The Consent Agenda: A Tool for Improving NonProfit Governance

More often than not, nonprofit board members find themselves in meetings that are filled with the least interesting and least challenging issues. Many board members and chief executives struggle to make board meetings valuable to the organization and the individuals in attendance.

A consent agenda can turn a board meeting into a meeting of the minds around the things that matter most. A consent agenda is a bundle of items that is voted on, without discussion, as a package. It differentiates between routine matters not needing explanation and more complex issues needing examination.

The main purpose of a consent agenda is to liberate board meetings from administrative details, repetitious discussions, and misdirected attention. The main benefit is better governance. Consent agendas allow the board to regularly dig deeper on strategic issues rather than take a superficial pass on a lot of issues.

Read the BoardSource white paper, The Consent Agenda: A Tool for Improving Governance

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