Board Communications

As I write in my own KLR blog, I got to thinking about the challenges and opportunities of keeping the nonprofit board involved and aware of what is going on in their not-for-profit organization. It struck me that many organizations are only scratching the surface of technology when it comes to communications with the board.

Many are using e-mail to announce or confirm meetings and many are using e-mail for critical votes that must be taken between scheduled board meetings but technology can assist organizations much more. Here are some ideas.

Sharing documents via e-mail is a great time and paper saver. You may have to purchase a scanner in order to turn documents into PDF files and provide additional training but teaching your board how to comment on documents by inserting comments into the PDF document and “replying to all” may be a way to facilitate understanding and reduce the time required at the meeting to discuss the item.

You might also consider creating a section of your web site which is accessible only to Board members. This provides you with an even easier way to inform members and archive the information so that members can check back whenever they feel the need to double check something in the past.

Prior board minutes, certain policies such as the conflict of interest policy, board meeting attendance policy, etc., could also be available on the internet portal as well as the by-laws and other documents one has an occasional need to refer to but which are seldom easily available when needed.

I’ve been at board meetings where certain staff were presenting an education session for the board about one of the organization’s programs or services. This is very important and helpful information for Board members. An alternative and perhaps better way of providing board members with this information may be in the form of a webinar which a board member can watch at their convenience from wherever they like. In addition this information would be continually available and possibly find uses in other areas.

CEOs might want to consider starting a blog to continually communicate with the Board. Comments and thoughts of the readers would be instantly shared among all board members.

If you would like to discuss ways technology can help your board or would like assistance implementing your ideas, please feel free to contact me. We have a technology arm of KLR that can help you achieve whatever your goals may be.

By Frank Monti, CPA
Not For Profit Group

Labels: Board, CPA, efficiency, KLR, Monti, Nonprofit, Technology