The Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors
I have been learning a lot lately. And, if you are on a nonprofit Board of Directors (or an executive of a nonprofit), I encourage you to dig deeper when it comes to learning about your obligations and responsibilities.
In my work in capacity building, training, and coaching, I am often asked questions about what a Board of Directors is expected to do. It is not a good idea to rely on memory, what others have told you, or what seems like common sense. There are legal requirements that Boards must follow. And I know from my work, that many are not meeting their obligations. There are also many best practices that Boards would be wise to consider adopting.
I recently developed a resource on the Board of Directors Annual Meetings, which is based on the questions and concerns of a client. I was immediately able to use it again with a separate client with similar concerns.
Do you think you have all the right answers on holding Annual Meetings? To help you decide, consider the 4 basic statements below and determine if you think they are True or False. If you do not definitively know the answer, I encourage you to check out the Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors resource. Hopefully, you will find the sample annual meeting agenda helpful as well.
Are the following statements true or false?
Your Board of Directors must collect signed Conflict of Interest statements annually from all Board Members.
Your Board of Directors must reaffirm its Whistleblower Policy, Document Retention Policy, and Investment Policy (if you are investing) annually.
If your nonprofit has Members, the Members must have an annual meeting.
Many funders are expecting your Board of Directors to complete an annual self-assessment.
Click on the Resources link here to check your answers.
I have also included a link below to a Governance vs. Management Training that I designed. The longer I work with nonprofits, the more I know how needed this training is.
Let me know what resources you think I should develop next to support a Board of Directors.
