Have you ever been a part of a non-profit board meeting that left you confused or exhausted
or uninspired? What about a meeting that left you excited and inspired and ready for action?
Leading effective nonprofit board meetings can take a bit of practice! So in this video
I wanted to share some of the strategies that I've tried out over the years with the help of
some amazing board leaders of course to ensure that board meetings stay focused and relevant,
and leave people feeling ready for action after the meeting to help your organization thrive.
Welcome back to my channel! I'm Amber Melanie Smith. I am a non-profit founder and executive
director. I make these videos here on YouTube to help others on their nonprofit journey or
other type of social impact journey. Don't forget to give this video a like if you find it helpful
and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this - and of course if you're looking
for additional resources or training for how to start a non-profit, check out my website
FounderToFulltime.com. It took a few years lots of helpful feedback from board members and a lot of
trial and error, but now I go into my nonprofit organization's board meetings excited ready to
share ideas ready to discuss important topics and make some really critical decisions for the health
and well-being of our organization and its mission in the future so without further ado here are
seven tips to run effective non-profit board meetings tip number one is to create structure
by creating a written meeting agenda and on this agenda you of course list everything that you need
to talk about during the meeting but you can also structure the meeting by putting blocks of time to
make sure that the organ that the meeting stays focused and that topics flow in a timely manner
you can also put the names of the different board members who will be presenting during each section
of the meeting too to keep things organized tip number two get inspired with your team
by helping everyone remember why they are there in the first place at the beginning of each
board meeting I advise that you talk about your organization's mission statement and your vision
recite it make sure people are discussing it and what it means to them personally it's also a great
idea to share a success story something recent that happened with your organization and its
programs that made a difference in the community this really reinforces why everyone is there and
gets them excited about the work they're about to do tip number three is something I alluded
to a little bit ago and that was to include everyone make sure that everyone can own a piece
of the agenda and is invited to speak or present something for the board meeting if you can do this
you'll also have two pretty awesome consequences the first being that everyone will feel included
and that's just a critical part of working well together as a team and the second consequence
is that people will come to the board meeting a lot more prepared because they know that they will
be expected to speak the same as when a student is having to give their book report the very next day
they're going to do that book report number four is a really important tip and I can say that I
have personally experienced not doing this tip well and that is you've got to stay on time and
start on time and end on time for your meetings starting on time and ending on time sends the
message that you respect your board members time and it also means that you're able to manage
the topics you have to discuss in an efficient way if you find that this is a challenge or hard
to do for your organization then assign keeping time to someone at the meeting make it their job
to keep everyone on time on track and focused this will also make sure that everyone has a chance to
speak and no one feels left out too tip number five might seem like a no-brainer but i have
seen people get confused and then make a decision they didn't intend to make before so i will say
this is an important one and that is to when you are presenting a vote for your board of directors
to make sure that what people are actually voting on is extremely clear and specific
and of course you want your board members to be able to make sound and informed
decisions about things happening in the organization so this is really important
if you are going to have a meeting where you're expecting to vote on something like a budget item
or a policy change or policy creation then what you can do is prepare in advance by making sure
that you have all of the details clearly laid out in written form share it in advance allow
your board members the opportunity to review it and ask any questions or note any questions they
plan to ask at the board meeting review that presentation of the details at the meeting
make sure no one has any questions at the meeting once again and then have someone call for a vote
the sixth tip can really improve morale and that is to end the meeting on a positive note
we talked about giving everyone a chance to speak during the meeting but sometimes depending
on the size of your board or the structure of your meetings that might not be possible
so if you give people an opportunity at the very end of your meeting to share one final thought
then they will at least get that chance to speak then and it also ends the meeting on a positive
note where everyone has been able to reflect on the experience of the board meeting and hopefully
get motivated to take their piece of what they need to do next and run with it and the final
and seventh tip I will share with you for running effective non-profit board meetings is something
that doesn't happen at the board meeting at all but actually happens after the board meeting
and that is to follow up very quickly within a day or two max and when I say follow up what I mean is
that the leader this could be either the founder or a board chair or someone on your executive
committee needs to follow up with the whole board about any um action items or deadlines that are
coming up that board members need to remember and be aware of and stay on top of board members are
amazing volunteers who give a lot of time and talents to non-profits so they have busy lives
not everything is always so easy to remember on our massive to-do lists as human beings so having
a leader who can follow up and make sure everyone is clear on their expectations and what they need
to do next and by when is a really important step to keep everyone moving forward let's hear from
you have you experienced or even led a non-profit board meeting that left you inspired i would love
to hear about it share in the comments below and as I mentioned before if you need some help
getting started with your nonprofit don't hesitate to check out my website founder to fulltime.com
where I've got resources and training for people starting up you can also check out my newsletter
and subscribe to that. I'll leave the link in the description but I send out a regular newsletter to
non-profit leaders and other types of change makers with news and resources and sometimes
even funding opportunities that can really help your organizations or your social impact
projects out so definitely subscribe to that one last thought if you are on Facebook perhaps you
know what I am about to say if you've seen my videos before but definitely check out my group
change the world or bust we have folks in there from all over the world coming together to discuss
their social impact work and encourage each other along the way that's it I hope that this
video was helpful please don't give don't please do give hit a thumbs up don't forget to do that
and to subscribe to my channel for more videos like this and I hope to see you next time! Bye!