Governance

Nonprofit board governance ensures that the organization is truly working toward its mission and and serving the members of our society. The following resource support healthy board governance operations.

• Governance timeline: Outlines the basic functions of a governance committee with recommended operations and timelines based on a fiscal year.
• Board self-evaluation tool: Identifies areas of growth and opportunity for mid-year and/or annual check-ins with board members. Consider also using the Board impact summary tool to capture board members’ personal contributions based on their role and expectations.
• Board evaluation tool: Captures and understands each member’s annual overall board experience and feedback.
• Sample by-laws: Explains the legally binding rules that outline how the board of a nonprofit will operate. While they are unique to each organization, nonprofit bylaws generally have a similar structure and use.
• Board meeting minutes template: Use this template to capture clear, concise meeting minutes that serve as the official record of board discussions and decisions, to be maintained at the council level.
• Board responsibilities: This resource clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the board as a corporate or collective entity, and summarizes individual board members’ responsibilities.
• Conflict of Interest Annual Disclosure Template: Every board member must complete this questionnaire annually to disclose any existing or potential conflicts.