Board Development

Board Committee Minutes Template

Meeting minutes intend to capture enough of the process so that the committee and the board can move the conversation forward to decisions that are in the best interest of the mission. Most committees are charged with assessing an array of options on a topic, then present the best of those options to the board. This process may take several meetings or a year of meetings or more. The report should be clear to the board if action is ready to be taken. Action could include: more discussion by the full board to enable the committee to move forward; voting on the top recommendations the committee presents, or an opportunity for further education of the full board so they can adequately assess the recommendations. Additionally, it can be helpful to tie the conversation to the organization’s strategic or annual priorities to ensure focus alignment.

The example below should be adapted to meet the needs of each organization.  Ideally, for easier use of the full board, all committees will use the same format for reporting. 

 

Committee Meeting (committee name) of Organization

e.g. Finance Committee Meeting of The Foraker Group

Date:	Location:

Attendance log:

Committee Members			Staff
X	Insert names			Insert names
E
T			Guests
V				Insert names
Legend: X - present E - excused absence T - on teleconference V - on video conference

Topic	Information - Findings - Conclusions - Reccomendations	Connection to strategic, annual or other plans, i.e. why topic matters
Summary of key actions or recommendations	Actions Recommendations
Time in/out of meeting	Time in: Time out:
Topic One – name of item	• Incorporate ideas from past meeting • Summary of report and discussion • Summary of ideas presented • Actions or recommendation • Name of person to follow up on ____	Priority__________ in the strategic plan
Topic Two – name of item	• Repeat of above	Priority__________ in the strategic plan
Discussion	• Capture highlights for institutional memory
Board Meeting Next Step:	• Discussion, decision, education (specify what you want the board to do with this information)
Next Meeting	Date, time, location

Optional ending: Provide an open-ended question that helps those reading the minutes think about what is most important about the minutes or topic. This question may or may not be answered in the meeting – the point is to help the board think strategically about the information presented.