Small Cohort - Good Governance: Building Highly Effective Boards
July 8, 2025

CONFIDENTIAL ROUGHLY EDITED REALTIME FILE
Compliments of Birnbaum Interpreting Services

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This file was created in real time by a Realtime Captioner. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. A consumer should check with the presenter for any clarification of the presentation.

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>> All right.  Ready to roll.
>> Hello, everyone.  We'll get started in a few minutes.  Take this time and feel free to introduce yourself in CHAT.  Your name and where you're from.
>> Recording in progress.
>>
>> Tyler Morris:  We will go ahead and get started in a few moments.  Thank you for introducing yourself in CHAT.  We had about 80 people registered for today.  Seeing some familiar names from our past two weeks of our cohort.  Good to see you all.
All right.  We have some good content to get through today.  So we're going to go ahead and get started.  So welcome to our Good Governance, Building Highly Effective Boards, our small cohort.  My name is Tyler Morris.  I'm the director of training at the IL T&TA center.
Before we begin, let's go ahead and talk about accessibility.  We have both ASL and Spanish interpreters available.  They're labeled in the participant list.  Closed captioning is also available by clicking the CC button at the bottom of your Zoom window.  We also have a StreamText link that Emily has just dropped in the chat for us.  A portion of today is going to be conversation when we get into discussion points if you've already joined us for the past two weeks you know the drill.  But when it comes to that, let's go ahead and help me out saying organize, using the raise hand feature so you can come off of chat or ask questions.
It helps our interpreters and captioning as well.  And everybody to know who you are.  So please state your name before speaking and our IL T&TA team is available in CHAT if you experience accessibility issues or difficulties during today's cohort training.
As always we have a survey that your feedback is very appreciated and valued.  So please take some time at the end of today's session to complete that survey for us.
Next shied, please.
The Independent Living T&TA is available through a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and human services.  Our goal is to provide expert training and technical assistance to CILs, SILCs, and DSCs.  And we are proud to be operated through the University of Montana's rural institute for exclusive communities.
Next slide.  Inclusion at this.  My they'll is Tyler Morris.  Director of training for IL T&TA.  Prior to this I had the privilege for leading the IL here in Jacksonville Florida and serving boards and councils local and statewide.  I am happy to share in this format some of the things I have learned over that period of time to make you more effective in your roles as board members.
Next slide, please.
The cohort overview, we are July 8, you will be able to access the prior to trainings, if you for some reason why not able to join us.  Our format today, just like the other two will be a 90 minute Zoom session.  We are going to budget 60 minutes for instruction and 30 minutes of peer learning.  That means where you get to share or ask questions during that time.  Joining us today are various members from the IL network.  So please be mindful of that.  And today, hopefully is interactive peer drive and conversational.  I know it's 3:00 o'clock on the East Coast.  But I hope everybody's had their second or third coffee or tea for today and ready to role.
For our learning objectives on the next slide, today we are at week three where we're going to be looking at board responsibilities and strategic planning, financial oversight, and organizational accountability.  And we are also going to apply these tools and resources that we're going to be sharing today to help in your governance and oversight functions.
Next slide, please.

>> Real quick, Tyler, we have a comment in the chat about another session bleeding into this.
>> Tyler Morris:  I see.
>> This is Sandra.  Susan, you might have accidentally clicked on the interpretation channel.  So might be hearing the Spanish translation simultaneously.  If you're still hearing other sound.  You should be able to click back to the English session.
>> Tyler Morris:  Thank you.  Perfect.  Thank you, Susan.  Flood that's fixed.  And thank you, team, for getting Susan back with us.
Let's reset with some cohort norms.  Today, it will be really great for us to be present and have participation.  So please minute might any distractions you have to be present including your phone and maybe some tabs and other windows.  And please be ready to engage.  The first portion we will be recording for posting on our website.  But we will come off of recording during this discussion points.
So please feel free, if you're comfortable to come off-- or to turn on your camera and join conversation during that time.  We will learn together today.  So let's make sure that we have curiosity over judgment, understanding that mistakes are a part of learning.  We're also going to be respectful of time when we get closer to the end of our time together and getting into discussion, I would really appreciate if we can be mindful of keeping our comments and questions to shorter lengths so that we have the ability to hear everyone who would like to share or ask questions.
Confidentiality and trust, this is a space where we are able to share what we've learned.  Making sure that for any confidential information that we keep that private.  But also just being respectful of what others share today.  And our time and structure, I appreciate you all being here today and budgeting this time for this training.  So we will be really sticking towards our time together in that 90 minutes with the 60 minutes of instruction.
Next slide, please.
A little bit more about today, so let's get teed up.  We'll be building on the roles and values we explored the past two weeks and connect them directly to the key responsibilities of board service.  So today's format, we're going to begin with the big three of board ethics, the foundational duties of care, loyalty, and obedience as the ethical framework for guiding effective governance.  And from there we are going to move into what it means to serving your capacity specifically as it relates to strategic planning, financial oversight, and organizational accountability.  To help us put all of what we've learned into application, we're going to look at some governance documents that allow us to support responsibilities as board members and recognizing them as tools to help us in and inform decision-making which we spoke about last week.
Of course, we're going to close with an overview of what it means to have highly effective board meetings and making sure you are engaged as a board member with some examples.  And closing with a group discussion.  So-- and questions.  So let's go ahead and get started.
We're going to get teed up with a quote to set the stage for today.  And it is from Simon Sinek who is a British American author, motivational speaker.  You might have seen him on TedTalk.  It's one of the most viewed talks that they have made.  And he's known for his concept of the golden circle theory.  Focusing around shaping around everything first the why to help with leadership and making sure everybody's on the same page.
So if you haven't checked him out, feel free to do that later on.  Next slide, please.
Here are the big three that we're going to talk about now.  So board service comes with more than good intentions.  It comes with legal and ethical responsibilities.  It's not just volunteerism.  It's a responsibility that carries weight with it.  The three core duties we're going to talk about now is care, loyalty and obedience.  Which are essential to strong nonprofit governance and consumer centered leadership.
When we're talking about duty of care, we're discussing a duty that involves informed participation, due diligence, and sound judgment.  This is where board members are expected to actively engage and make reasonable decisions based on available facts.  So some of those examples would be attending meetings regularly, reviewing materials in advance of the meeting and asking thoughtful questions.
This might be having consideration of a significant renovation project within your organization and asking questions about other quotes and some of my board members in the past have even asked about Better Business Bureau ranks when it comes to selecting vendors.
The second we're going to talk about for the big three is duty of loyalty.  And this is where board members are required to place the interest of the center and consumer above personal gains.  Some examples that we have included here are avoiding and disclosing conflicts of interests.  Methods to do that later on.  Maintaining confidentiality.  And refraining from self-dealing.  An example of where this would not be a duty of loyalty is steering decisions for personal gain.  So if the center is considering looking at different ways to complete accessibility surveys and a board member has a company that provides those accessibility reviews, it's important that a disclosure of conflict of interest happens in that the board remember recuses themself from decision.  Recusing, meaning, removing themselves from that decision or influencing that decision.
The third and final is the duty of obedience.  That's where it requires alignment with the organization's mission and full compliance with laws, regulations and governing documents.  Here board members fulfill this duty by upholding the Independent Living philosophy, following bylaws.  Making sure the organization follows its mission, and adheres to its governing documents.  An example where this would not, a board member would not be fulfilling their duty of obedience is if they were to really push the center to create a job readiness program for individuals who do not have disabilities.  That would be an example of where it does not adhere to the mission or the requirements of the CIL.  And so that is an example of where that would not be fulfilling your duty of obedience.
Next slide, please.
Let's talk about strategic planning and what your role is in strategic planning.  As a board member, your role is vital.  It's not just procedural.  And it carries a lot of meaning and purpose there.  Strategic planning is where you get to shape the future of your organization and making sure that the voice helps align that future with both your mission and the values of the Independent Living philosophy.
So in that role, you're going to be setting the direction aligned with that IL philosophy and community priorities.  We talked a lot about those key inputs for informed decision-making last week.  This would be something that helps you be informed in setting that direction.
You, you're expected to participate actively.  That could be envisioning sessions or planning discussions, remembering that as a disability led organization, including board, your experience, your insights, and your leadership elevate the conversation and help to make sure that we're adhering to that IL philosophy.
You're also going to ensure that goals are mission driven and reflect consumer needs and voices.  Another thing as a role for your role in strategic planning is approving the final plan and monitoring the progress toward outcomes.  We're going to talk about the tools that might help you in your functions of monitoring in those outcomes.
Next, we're going to, in your role, you will be supporting accountability by asking questions and evaluating implementation over time.  If you have a group of folks who are just nodding their head and not asking questions, think about the reason why that might be happening.  You know, if folks might not be comfortable asking questions or not know enough or is there space?  We should be asking questions on the progress, not just for oversight and management but also to know where there are areas that you may be able to provide support.
So lastly, a point that we'll bring up is champion the plan publicly and reinforce purpose and build trust.  Remember your role as board member does not stop and end when you put on your name badge that says, board member of.  That's something that continues in your roles and faith-based communities, in other volunteer opportunities, family and friends.  You are a champion for your CIL when you are out in public.  So be mindful of those values and that philosophy even when you're not in the boardroom.  Next slide, please.
A point here is, this is sometimes where people start to glaze over when it talks about financials.  I will start by setting the expectation that board members don't have to be accountants but they need to be accountable.  It is very important to have folks on your board that have fill experience and can interpret the reports that you're receiving either between meetings or at meetings.  And it's also another reason to have a finance committee.  That helps with the fiscal oversight.
So your role as a board member, whether you're on the finance committee or not is you will be reviewing and approving budgets, make sure they're aligned with the mission and goal of your CIL.  You will be monitoring financial reports that includes income statements, balance sheets, PNLs at regular meetings.  Another responsibility that you have is understanding major funding sources, federal grants, match requirements, program income.  If you are a CIL that has the, has multiple funding streams, it's really important to understand how all of those work because each of those may have specific requirements for that specific funding source.
Again, asking informed questions about spending sustainability and risks is not micro management.  It's a form of oversight and it's appreciated whether you're reviewing credit card statements or bank statements or taking a couple of lines out of there and saying, what is this for?  What is this line for CIL suite?  Or what is this $40 for, but being respectful of the amount of questions that you ask and making sure that they carry a purpose with those questions.
Ensuring proper controls is really important with fiscal oversight and your role as a board member is a form of that fiscal oversight because in that role you're responsible for preventing, fraud, waste, and/or abuse of funding.
Another role and responsibility you have as a board member is you support transparency with the staff, funders and the community.  Fostering that openness helps build confidence in how we manage resources.
And lastly, guaranteeing that costs are-- and I'm going to hopefully get this for people to remember.  Guarantee costs are necessary, reasonable, allowable and treated with consistency.  So making sure what we spend is necessary.  It's reasonable.  It's allowable, and it is consistent with other costs and expenses.
There is a link at the bottom of this slide for the uniform administration requirements cost principles and audit requirements for federal awards.  This is a good source document for you to refer to on how to, how-- more detail on those funds.  In that fiscal oversight.
Next slide, please.
As a board member, you are serving as a guardian of the organization's integrity and effectiveness.  So that role in organizational accountability ensures that everything that you do remains aligned with the mission and meets the legal standards and reflects the values of IL philosophy.  Part of that are these points for the organizational accountability that falls within your role as a board member.
The first is monitoring progress towards goals outlined in the workplan, strategic plan, and state plan for Independent Living or SPIL.  It's also your responsibility to evaluate the Executive Director's performance regularly and fairly.  Meaning also annually.  And reviewing and adopting key policies that ensure ethical operations, accessibility and equity.  In your role, you also oversee compliance with federal and state requirements including standards and assurances that we discuss discussed, I believe, last week from the Rehabilitation Act 725B and C.
Next you are also responsible for upholding transparency and integrity and decision-making and communications.  Perception, sometimes outweighs reality.  And making sure that you are very far away from things that have conflict of interest, that you're transparent with your decisions.  Those uphold transparency and integrity of the CIL.  If those are compromised, that means also the reputation of the CIL can be compromised.  We'll talk more about what's at stake in the next slide.
Lastly we're going to foster a culture of consumer control, responsiveness and continuous improvement.  There is an evaluation tool that is available.  So really great matrix that you can use as a self-evaluation of some of the standards and assurances that we discussed.  And it also will help you identify areas that you might need to incorporate a plan for addressing.  So the link at the bottom of this slide is ACL CIL evaluation tool.  And I encourage you to look at that because it combines our standards and assurances along with some other points as a CIL to help us conduct a self-evaluation.  This can be done by maybe tasking a couple of staff, staff members or an ad hoc committee or working one-to-one with the Executive Director with going through the checklist.  Really helpful to all be on the same page there.
Next slide, please.
Your service as a board member is not just about casting votes.  It's a leadership role and it has some far reaching consequences if there is neglect.  And when one board member neglects the responsibilities, the impact can ripple across the entire organization and beyond.  This is an important thing to understand when you are serving in your role as a board member.  There are legal and fiduciary consequences, collecting -- can lead to compliance requirement, exposing the organization and individual board members to legal and fiduciary.  Budgets may be mismanaged.  Risks overlooked, resources misallocated and could jeopardize long-term sustainability of the organization.  Reputational damage is also something that could be at stake when board members don't serve in their capacity and the trust of the organization.  The public's trust of the organization is one of the most valuable resources that you will have as a CIL.
So a lapse in government can quickly undermine that.  And it takes a lot of time to build that back up.  It can also impact team morale and culture if staff and volunteers are looking for board members for vision and stability and there's inconsistency or disengagement at the board level, it can erode internal controls and also the morale of staff.
Mission drift also happens when there is neglect.  Without intentional oversight, the organization may unintentionally stray from its purpose, compromising the values of the IL philosophy and the needs of the community.  And that also can lead us to failure to meet those strategic goals or the goals within the state plan for Independent Living.
Next slide, please.
The next section.  As we move into it, we're going to be looking at examples of documents that will support you in leadership in fulfilling governance responsibilities and these aren't just forms that file.  They have functions.  They're tools to ensure accountability, transparency, and alignment.  So look at these documents as the tools that help your organization and its functions to be that it, the best that it can be.  I will say this.  As we review each one, let's reflect on each of these documents in three lenses.  The first is purpose and alignment.  The second is impact and utility, and ownership and engagement.  One shoe does not fit all when it comes to policies and procedures.  Remember that we are consumer drive and community-based.  We are organizations that reflect our community and make decisions to provide programs and services that help us achieve and work towards our mission.
So before I-- I hope no one prints this off and takes the Executive Director and says, we need all these documents.  Please take time to reflect on, if these documents match what your organization needs?  But they are all good documents for you to reflect on.
For purpose and alignment, when we reflect on these documents through this lens, we are going to ask what is the true purpose of this document?  Why does this document exist?  It's going to look at things like, is it required by policy or regulation or is it just recommended?  And also, even if our government's documents it should reflect the principles of the IL philosophy and consumer knowledge.  Those not just intangible ideas that don't connect to operations.  There is a role for the IL philosophy in these documents for the purpose and alignment the.
When it is, when we look through the lens of impacting utility for these documents, I'd like you to think about, does this document help us work smarter?  That's an easy way to think about it.  Does it help enhance or is it repetitive or outdated.  One of the most frustrating things for staff sometimes is asking for another report when it's already included in another one.  Right?  It's also inefficient when you're asking staff to create reports that could already be, or the data could already be reviewed in another report.  So if I always ask, I always ask our team, does this data serve a purpose?  If we're collecting these numbers and allocating resources to running these reports, and looking through them, we better have a reason why we're doing it because just work to met work is not efficient.
And again, that last point, making sure that the admin, the administrative budget or burden is justified and within the scope of roles and the organization.
The third lens that we're going to look at this document through is ownership and engagement.  Here we're going to ask who owns this process?  And are the roles clearly defined?  So that is very critical concept, not just putting someone's name next to a deliverable but understanding again central to the why how different roles are impacted with this document.  So the board could decide on a policy, the Executive Director implements, and reports back to the board.  The staff follow that guidance, consumers benefit from that policy or procedure just like we were talking about the steps for informed decision-making in an earlier cohort meeting.
Here we're going to look at the roles and responsibilities, what is my level of engagement or oversight.  Another critical thing to remember is, is this something that requires board decision or is this something that we should be empowering our Executive Director to do because it's a part of their responsibilities?  That is the difference between those roles that we talked about in week one.  And lastly how can this document help inform the decisions that I make to the best, to the benefit of the CIL?
All right.  So let's drive now to the first example of documents.  And these are legal and compliance documents.  The first example is our program performance report, annual report that we submit to ACL.  ACL provides feedback on that, too as they are reviewing those program performance reports.
So if I was a new board member of a CIL, I would like to see that PPR and also any feedback that was received and so I had a great way of looking at the organization as a whole.  We talked about the CIL standards and assurances.  Those are required as part of being a Center for Independent Living.  And therefore, you as board members, articles of incorporation, and bylaws, these are the legal and structural foundations of the organization.  By laws define the decision-making process, officer roles that we talked about last week, and procedural rules.  The IRS determination letter and the 990, that helps confirm the tax exempt status and presents transparent financial and data for the public to review.  The state nonprofit registration is also another important legal and compliance document that can help assist board members by indicating that the organization is legally recognized to operate as a nonprofit entity within the state.  That also means the ability for tax deductible donations as well.  Board approved policies, this could become pretty thick, depending on how large the organization is or its needs.  But some of those documents that included in those board approved policies could be a board agreement, understanding what your responsibilities are in and agreeing to those responsibilities and also understanding what the responsibilities of the CIL are to you as a board member.  A conflict of interest policy is something that's very often required by funders.  So conflict of interest, helps disclose any areas where there might be an overlap of items of business of the organization and items that may impact you personally.
The example earlier about recusing why you are self from a vote that you might be-- that there might be self-gain from a decision.  Whistleblower policy is also another important policy that is an example of what is the process for elevating concerns.  At what levels for the organization as a safeguard?  And also accommodation request.  As board members with significant disabilities you may have an accommodation request whether it is materials being sent to you as specific format, an interpreter at a board meeting.  There should be a very clear process within the organization that also includes not just staff for consumers but the Board of Directors as well.  Insurance policies are great to have.  We talked about what's at stake.  So one of the questions that I asked for, before I join a board is there DNO insurances director and officers insurance?  If there is an error or a mismanagement or, whatever it may be, that there is an insurance policy that offers some protection towards that.
And then also accreditation or licensure documentation, not something that you might need in an onboarding packet but it's good to know what those accreditations and licensures are.
Next slide, please.
So personnel documents also help you in your role as a board member by understanding how the organization is able to manage its team.  Personnel policies, employee handbook, employee satisfaction surveys or professional employer organization PEO contact information if you have it.  So these are also things that are helpful for knowing where they are or who to ask for.  I think someone sharing an earlier example last week or the week before of our Executive Director's out.  What do we do now?
It's good to have a good foundation of at least how to handle informed decision-making, what those inputs should be and any support that you may have either through a PEO provider or professional employer organization.  Maybe it's a consultant.  But all of these are examples of documents that could help you in your governance or in your oversight goals.
Next slide, please.
Financial documents.  Sound financial documents requires informed oversight of the organization's-- I guess I'll pause.  I'll wait for a second.
And with that, Chris, I agree with that statement from CHAT.  There is a huge range of size for organizations.  So the information included in the policy should also be reflective of the size of the organization.  You're correct.
So let's talk about these financial documents.  An annual budget is what provides a forward looking view of anticipated revenues and expenditures.  It helps review the budget, ensures the alignment with the organizational goals.  The resource priorities and programmatic commitments, fiscal policies and procedures can include things like practices related to the generally accepted accounting principles known as GAAP.  Investment management and procurement protocols.  Maybe you're an organization that has a interest bearing fund or how often do you review that policy.  What is the process or reviewing allocations?  All of those in these documents, when they're being formed should have their own form of internal controls, guiding how often the policy or procedure should be revisited.
So something reasonable, too, obviously, reviewing all of these documents annually is not reasonable.  But setting them on a schedule to be reviewed in a period that is reasonable to the organization and the administrative burden that's connected with this on that's what you set with these policies and procedures.
The most recent financial audit is also good to have.  It's that third party verification of financial accuracy and internal controls.  It's a vital tool for identifying risk and validating financial practices when you are engaging with a firm that firm is not providing recommendations to the Executive Director.  It is providing recommendations to the Board of Directors and administration.
And that is a really great way to look at internal controls, asking if there are any findings and the level of significance with those if there are any.  Financial statements are another great way for internal control and mechanism for assisting you in your governance role, balance sheet, a profit and loss statement, current financial standings.  Those help you in your informed decision-making.  And banking information.  If there is an issue and the person who normally writes checks is not there, do you have a process for those, what I call black swan events of we didn't-- we hope that this never happens, if it does, we have a process.  Making sure that those banking arguments supports accountability and financial risk management is very important.  So together these documents will enable a board to make informed, timely, and responsible financial decisions while upholding principles of transparency and public trust.
Let's move from forward to programmatic documents that could help with your role as a board member.  A service delivery manual.  That should be outlying the procedures, the philosophies, and the operational standards that guide consumer services.  Reviewing this document as a board member will help you assess how the IL principles are being operationalized and whether those practices are consistent and responsive to the needs of your community.
Another whether it's CIL document or Word document, a schedule of awards where your funding sources are detailed.  And the timelines that are associated with those specific programs are described.  So this information within this document supports clarity of grant obligations, deliverables and timeframes.  And it adds important context for strategic planning and performance monitoring.
Consumer satisfaction survey results are, should be at the top of key inputs when it comes to informed decision-making but also governance.  And what is the level of overall satisfaction?  Did the CIL team treat me with courtesy and respect?  I achieved my goals at a reasonable time.  Who set my goals for Independent Living?  Those are all quality assurance measures that help to provide feedback to how well the organization is doing and help drive forward, forward planning.
Disability demographics and needs assessments from CIL catchment areas, the areas that you serve.  Do you as a board member now how many people with disabilities are in your catchment area?  Do you though what disability types?  Do you know any of those needs that are attached to that?  That helps with representing the organization in the public and also making informed decisions about program design and services.
Another example are internal forms and program documentation.  If you haven't yet already, if you were consumer much your CIL, what would you need to complete?  Familiarizing why yourself with those forms makes you a, an effective and engaged board member.  Things like the intake forms, IL plans, eligibility determination, the client assistance program, or CAP, and the grievance procedure.  One examples how this is tied to board grievance procedure for example, outlines the process for how concerns are elevated.  Not every concern needs to be elevated to the board if it can be solved through a reasonable structure of discussions to find a solution.
Now, some do require board involvement or at least notification.  Next slide, please.
Operational documents-- these are documents that provide structure and feasibility to the day-to-day functions that support accountability.  Example of that our board agendas and minutes.  Joining a board, it's great to learn about the past couple of months or the last quarter or a period of time that you all have met.  To bring them up to speed so you're not using a portion of your meeting to catch people up.  Providing those documents help do that.
Standard operating procedures are the internal work throws for administrative service and compliance related tasks.  These are helpful for if someone is, you know, you need to-- it needs to be filled in or for some reason in the absence of the Executive Director need to support how programs run.  This is a way to do that.
Awards and contracts with contact information.  An example for this also is going through a transition of Executive Directors.  There is a process to follow which starts with giving a heads up to your project officer that there is a transition so that they can help and/or connect you to us for assistance.  But knowing who to call is a great way to get help.  So when you're looking at those awards and contacts with contact information, or at least knowing where you can find that, that helps in your governance and oversight.
And also partnership MOUs and collaborative agreements.  Maybe your organization, maybe your CIL has an agreement with another organization that you want to make sure that are held up or understood, knowing where those documents are or where to find those are also ways that help with oversight.
Next slide, please.
We talked about this already a little bit.  So I won't go through each one of them.  But we already talked about strategic plans in our annual work plans.  Those are documents that help us look at our progress towards a bigger picture.  Program goals and objectives including the goals of your Executive Director.  As a board member, are you asking what the goals are of the Executive Director?  When we talk about goals, it's not just professional the but there might be personal goals, too.  Knowing that scope helps you to provide support where necessary.  The state plan for Independent Living is a good document to have that you as a CIL are driving to help support the overall outcomes for people with disabilities within your state.  Community needs assessment.  Whether it's done by the CIL or other organizations are good inputs to have.  A SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and discussion plan.  I hate that's the last bullet for that slide because it is very important.  When it comes to a transition of key management or leadership, whether it's the board or the Executive Director, what is the process for having a clear, ethical transparent process on how decisions are made in the transition happens with the IL philosophy and consumer control in mind?
Next slide, please.
Resource development documents are here to help clarify the boards role in sustaining the financial health and oversight, development plans, case for support, meaning what is the pitch?  Maybe there's an annual campaign or maybe you're asking for durable medical equipment.  Do you have the ability to communicate that need effectively?  So resources can be brought into your CIL.  Board pledge helps with budgeting.  Annually we pass out a pledge we knew as a budget at a level that was meaningful to them whether it's $5 or $5,000, we knew what we were able to budget for because of a board pledge.
An annual report also a good form of looking at resources and schedule of annual resource development activities.  Whether it's a gala or a advocacy event, those are great things to have to know and to plan for.  Shared calendars are great.
Next slide, please.
I'm hoping that all of these bullet points you all can check off as board members.  These are some ways that I would say are engaged board members, the traits of engaged board members that you show up and come prepared, meaning reviewing things like materials and reports that we are focusing on the mission, not how it's to be managed.  We're respecting the time and process that goes into making these agendas that we're honoring the roles and responsibilities of those different leadership roles in our organization.  We're practicing active listening.  That we're speaking with purpose, meaning that contributions are thoughtful.  That they're mission centered and solution oriented.  Every voice carries value when expressed with respect.
We're also diss clothing and managing conflicts which we talked about earlier and maintaining confidentiality, understanding that some of those things that we are discussing could be sensitive.  We're respecting the work done behind the scenes.  It takes a lot to get ready for a meeting.  I'm sure that we've all been involved in some way to plan these meetings.  And it takes time.  Things organized, things printed, send out through email.  Being respectful of what's happening behind the scenes is critical.  Being a team player, obviously it's collective work that we're doing with the intent of achieving our mission.  Being curious and engaged is also an important traitor standard of excellence for your board members.  Committing to ongoing learning is huge.  We very often send training available to board members as well as ways that they can be involved by attending different events where they can represent the organization.  All of those provide value to your CIL.
And lastly, but not least, following through with any commitments that you say within the boardroom.  That follow-up and follow through sets a good standard for the rest of the organization.
Next slide, please.
Highly effective meetings, we're going to go deeper into this.  They just don't happen.  There's a design to them.  And every detail should contribute to clear communication, informed decision-making, and shared leadership.  These are some of the key practices that drive meeting success.
Being respectful of time, meeting start and end on time.  And also, it's important to be respectful.  This is a volunteer responsibility whether you're having that meeting at 6:00 o'clock at night or in the middle of the day, making sure that you start and end on time.  The agendas that you have should be well crafted and they should prioritize critical topics.  Using that time purposefully that you have together.  We talked about in the earlier cohort meeting the ways to elevate decisions using committees and input from the Executive Director staff consumers so you're making best use of your time.  Open agenda contributions.  The Board Chair will help the Executive Director, informing that agenda.  But any board member that would like to have an item of business added for discussion or for consideration is able to do that.
Looking at your bylaws and how you submit that could be your secretary could be email.  Those are, that's important to remember that you can also help shape the structure of that meeting.  Advance materials in accessible formats, not just sending out a document 15 minutes before the meeting.  But also understanding that those situations happen when there's a lot of fires that go up until that meeting time.  But finding a healthy balance for reasonable timeline to review documents so you feel well informed for decisions that you're making.
Following a rule of order also helps especially for turn taking, the process of considering motions.  I think that's a whole other training for another time.  But they help to make sure that the discussion is orderly and fair and focused on outcomes and not personalities.
But background information for key decisions, what we would do is, if there was an item for business, we may include the description or the report.  We might outline potential impact or outcomes that could happen.  And we might put a staff recommendation in there.  So that those items can be reviewed for moving through items of business.
accurate necessity reports.  There's a lot that happens for a typical day as a CIL.  So how can you use the two infographics that we have as an example on this slide in showing the financial health of where maybe a resource development activity is.  Is it close to goal?  Is it not?  So visually showing that.  Using colors or notes to show variances within budgets, red, obviously meaning needs our attention.  Yellow, you can define those.  But it helps to bring large concepts into an easily digestible format.
It's critical also to have a strong facilitation in these meetings.  Empowering the Board Chair to help lead the meetings in providing them any training.  Making sure all voices are heard and not silenced.  And keeping the business moving.  Board focus on oversight and strategy, making sure that the board meetings so emphasize the governs and not the daily operations.  Dashboards using those whether it's for finance or programs including things like number of goals, number of consumer served maybe by county.  Those provide a snapshot of that.
Action items with accountability.  Listing things of we need your help with, reaching out to or getting resources for.  Making sure those are very clear and understandable for board members is important to understand what you're asking from them.
Clear and documented decisions.  You need to record those decisions because they could be revisited again, knowing who voted yay or nay, who abstained.  And lastly encouraging questions to support understanding but not control.  So ask the questions that provide purpose and show that you are engaged.
Some of the things that we look at that could be contents of the reports are, you Joe, our staff, our CIL, each had a report that was included in the full report that talked about their biggest success, their biggest barrier.  It shared their highlights and consumer testimonials that may or not reasonable for the administrative burden.  But it's a good way to stay connected so that staff know that board members are there and are helping in the functions of the CIL.
Lastly, I put an example for a board meeting agenda.  This may be redundant for some but I don't want to assume.  On the next slide we have the example board meeting agenda where there is a call to order.  Where it marks the official beginning of the beginning.  Roll call and establish the of consumer quorum if you require 70% of members to be there to conduct business, make sure you have 70% of members before going through for business.  Asterisk is maybe some items that could require board vote by the approval of the agenda.  And the approval of minutes, remembering that the first and the second motion time for discussion, if things need to be added or amended.  And then going into reports.  That could be your Executive Director report, financial report, committee reports.  Unfinished business,ed stuff that's carried over that still needs to be decided or addressed.  New business, again board members can contribute, not just the Board Chair to new business items.  Announcements and public comment are also items of the board agenda.  And lastly, adjournment.
Right.  So I know that was a lot of information.  But thank you for sticking through it with us for that hour.  What we're going to do now is there are three slides that I will encourage you to visit after this session because I do want to move into questions and comments time.  So if we were to tab through these scenarios, these are good things that help you reflect on how your CIL may handle a situation similar.  So there are three is that rights that we have included for maybe you have as a discussion or at least a self-reflection.  I am going to move us through to slide 29 in the purpose of time to get us to some of these questions that are going to maybe be key starters for a discussion if you don't already have questions and comments.  We'll start with those first.
Here are questions for you to reflect on.  In what ways do I personally contribute to fostering a culture of accountability and trust within my board?  What beliefs or assumptions do I hold about board service that may need to evolve to better support the CIL's future?
What would it look like for a board to lead with transparency, even when it's uncomfortable?
What signal spoken or unspoken shape how decisions are made or avoided on the board?
How does your board currently stay informed about organizations strategic priorities?
What barriers prevent boards from engaging fully in long-term planning?
What financial reports does your board regularly review?
And do you feel confident reading them?  On a scale from one, extremely inefficient to ten, extremely efficient, I would rate our board meeting as a--
What one process or practice, if it improved would have the biggest impact on your board's efficiency?
Last reflection point, how with you help orient new board members to these roles and tools?
All right.  We are going to switch off of our slide deck.  And open it up for some conversation, questions.
Making sure that we're all here.  I'm going to reach out to my teal, making sure that we're set to go.
>> Recording stopped.