Creating Efficient Board Meetings

Long meetings are no fun.....for anyone

When I tell my fellow non-profit Executive Directors that we have board meeting that on average last about 27 minutes, I universally get one reaction; astonishment. My fellow directors seem shocked that the organization is able to run on less than 30 minutes. Oh, if it were only THAT simple.

The Beauty of the Committee Structure

The reason our organization is able to keep board meeting short is that we have instituted a pretty robust committee structure. These committees are where all the heavy lifting is done and for me, as an Executive Director, it has become the place where ideas and thoughts are wrestled through.

The Basic Structure

Most non-profits are somewhat familiar with the committee structure; they might have a finance committee and maybe a personnel committee, but that seems to be the end of it. The committee will discuss a particular topic and then make a recommendation for the full board to approve.

On it’s face it is an efficient process, have the board members that have an interest in a topic discuss it in the committee and have them come up with a recommendation that can be discussed by the full board. The process works because if we bring things up directly to the board without any type of study or recommendation, our meetings can easily get caught into minute details and we can easily see where no progress is being made.

At my organization, we took the committee structure and we expanded it. And not only did we expand the structure, we made it very clear on what each committee was responsible for and what kind of recommendations they would make to the board throughout the year. We did this by creating a document we call the Committee Charter. The Charter outlines the name of the committee, when it would meet (typically two to three times a year), who was on the committee (and it should be noted any board member is invited to committee meetings) and what work they needed to accomplish.

The Committee Listing

Here is a list of our committees, who is on it and what they do.

Development Committee - Chaired by the Board Treasurer and has two other board members. The Development committee assists in development of planned giving programs, assists in developing strategies to engage new donors and helps determine the long-term capital and other financial needs of the organization.

Executive Committee - Chaired by the Board Chairman and has the Vice-Chairman and Treasurer on the committee. This committee monitors the progress of the strategic plan, reviews the quarterly stakeholder survey and provides guidance to the Executive Director on the management of the organization.

Finance Committee - Chaired by the Board Treasurer and has two other board members. This committee provides guidance on the development of the annual budget, reviews periodic reports, provides guidance to Executive Director on what financial metrics to report and provides guidance to Executive Director on financial goals and objectives.

Governance Committee - Chaired by the Board Chairman and has two other board members. This committee provides an annual assessment of board effectiveness, provides guidance on the recruitment of new board members, provides guidance on the continuing education of board members.

Personnel Committee - Chaired by the Board Chairman and has two other board members. This committee provides an annual performance review of the Executive Director, develops and recommends approval of agency wide wage and salary scale, reviews and recommends approval of organizational personnel policies and procedures.

Missions and Ministry Committee- Chaired by Board Vice-Chairman and has two other board members. This committee provides guidance on goals and objectives of the missions and ministries of the organization, provides guidance on new missions and ministries and reviews reports on client satisfaction.