TOOL 17 - Board Policies Manual (BPM)

Policy: The Board’s Chief Occupation—Not an Occasional Board Chore

Governance Guru John Carver preaches, “Governing by policy means governing out of policy in the sense that no board activity takes place without reference to policies. Most resolutions in board meetings will be motions to amend the policy structure in some way. Consequently, policy development is not an occasional board chore but its chief occupation.”

So do you need a flashlight and emergency provisions to search for all of your board-approved policies over the last five decades? Good news—there’s an easier way! 

TOOL #17: BOARD POLICIES MANUAL (BPM)
Use this tool to create a Board Policies Manual (BPM)—and finally, you’ll have all your policies in one document and always updated.

Tool #17 in the new resource, ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance, is one of three tools in Part 5, “Policies and Board Responsibilities,” in this jam-packed 271-page resource. This tool features a 15-page template that will help you include all board-level policies in one simple and clarifying document.

In their very practical and helpful book/tutorial, Good Governance for Nonprofits: Developing Principles and Policies for an Effective Board, Bob Andringa and Fred Laughlin deliver an “add-water-and-stir” template for creating your customized Board Policies Manual (BPM). This living, dynamic document is designed for frequent reference at every board meeting and can be edited for policy adjustments when growth (or decline) or other factors mandate policy changes.

In “Part 1: Introduction and Administration,” the authors list six reasons your board should adopt a BPM:
   1. Efficiency of having all ongoing board policies in one place
   2. Ability to quickly orient and educate new board members and key staff about current policies
   3. Elimination of redundant, or conflicting, policies over time
   4. Ease of reviewing current policy while simultaneously considering new issues
   5. Opportunity to guide the Chief Executive, senior staff, and new board members through clear, pro-active policies
   6. A modeled approach to governance that other organizations might utilize

When your Governance Committee takes on this project, encourage them to use the companion book, Good Governance for Nonprofits, with helpful color commentary on every section and sub-section of the BMP template. This one tool—when properly implemented—will save your board members precious time over the next several years—and help streamline your board meetings. Honest!

Order the tools book from Amazon by clicking on this title: ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. The book gives you full access to all 22 tools and templates—formatted as Word documents so you can customize the tools for your board’s unique uses.

BOARD DISCUSSION: At our recent board meetings, did discussion on some agenda topics go on and on and on? Was the discussion tied to an outdated policy or the lack of a policy? Is it time to gather all of our policies into a BPM? 

MORE RESOURCES: Bob Andringa writes, “For every hour spent on creating and maintaining a Board Policies Manual, at least three hours of board and committee meetings will be saved before too long. It’s a ‘living document,’ always reflecting the latest wisdom of the board.” Read his guest blog, “Do Unwritten Board Policies Really Exist?” from Lesson 4 in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Click here to read more.

Best Board Books #10: Good Governance for Nonprofits

Peter Drucker preached “tool competence.” He wrote, “Although I don't know a single for-profit business that is as well managed as a few of the nonprofits, the great majority of the nonprofits can be graded a ‘C’ at best. Not for lack of effort; most of them work very hard. But for lack of focus, and for lack of tool competence.”  

Book #10: 
Good Governance for Nonprofits: Developing Principles and Policies for an Effective Board, by Fredric L. Laughlin and Robert C. Andringa (Order from Amazon)

More than any other tool or template, I have recommended the Board Policies Manual (BPM) template to hundreds of nonprofit organizations and churches. Fred Laughlin and Bob Andringa teamed up to produce this brilliant tool, the BPM. The who, what, where, when, why, and how—are all explained in their concise, but thorough, color commentary, Good Governance for Nonprofits.

The book describes the efficacy of compiling the twists and turns of board policies (some that conflict with others) into one thoughtful 15- to 20-page document that is designed to be revised at any board meeting throughout the year.

As Dan Busby and I note in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: “While many organizations have unwritten policies covering a wide range of topics, they’re often filed away incoherently in the archives and no one can find them when needed. ‘Here’s a fun job for a new board member,’ they say. ‘Please dig through 20 years of board minutes. Bring a flashlight and emergency provisions!’”

There’s a huge upside to a BPM, as Bob Andringa writes in “Do Unwritten Board Policies Really Exist?” (read the blog here). “For every hour spent on creating and maintaining a Board Policies Manual, at least three hours of board and committee meetings will be saved before too long. It’s a ‘living document,’ always reflecting the latest wisdom of the board.”

No question—this book (which gives access to the online template) is a must-have tool on your governance bookshelf.

BOARD DISCUSSION: According to Policy Governance Guru John Carver, “Governing by policy means governing out of policy in the sense that no board activity takes place without reference to policies. Most resolutions in board meetings will be motions to amend the policy structure in some way. Consequently, policy development is not an occasional board chore but its chief occupation.” Would your board agree?

MORE RESOURCES: Check out the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, including Lesson 4, “Do Unwritten Board Policies Really Exist?”