Nonprofit Board Meeting Agendas

What Should and Should Not Be Included In A Nonprofit Board Meeting Agenda?

Your agenda should have information items, discussion items, and action items.

Information Items

Information items include committee reports, programs updates, or new funding arrangements. No action is required of the board, and a consent agenda is best used for information items. If your board meeting is entirely information items, the meeting did not need to occur.

Discussion Items

Discussion items ask for board member input into the future planning of the organization. Discussion items include brainstorming solutions, analyzing trends, creating plans, and crafting formal responses to reports. Plans for a nonprofit board may include strategy, volunteer recruitment, board development, fundraising, governance, marketing, and program evaluation results. Be careful not to keep items as discussion items once there is no new discussion occurring. It is also important to be clear to whom a comment is aimed – board chair, staff, a committee or an external party.

Action Items

Action items ask for a board decision or vote. Examples would be an annual budget, strategic planning goals, or creating an entirely new service. Action items should have appeared in previous meetings as discussion items.

Your agenda should avoid including items that do not align with the strategic goals or mission, overly detailed operational or staff-level issues that do not require board-level input, and topics that can be resolved outside of the meeting through reports or committee work. It is best to set aside social time until the meeting is concluded. Sensitive or confidential topics should be reserved for an in camera session and not mixed with the general agenda.