particular — to address common challenges:

• The board of Australia’s International Network of Churches was dependent on a cloud-based document storage service to store and access documents, and members often struggled to find correct versions, updates and more. With BoardEffect’s searchable document library, the leadership team can find the materials easily, and agenda preparation was cut from 12 hours per meeting down to two. COO Suellen Holmes says she has seen increased engagement from members, with members logging in frequently.
• The Hospital Sisters Health System in the midwestern U.S. already was using an online portal system for board materials, but accessing documents required navigating three different websites. Staff needed about two days to collect and organize documents, not including time spent with last-minute changes. With BoardEffect, staff and trustees have materials in a centralized, accessible place, and meeting templates simplify material preparation from one meeting to the next.
• Worrelle Blow, manager of the Margaret Tucker Hostel in Fairfield, New South Wales, traded paper preparation for a drag-and-drop agenda builder and now saves documents in BoardEffect’s digital library. Board members use tablets to access the materials, cutting distribution time.
• Board packets for Starfish Family Services in Michigan run about 130 to 300 pages, and printing and assembly into binders was a Herculean task for executive assistant Susan Bovair. Additionally, hard copies of historical documents were stored off-site, making them difficult to access. The organization undertook digital transformation of these historical documents into BoardEffect, and, with simplified electronic preparation features, Susan is saving hours each day. The online solution also has facilitated the creation of hybrid meetings, leading to greater meeting attendance.
• The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry has a sizable governance structure, with a 62-member board of CEOs and C-suite executives, six subsidiary boards and eight committees. It is essential to ensure board members and their assistants can access meeting logistics, board packets and supporting documents easily. By tracking RSVPs in BoardEffect, the organization has increased its response success rate to 90-95%, and all stakeholders can access the meeting materials in one consistent place.

“BoardEffect is just the primary source of information for everything related to the board. It’s the one-stop shop, which is fabulous.”  — Suellen Holmes, Chief Operating Officer, International Network of Churches

BoardEffect’s searchable document library, electronic voting, built-in editing and annotation tools and customizable templates are some of, but not all, the features developed to make board service easier — both for board members and the administrators who support them. And BoardEffect offers high-level security, with granular access that ensures data is only available to the stakeholders who need it.

Getting board meeting materials to board members efficiently and effectively is crucial to helping them perform their work. BoardEffect is designed with features to simplify assembling, distributing and using board materials, so your organization can thrive. Request a demo today to find out how we can help you streamline your board meeting prep.