Board meetings are essential to the success of any nonprofit organization. However it can be difficult to start productive discussions. Fortunately, there are several ways to increase efficiency and make your organization run more smoothly.
Begin your meeting by giving a an update that is positive. Board members will be excited to know that the company is growing. It can be as easy as highlighting a great achievement of staff or a board member. It can be as important as a new source of funding or the introduction of a new program.
Using a portal for board members that has document management makes preparing and distributing board documents much simpler. Searchable references make it easier for attendees to find details during a discussion. Additionally, it’s cheaper to distribute and store board documents digitally rather than print them out and mail them out physically.
Discussions over the board can take up a lot of time and it’s crucial to control the agenda and keep meetings on time. You should consider including estimated discussion times for each item on the agenda to ensure you can get to each subject on the agenda.
Be aware that the documents governing the organization will define how many members need to be present for an”quorum. This will allow you to avoid having to debate trivial issues when there aren’t enough members to continue the discussion.