Get More from Your Board’s Committees

3. ©OnBoard
Get More from
Committees
with Erik Hanberg, author of
“The Little Book of Boards”

4. Housekeeping
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• Use Q&A and chat features
• 30-second survey: How can we do better?
• Last 10-15 minutes: Q&A session

6. What we do:
Inspire and enable organizations to
do their best work in a digital
world.
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Who we serve:
• 5,000 organizations
• 12,000 committees
• 55,000 meetings
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• 50+ countries

8. There are 3 types of board meetings…
• The board meeting you prepared for
• The board meeting you had
• The board meeting you wished you had
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10. Today’s Speakers
Josh Palmer
Head of Content
OnBoard
Erik Hanberg
Author
“The Little Book of Boards”

11. Let’s talk about
committees!
And turn them into the workhorses of the
board

12. LEARN TO LOVE COMMITTEES
• Executive Committee
• Board standing committees
• Ad-hoc committees and task forces

13. COMMON COMMITTEES
• Finance
• Governance/Board Development
• Program
• Development
• Membership

14. AD-HOC COMMITTEES
• Strategic Plan Committee
• Event Committee
• Technology Task Force
• Audit Committee

15. MORE ON COMMITTEES
• Can be a blend of board members and non-board members
• This is where you roll up your sleeves and do some work
• Hopefully, in partnership with the ED

16. THE (ALL-TOO-COMMON AND NOT GREAT)
COMMITTEE MODEL
Committee: Board governance
committee considers a change
at their meeting
Committee: At the next
committee meeting, the members
feel like their work didn’t matter
since the board changed
everything anyway. Committee
loses momentum.
Board: Governance committee
recommends a change. Lots of
feedback!
Discussion goes for 45 minutes.
People take sides. The board tries
to wordsmith the policy on the fly.
The final vote is a split vote.

17. Creating a committee
structure
Who goes where? And what do they do?

18. HOW MANY COMMITTEES CAN YOU FILL?
• Time for some math!
• Take the number of board members and divide by three
• So a board of 9 can create 3 committees
• (Plus the Executive Committee)
• Aside: the board president often doesn’t sit on a
committee and/or sits on all of them.

19. WHAT DO YOU NEED?
• Finance. Always.
• A treasurer should find great value with a finance
committee to support them.
• (If for no other reason than to find their replacement later)

20. WHAT DO YOU NEED?
• Governance/Board Development
• Bylaws and policy for half the year
• Recruiting and orientation for the other half
• Aside: I like establishing a “norm” that the VP chairs this
committee

21. WHAT DO YOU NEED?
• Third committee… you choose! What is right for you?
• Membership?
• Fundraising?
• Strategic Planning?

22. WHAT DO YOU NEED?
• 2018: Finance, Executive
• 2019: Finance, Executive, Governance
• 2020: Finance, Executive, Governance, “Building & Grounds”
• 2021: Finance, Executive, Governance, “Building & Grounds”
• 2022: Finance, Executive, Governance, Strategic Task Force
• 2023: Finance, Executive, Governance, Fundraising, Audit (ad-
hoc)
• 2024: Finance, Executive, Governance, Fundraising

23. WHEN DO YOU LET A COMMITTEE FADE?
• When there is a lack of committee “business” or a change on
the ground
• A retreat restructures the board’s priorities
• New staff capacity means questions can be handled at a
different level
• Committees can be combined or evolved

24. WHAT DO COMMITTEES DO?
• Committees make recommendations (to staff or to the
board)
• Members grow to be “subject matter experts” over a year or
two
• They learn, they advise, they assist

25. WHAT DO COMMITTEES DO?
• It can be helpful to establish a scope of work or some goals
for the year
• (Either as a committee or with the board at a retreat)

26. WHAT DO COMMITTEES DO?
• Consider:
• A board development committee that makes recommended
changes to the board terms and term limits for a quarter
• It reviews the board Conflict of Interest Policy
• Then it arranges the board retreat for a quarter
• Then it focuses on recruiting for the next year

27. WHAT DO COMMITTEES DO?
• Consider:
• A finance committee that checks the numbers every month
• They pass a cash handling policy
• They deliberate whether they need an endowment
• They pass a budget

28. MORE COMMITTEE TIPS
• Standardize the committee meeting times. Let them
“stand” on the calendar and honor those.
• Do the work at the meeting (don’t send work home)
• Boards members work best in groups.

29. The Board/Committee
Relationship
How committees can best support the board

30. BOARD/COMMITTEE RELATIONSHIPS
• Committees only have time on the agenda when they have
an action item.
• They are on the agenda only to discuss a recommendation
or vote on the recommendation.
• Otherwise, their report should be written and submitted
(at least a week in advance)
• Don’t let the board meetings just become rehashes of the
committee meetings every month!

31. BOARD/COMMITTEE RELATIONSHIPS
• Boards have a norm that they consider a recommendation
at one meeting
• And then pass it at the next
• This is a huge change for many boards
• But it is the secret sauce to empower committee work!

32. THE (ALL-TOO-COMMON AND NOT GREAT)
COMMITTEE MODEL
Committee: Board governance
committee considers a change
at their meeting
Committee: At the next
committee meeting, the members
feel like their work didn’t matter
since the board changed
everything anyway. Committee
loses momentum.
Board: Governance committee
recommends a change. Lots of
feedback!
Discussion goes for 45 minutes.
People take sides. The board tries
to wordsmith the policy on the fly.
The final vote is a split vote.

33. AN EXAMPLE OF A GOOD BOARD &
COMMITTEE RELATIONSHIP
Committee: Board
governance committee
considers a change
at their meeting
Committee: At their next
meeting, the governance
committee looks at all the
feedback and makes
revisions
Board: Governance
committee recommends a
change. Lots of feedback!
Chair says “Thank you. We’ll
look at all of that feedback.”
Board: Passes the revision in
5 minutes

34. ED / COMMITTEE RELATIONSHIP
• Refer ideas you don’t like to a committee
• Always channel “rogue” board members to committees
• Come prepared to “staff” a committee
• “Would you like me to write up something on this and
present it at the next meeting?”
• Keep committees from going in opposite directions
• Nudge the committee chair

35. Activating your
executive committee
Empower your board’s leaders

36. WHAT IS THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE?
• The leaders of the board
• Usually the elected officers
• President, Vice President or President Elect, Treasurer,
Secretary
• Sometimes the Past President can be included

37. WHAT CAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES DO?
• Act in times of emergency
• Establish a direction (and then check with the board)
• In more regular times, this committee can check in on the
strategic plan

38. WHAT CAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES DO?
• Lead (quarterly?) agenda planning
• This helps one board meeting from getting too packed and
keeps the business of the board structured
• Here’s an interesting bi-monthly idea…

39. WHAT CAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES DO?
• Focus on personnel
• “Direct” the Executive Director
• Lead evaluations of the ED
• Hire a new ED
• (Though some nonprofits form a separate committee)

40. WHAT CAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES DO?
• Refer questions and ideas to a committee!
• This is part of the management of board business

41. WHAT CAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES DO?
• Identify their successors
• Tap folks on the shoulder in advance

42. ED / EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
RELATIONSHIP
• Use this group as an early sounding board
• Inform them of staffing changes early
• Ask for guidance in a way you might not with the full board
• Ask this group for a raise ;)

43. Thank you!

44. Find Erik’s books and
courses
at
forsmallnonprofits.com

45. How to Get Your Copy
• First 50 guests will receive a
follow-up email
• Share your shipping address
• Books arrive in 2-4 weeks

46. Bolstering
Board Diversity
June 22 @ 2PM ET
Featuring Breen Sullivan and Kat de Haën
co-founders of The Fourth Floor
(soon to be known as The Fourth Effect)
Visit onboardmeetings.com/atlas to register
or click the link in the follow-up email
You’re invited!

47. Questions &
Answers

48. Thank you!

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