How to Set Your New Board up for Success

Following is a transcript of this episode of the Two Minute Treasurer’s Tip Podcast, with audio/video below.

Welcome to the Two Minute Treasurer’s Tip Podcast. I’m Cyndi Meuchel, and today, we’re talking about board transitions.

Carla writes: Our group is coming to the end of our Financial Year and the end of our Board Members’ terms. How do I facilitate an easy board transition?

Thanks for your question, Carla. You can take several steps to set your new board up for success. Here are a couple of things that come to mind.

First, I would suggest you perform an end-of-year audit of your financials. In MoneyMinder, this would mean reconciling your bank accounts through the end of the financial year, running an audit report, and completing the audit checklist we provide in the Documents section of MoneyMinder.

Second, back up your records. Instead of giving your new Board Members plastic boxes of old paperwork or forms, work on uploading templates and records into a document management system like the Documents area in MoneyMinder, and attaching receipts electronically to transactions in MoneyMinder. We would highly encourage you to do that as well. You will still need to keep the physical copies but having them electronically is a great place to reference them in the future quickly.

We suggest getting your new Board involved early in your planning for the following year. Creating the budget and filling key committee chair positions are two areas where you want your new board members to have input. This encourages buy-in to your plans & your dreams, and it also gives them time to get oriented to how your group does things. Think of it kind of like on-the-job training. Finally, step back, but plan to be available. The best thing you can do for your new board is to give them the freedom to do their job but be there if they have questions.

Hopefully, this helps make your board transition a little easier. If you have a question, email it to me at [email protected]. My name is Cyndi Meuchel, and this is your Two Minute Treasurer’s Tip for today.

Listen to the Two Minute Treasurer’s Tip Podcast wherever you get your podcasts: 
Listen on YouTube | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple | Listen on Amazon | Listen on Audible