Minutes of the Board Meeting

The minutes of your Board meeting are for the future.  Your minutes are to summarize the decisions of the Board and not to read like a newsletter.
You can read a great article from non-profit-governance and see a sample.  Here's another example at Management Help.

In my talk last fall "Things your Treasurer Should Know", one of my points under the Duties of the Treasurer, was to review the minutes.  I pointed out that the Treasurer should be reviewing the minutes that go back a year to be sure that current year items are not missing.

Here's a real life example:  Friends group had adopted a financial policy to determine how to allocate the amount of money on hand at the end of the year.  It's a great policy and tells the members how the amounts were calculated at the end of the year, what the amounts were and why.  As I was reading the minutes for a task I was completing for them, it became obvious that this information I needed was missing in the minutes.  In fact it had been missing for a couple of years.  I assisted them in the reconstruction of the information and the group is to read it into their minutes at their next meeting.

Financial information is often difficult for the secretary to summarize for the minutes.  I suggest that the Treasurer write out the informaton that should be included in minutes and have the Secretary copy it into the minutes.  This way, a consistent format can be reported throughout the year and it also assists the Secretary with the financial jargon.

Here's a list of Treasurer / Finance Committee  information that could be reported in the minutes.  I would suggest that the Treasurer / Finance Committee calendar such information to be sure it is reported at the appropriate board meeting.

• Update on the bank accounts open / closed in the name of the Friends
• Signatures authorized on those accounts - especially if members have changed
• Renewal of insurance policies, like directors & officers, liability
• Highlight the proceeds from a fundraising event  and/or coordinate with the committee chair on the reporting responsibility - make sure the numbers are given in the same format as they would be found in the report.
• Passing of a budget - since this is a driving force of how the organization will operate.  It may be well worth to use a template for this type of information, to include the final amount and possibly how it was determined
• Tax returns - the organization may have several tax forms that need filing
• Contracts - state their status, updates or changes due to renegotiation, finalized and/or finished contracts
• Update the groups website for financial reports,
• Report the year end financial report in more detail than you may have reported during the year
• Receipt of temporarily and permanently restricted donations
• Awards of grants

You may come up with other items, this list is not complete by any means.  Look back at your minutes and look forward to those folks who will be involved in the future as this is your guidance to them.