Basic Guidelines and Sample Agenda for Board Training Session

Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Developing and Operating Your Nonprofit Board of Directors.

Board training conveys the knowledge and understanding needed by board members in order to effectively carry out their roles as members of the organization's board of directors. Selection of the particular training topics and training methods depend on the nature and needs of the organization. However, the following guidelines and sample agenda may prove useful to readers as they develop their own approach to board training.

Guidelines to Prepare Board Training

Regarding Timing of the Session

1. Conduct board training once a year, whether you have new board members or not. It's amazing how the "basics" helps to ground and integrate the knowledge and understanding of even highly experienced board members. Recurring training also helps to ensure that board members are all "working from the same script".

2. Conduct board training shortly after new members are elected to the board. This scheduling helps new members quickly gain understanding of their roles and contributions to the organization. This understanding often increases their participation and fulfillment regarding their roles as board members.

Who Should Be Involved in Planning the Session

3. Design of the board training should include at least the chief executive officer and board chair. Ideally, the organization also has a board development committee whose chair can provide strong participation in the training. If timing permits, discuss ideas with all board members to collect their feedback and review.

Selecting Topics and Materials for Board Training

4. Results of the board self-evaluation should be carefully considered when selecting training topics. For example, if the evaluation indicated the board members don't understand their roles as board members, then ensure that training places strong focus on this topic during training.

5. Be sure to include review of the board manual in the training session. The manual is the key resource for members to collect, organize and reference resources needed to carry out their roles as board member. Members should take seriously their manual and the use of it.

6. Materials you'll need often include:
a) Board manual (for an idea of contents to include in the manual, see Sample Board Manual Index)
b) Advertising and promotions materials about the organization and its programs
c) Copy of the most recent strategic plan

Members' Preparation for Training

7. Provide the board training agenda, board manual and promotions materials to members at least two weeks before the meeting. Ask them to review the materials before the meeting.

NOTE: Many of the materials you may need for training and to present to members are included in the Free Toolkit for Boards in the Free Management Library.

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Sample Agenda for Board Training Session

The following agenda should be modified by the organization to meet its own nature and needs. During review of the topics marked with an "*", provide brief presentation about the topic and then provide time for open discussion and to address questions from participants.

Topic	Leader of This Section of Meeting	Length of Time (minutes)
Welcome	Board chair
Review of agenda*	Board chair
Introduction of participants	Each person introduces themselves
Overview of organization*	Executive director reviews mission, history, programs and introduces key staff
Orientation to board manual*	Board chair
Roles and responsibilities of governing board*	Board chair reviews overview of roles, role of chief executive, and comparison of roles of board and staff
Overvierw of board structure	Review listing of current officers, committees, and committee chairs
Overview of board operations*	Board chair reviews key points from byalws and board policies, board operations calendar, sample committee work plans, and sample meeting agenda and minutes
Review of strategic plan*	Board chair reviews format of plan, highlights from the plan and key points about status of implementation of the plan
Administrative activities	For example, set the schedule for next year's board meetings, refine the board operations calendar, update the list of board members, etc.
Next steps	Board chair poses reminders of upcoming activities and events
Meeting evaluation	Board chair

Return to Free Complete Tookit for Boards

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For the Category of Boards of Directors:

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

For-Profit ("Corporate") Boards of Directors

Nonprofit Boards of Directors

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For-Profit ("Corporate") Boards of Directors

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

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Nonprofit Boards of Directors

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