How to Hold an Effective Nonprofit Board Meeting

A nonprofit board meeting should be a lively and informative meeting. This can be achieved by making sure that the board is focused on the organization’s mission and mission through clear communication. Meetings can be dominated by time-wasting organizational updates or heated debates on particular topics with one or two people (we all recognize that person). A little extra can keep the meeting lively and help the board members remain connected to the goals of your organization. For instance the presentation of a client testimonial can be a great way to connect board members with your from this source mission.

Check that the agenda for your board meeting is planned well in advance. A meeting facilitator can help or a group of board members can be assigned the task of preparing the agenda. Board members who are in a rush to find important documents as they are in the middle of discussing them or, even worse, do not have them at all could ruin an effective meeting.

Boards should not spend more than 25% of their meeting time on updates and “have to’s”. Too much time is wasted by board members who get lost in the details of committee chair reports, officer reports and other routine items. Many of these items could be reduced to 5-10 minutes and easily included in a packet for meetings or regular emailed updates to the board.