End the board management email rabbit hole, grow engagement & grow fundraising
“Where are the meeting minutes?”
“When is our committee meeting?”
“Is this the latest version of our bylaws?”
Sound familiar? 🤪As nonprofit leaders, your bandwidth is already stretched to the brim, you’re wearing numerous hats, and it’s unlikely you have a staff person whose primary role is to keep your board in line.
That’s the precise reason why it’s worth considering the adoption of technology solutions to make your lives easier and free up precious time.
A board governance portal can offer significant benefits to nonprofit organizations by streamlining communication, improving efficiency, and ensuring best practices in governance.
Here are the top five reasons your nonprofit needs a board portal today:
1. More Efficient Meeting Preparation & Follow-Up
A board portal simplifies the process of preparing for meetings by allowing the executive team to upload agendas, distribute reports, and gather feedback ahead of time. It also facilitates post-meeting follow-ups, with features for tracking who has previewed meeting documents as well as a digital board book. This not only saves a few trees(!), but also reduces the administrative burden on staff and improves the overall efficiency of board operations.
Features like group messaging, an organized Meetings/Events module, and a dashboard of progress can help streamline collaboration between board meetings.
Benefits for nonprofit staff:
- Time recovered (less admin work!)
- Improved meeting attendance, engagement & preparedness
- Digital Board Book (saves significant time compiling committee reports!)
Benefits for board & committee members:
- Review your digital board book from any device
- Receive automatic meeting reminder notifications
- One-click RSVP & calendar integration
2. Document Management & Custom Permissions
You might often feel like you’re stuck under a heap of paper! Nonprofit boards often deal with large amounts of documentation, from bylaws and meeting minutes to financial reports and strategic plans. A portal provides a secure space for storing, organizing, and sharing these documents.
This ensures that board members can easily access critical materials at any time, improving their ability to review and prepare for meetings, ultimately leading to more informed decision-making.
Benefits for nonprofit staff:
- Role-based permissions ensure files or folders cannot be “accidentally moved or deleted” like in other cloud workarounds
Benefits for board & committee members:
- 24/7 access to an organized repository of core governance files
- No need to bookmark or look for emails with shared files and folders
3. Increased Security & Compliance
Data security is a critical concern for nonprofits, especially when dealing with sensitive financial information, donor data, or legal matters. A good board portal should have strong security features, such as encryption, secure login, and role-based permissions, to ensure that sensitive data remains protected.
Moreover, they help with governance compliance by maintaining an auditable trail of board actions, ensuring that the organization adheres to regulatory requirements.
Benefits for nonprofit staff:
- Peace of mind, knowing your sensitive information is protected & backed up nightly
- Support in maintaining compliance around board-related matters
Benefits for board & committee members:
- Peace of mind, knowing your organization is prioritizing compliance requirements
- Easy way to sign your required annual conflict of interest (COI) disclosure form
4. Increased Engagement & Accountability
By providing board members with easy access to relevant information and enabling them to participate in discussions and decision-making (even remotely!), a board governance portal fosters greater engagement.
For organizations struggling to develop and grow board engagement as a whole, please also check out the Top 7 Board Development & Engagement Tips – which is full of tangible resources.
Benefits for nonprofit staff:
- Growth in committee participation
- Track attendance by custom dates
Benefits for board & committee members:
- Intuitive mobile app (mobile notifications cut through the clutter!)
- 24/7 access to information via any device
*BONUS*
If you’re looking for more engagement and involvement from your board in your overall fundraising strategy, some board portals, like BellesBoard, also integrate with donor management software to bridge this gap! Oftentimes your board members’ networks and relationship-building abilities are a hugely untapped resource.
5. Communication (More Effective & Efficient!)
A board governance portal centralizes communication among board members, making it easier for them to stay connected, share documents, and discuss important issues in a secure and structured manner.
This is particularly important for nonprofits, where board members are mainly volunteers and may only meet a few times a year.
Benefits for nonprofit staff:
- End the stream of redundant emails
- A central location for all meeting information
Benefits for board & committee members:
- Access your meeting information 24/7
- Quick access to board and committee member contact information
Closing…So What Do I Do Next?
These reasons collectively make board governance portals valuable tools for nonprofit organizations seeking to improve governance, transparency, and operational efficiency.
Board development is no longer a “nice to have” — an engaged board is an essential component of a growing and impactful mission-driven organization – and for nonprofits, where board member commitment is often crucial to success, this can be a game-changer.
So are you sold on finding a solution and wondering what to do next❓
Here are a few final tips! Look for a solution that…
💡… offers unlimited users and a free trial signup (you don’t want to be nickel-and-dimed!)
💡…is built for mission-driven organizations
💡…includes dedicated implementation, onboarding & training supports!
Are you curious to see BellesBoard can deliver all these benefits—and more—at the most affordable price? Join our FREE webinar to experience the platform in action and get your questions answered live!
