Every board member should be thoroughly familiar with the contents of your Board Manual. The Manual can be a hard copy file in a notebook, or a set of electronic files accessible by all board members — whatever works for your board. If kept electronically, it is recommended that two or more officers have edit capabilities, and all other board members have view only rights.

What should be in your board manual?

Legal documents

• Your Bylaws 
• Committees and committee descriptions
  • Position descriptions
• Your founding charter and IRS documents

Mission Statement

Your Strategic Plan

Financial documents

• Annual budget
• Monthly reports on financial status
• Audits reports 
• Annual balance statements
• Insurance coverage documents
• Financial Policies and procedures
• General bank information including names of current signatories

Policy statements

• Inclusion, Diversity and Equity
• Conflict of Interest
• Employment policies (if you have paid staff)
• Confidentiality Policy & Agreements
• Social Media Policy
• Code of Conduct for members and the Board

Agendas and Minutes of Meetings and any supporting documents

Resource List

• External Contact List:  i.e.vendors, attorneys, lobbyists, accountants, etc 
• Password lists for online services like survey monkey, mail chimp, etc. (security clearance)

Events Resource Planning Guide

• Step by step guide for every event: timeline, contacts, checklists, etc i.e. Annual Conference, fundraisers, acupuncture at the state capital, etc.

Orientation process 

• Do a thorough orientation for Prospective board members. Use the Manual as a text, and describe exact duties and expectations from the new member, such as meeting attendance, participation in activities, and contribution of volunteer time and financial contributions expected (if any).

Succession Planning

• Plan ahead for replacing those members who will be leaving the board
• Analyze what talents, skills and experience your board needs to have
• Establish a nominating committee to seek out and vet potential new board members
• Have a plan for approaching potential new members: What might their interests be? Do these match the needs of your board? 

Running Efficient Meetings

Some suggestions for making the best use of your board member’s valuable time:

• Meet on a fixed schedule, like “the third Monday of each month”. Board members can then set their work schedules to fit, and ensure full attendance.
• The Board Chair should establish the agenda for each meeting, and the Secretary should make the agenda and any supporting documents available, at least five days before the meeting. If there is a significant amount of material to review, more than five days prior to the meeting may be appropriate. Avoid material/document reviews right before a meeting. Meeting minutes should be available within two days after the meeting.
• Consider using a Consent Agenda, which includes minutes of the last meeting and routine reports like financials or committee reports. These are mainly informative materials and do not normally require action. If no board member has a question, the board can accept all these materials and move on to issues needing decision or discussion.
• The minutes of each meeting should list all actions decided on, including who will be responsible for the action and the due date. The Chair is responsible for monitoring the status of all action items.

Example of Board minutes template:

1. Name and kind of meeting.  ( e.g. Zoom ASA Board meeting, or Teleconference ASA Board meeting, emergency meeting, annual meeting or regularly scheduled Board meeting etc.)
2. Date, place, and time that the meeting began and ended.
3. Names of the attending/voting board members, positions of each, and whether a quorum was present. 
4. Names of guests and their subject matter.
5. Whether minutes from the previous meeting were approved or corrected.
6. Motions made: 
   1. the exact wording of the motion
   2. who made the motion, who seconded the motion
   3. the result of the vote
7. Reports. Record the name of the report, the name of the member presenting it, and any action taken on the report. If the report was in writing, attach it, or indicate where it may be found. An oral report may be summarized briefly.
8. Other actions, assignments and deadlines, resolutions, and recommendations can be briefly recorded. 
9. The minutes do not need to include discussions as they are not actionable.
10. Secretary’s signature once the minutes have been approved.

• Stick to the agenda. If new or side issues arise, the Chair should direct them to the appropriate individuals or committee to handle and report back later, or schedule the issue for discussion and action at a later meeting. Respect the meeting time duration, keep running into overtime to a minimum.