The board packet, with the agenda drafted from your open business
A board packet is everything a director should read before the meeting, in one place. Karma Compass drafts the agenda and puts it together with the reports you attach; the packet goes out only after a person with the authority to publish approves the agenda. Directors open it from their email.
What a board packet is for
The packet turns a meeting from a briefing into a decision. When directors arrive having read the financials, the reports and the motions, the board can spend its time deciding; when they arrive cold, staff spend the meeting explaining. The packet is also the record of what the board had in front of it when it decided, which matters to auditors and funders later.
What belongs in it
Send it five to seven days ahead, or whatever your bylaws set as the notice period, and keep it short enough to be read.
How Karma Compass assembles and sends it
Before the meeting, the Agenda Agent drafts the agenda from earlier published agendas, when there are any, and the action items still open. You attach the reports directors should read to the items they belong to.
The chair, secretary or executive director edits and signs off. Only then is the packet sent. Each director receives an email with a link to the packet made for them, and reads it without an account or a password. RSVPs come back the same way, so you know whether the meeting will have quorum while there is still time to chase the rest.
Nothing becomes official until someone on your board with the authority to approve it does. The agents prepare the work; your board makes the decisions. See who approves what.
Where the packet lives
Each meeting has its own page with the agenda, the packet, who has said they are coming and what the board still owes. The next meeting is called out above the rest.
Questions boards ask
What goes in a nonprofit board packet?
The agenda; the minutes of the last meeting for approval; the financial statements and the treasurer’s report; the executive director’s report; committee reports; any motion the board will vote on, with the material behind it; and the consent agenda items. Anything a director needs to have read to decide well belongs in the packet, and nothing else.
When should the board packet go out?
Most boards send it five to seven days before the meeting, and many bylaws set a minimum notice period for the agenda. Directors who receive the packet the night before cannot prepare, and a board that is not prepared spends the meeting being briefed rather than deciding.
How does Karma Compass build the board packet?
On Pro, the Agenda Agent drafts the agenda from earlier published agendas, when there are any, and the action items still open. You attach the reports directors should read to the items they belong to. The chair, secretary or executive director reviews it and signs off before it is sent to directors. Directors open the packet from a link in their email, without signing in.
Do directors need an account to read the packet?
No. Directors open the board packet, RSVP and vote from links in their email. Anyone you invite can also sign in to see the full workspace.
Can we download the packet as a PDF?
Yes. The board packet PDF can be downloaded, and so can any document you upload, unless downloads were turned off for it. Moving from Pro to Free deletes nothing.