Executive director's report to the board: a template

An executive director's report should fit on one page. It says what changed since the last meeting, shows the few numbers the board watches, asks the board for what you need, and names what worries you. The template below does that, and a filled-in example follows it.

Copy it into whatever you write in.

The template

[Organization] executive director's report

For the board meeting on [date]. Covers [date of last meeting] to [date written].

1. Since we last met

Three things at most. One sentence each on what happened and why the board should care.

2. The numbers we watch

Four or five figures the board has agreed to track, and the same ones every meeting. Give each one a line: the measure, where it is now, the target, and where it was at the last meeting.

3. What I need from the board

Each item is labeled as a decision, an introduction, or advice, with a date.

4. What worries me

One or two risks, said plainly, with what you are doing about each.

5. Coming up before the next meeting

Dates the board should know: filings, audits, events, deadlines.

A filled-in example

This organization is made up.

Eastside Youth Tutoring executive director's report

For the board meeting on November 18. Covers September 12 to November 10.

1. Since we last met

• The fall cohort is at 142 students in four schools, up from 118 last fall.
• Our program manager left on October 3. The job is posted, and I am covering site visits until it is filled.
• The Harmon Family Fund renewed for two years at $60,000 a year.

2. The numbers we watch

• Students enrolled: 142. Target 150. Last meeting 131.
• Active volunteer tutors: 61. Target 70. Last meeting 58.
• Revenue, year to date: $318,000. Target $410,000 for the year. Last meeting $262,000.
• Cash on hand: 4.2 months of spending. Target 3 months or more. Last meeting 4.6 months.

Revenue is at 78% of budget with 86% of the year gone.

3. What I need from the board

• Decision: approve hiring a program manager at up to $62,000. The budget assumed $58,000.
• Introductions: each of you, one employer or congregation that might send us volunteer tutors, by December 5.
• Advice: should we add a fifth school next fall? Fifteen minutes of discussion, no vote.

4. What worries me

• We are nine tutors short. Without them, about 20 students will be in groups of four instead of two.
• The year-end appeal has raised $41,000 of its $90,000 goal with seven weeks left. I am calling our top 30 past donors myself this month.

5. Coming up

• Audit fieldwork starts January 12.
• Form 990 is due May 15.

What to leave out

Reports get skipped when they read like a list of everything the staff did. Leave out meetings you attended, events that went fine, and anything a committee is already reporting on. If the treasurer presents the financials, your report carries three or four headline figures and nothing more.

A useful test for each line: would a director do anything differently after reading it? If not, cut it.

How to get it read

Send it with the board packet, about a week ahead, and then don't read it aloud at the meeting.

Robert Acton, writing for BoardSource, suggests asking three questions in its place: what did you read that excited you, what worried you, and what left you with questions? The first time you try it there may be a silence. He recommends asking one or two directors beforehand to come ready with something, which also tells everyone that the report is expected reading.

Getting the inputs from your team

Writing the page is the quick part. One executive director told us the worst part of board prep is chasing their own team for answers about the agenda, then tracking every action item after the meeting.

Ask each program lead for the same three lines every time (what changed, one number, one worry), due ten days before the meeting. Keep one list of open action items that carries over from meeting to meeting, so you can copy the open ones straight into section 3.

How Karma Compass helps

Karma Compass doesn't write the report. It keeps track of the agenda, the action items and the finance figures that go into it.

• On the Pro plan, the agenda for your next meeting is drafted from what is still open: unfinished action items, decisions the board has not made yet, and recurring items.
• Also on Pro, you can turn on reminders to action item owners before their due dates, and anything unfinished shows up on the next agenda.
• On the Organization plan, QuickBooks revenue, expenses and cash appear on your home screen, so the finance figures for section 2 are already there.
• Directors open the packet from a link in their email. They don't need an account or a password.

See how the board packet works

Sources

• Board members zoning out? Stop reading the CEO's report: Robert B. Acton on the BoardSource blog, October 2017. The three questions to ask in place of reading the report aloud.