Board Handbook a necessity for orientation, responsibilities, performance standards

If your charity doesn’t yet have a handbook for your board of directors or trustees, I would suggest you probably should go ahead and get one together. It will be invaluable in the process of educating board members about their responsibilities and the appropriate activities in which they engage their meeting time.

Let’s say, for example, that your board does a lot of micro-management in its meetings. The board manual is a source of information about board duties and responsibilities to which you can refer them when the going gets tough and micro-management is at its worst.

Or board members seem to forget the kinds of programs your organization runs, or is not familiar with staff. The board manual is the place to refer them for such information.

The board manual can become the primary reference document for your governing board. Some people call it a “handbook,” but it amounts to the same thing. It is a continually evolving document

What do you want to put in your board manual? Here’s a list of possible ingredients:
1. Short version of the organization’s strategic plan
2. Charter and By-Laws
3. The board’s job description
4. Board performance standards
5. A brief version of the performance review process; what will happen, when, by whom, with what result
6. Organization’s mission, vision and values statements
9. A précis of the most major decisions the board has made in the last 5 years
10 A listing of the organizations programs of service and brief description of each program
11. Listing of staff and contact information for each
12. A board roster with contact information for each board member
13. A digest of policies the board has established over the years
14. The past year’s financial statements
15. The organization’s annual budget for the past two years

You’ll find a good model for a board manual at the following URL. Just click on “Download Attachment” and you get a PDF file you can print out. It’s a very complete model. Click here.

Another good source for information about the appropriate contents of a board manual is available and can be found at this
link.

Why is it necessary to have such a manual? The reason is simple, it provides a written source of important information that every board member should have ready to hand. It is an orientation and reference point. It is a reminder of the board’s governance past and it points the way to the board’s responsibilities in the future. It also directs their attention primarily to strategic issues and turns them away from the tendency to micro-manage.

It is entirely appropriate to stop a micro—managing board session and suggest that board members refer to the board manual. They should bring the manual to every session, so they have it with them. One of the sections you will find you use most often is the one on the board’s job description. In the midst of the fray, I’ve found that many board members forget what they’re supposed to do at board meetings. They tend to get bogged down in the minutiae of business and forget to take a strategic view.

I’ve also found that many board members not only don’t know much about strategic planning but don’t like to do that very much. Consequently, they find almost anything else to get into that diverts their attention from the planning task. They also don’t know much about program evaluation or setting policies that delimit the executive’s work. Consequently, again, they gravitate to things they’re more familiar with. But the board manual is a way to bring them back to their essential function and help them find the handles that help them center down on their appropriate tasks.