Board seats get taken up by people who don’t do the job and tasks are left to be done by staff. Meetings are held when they’re not supposed to be. The board isn’t flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the organization. If you’re an executive director of a small nonprofit and you want to appoint a great board member, but you don’t want any more headaches, try an online board management solution.
Imagine being able to document every part of your nonprofit’s operations with the click of a button. Board tools provides a virtual platform to do just that. Our cloud based software solution provides small nonprofits with simple, powerful, and affordable board management tools. No more searching through multiple documents or email threads; all your financials, operations plans, and fundraising reports are at your fingertips through clear and colorful dashboards you can arrange any way you like!
BoardTrac – Best board meeting agenda software
Boardtrac is a board portal software & board book applications tool designed by corporate governance and legal experts.Boardtrac is an online board meeting software that features document management capabilities and video conferencing. In terms of document management, you can add and edit documents in the meeting and highlight text. There is a single login to access multiple “boards” (online meeting rooms used to communicate and collaborate with board members), thus eliminating confusion related to separate passwords for separate workspaces. You can also see the presenter’s PowerPoint slides and share them instantly while handling meeting notes.
Boardtrac is accessible on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone with a native application that allows offline access (provided you download the documents while being online). There’s also a plugin for the current webinar and video conferencing services.
Boardtrac does not list any integrations on its site. Support is via live chat and documentation.
Boardtrac offers customized pricing upon request.
BoardPro – Best board meeting annotation software
BoardPro will track your upcoming board meetings and allow you to add a meetings minute draft or approve what’s already there.
BoardPro has a whole host of features to help you organize online board meetings. It lets you arrange the meeting items into themed or departmental groups for organized discussion. Boards are flexible with options to add word processing files and changes with ease, and the ability to distribute to the board with a single click. You can also annotate your board papers collaboratively. All the meetings are recorded and saved digitally, and you can access them from any device and location. BoardPro also has features like automated email reminders and interactive board voting.
BoardPro has a drag-and-drop agenda creator. You can also use it to store records, minutes, and documents while setting rules to review action items. BoardPro also has seamless integrations with Slack and Trello. In terms of support, it offers chat support, and an extensive knowledge base consisting of step-by-step guides.
BoardProHub costs from $150/month/board with an option for a 30-day free trial.
BoardEye by Axar Digital – Best board meeting software for approval access management
BoardEye lets you vote on board meeting resolutions and will prompt absentee users for a response before continuing.
BoardEye from Axar Digital is a board management software for hosting paperless meetings. It includes features for document management, agenda building, and data access management, and sending RSVPs. In terms of document management, you can add and share files, add annotations to documents, highlight text, and collaborate with team members via comments and tagging features. The e-signature tools let you sign documents and approve them on the go. In terms of agenda building, you can add minutes and invite team members to edit the agenda.
You can select the level of access each team member has with permissions management for company data and app settings.
BoardEye does not list any integrations on its site. Customer support is by email and chat. There is also documentation covering all aspects of the product.
BoardEye offers customized pricing upon request.
Diligent Boards – Secure collaboration tool for board meetings
About Diligent Boards : Diligent Boards helps users to securely build, share and collaborate on board meeting books and material. It is a board meeting management software with features such as approval process management, role-based permissions, member directory, etc. It helps companies to reach higher productivity and effective leadership. Board members can use it for various responsibilities such as building committees, forming contacts, creating regular reports, etc. It also provides mobile access for real-time updates.
Diligent Boards Board Management Features : Approval Process Management, Calendar Management, Collaboration, Document Management, Electronic Signature, For Nonprofits, Member Directory, Minutes Management, Polls / Voting, Role-Based Permissions
OnBoard – Delights directors & empowers administrators
About OnBoard Board Management Software : Board meetings should be informed, effective, and uncomplicated. The OnBoard board intelligence platform transforms complicated, outdated, and time-consuming board meeting processes so boards can focus on what matters most: Realizing their vision for the organization. Experience a board portal that makes decision-making easier by creating a system of record for directors, executives, and administrators with intuitive data and analytics on any device, in any place, at any time. OnBoard board management creates unified and secure communications so boards can thrive with meetings that are more collaborative more productive, and more effective. Take advantage of Onboard’s no-strings-attached free trial to test before you invest.
OnBoard Board Management Features : Approval Process Management, Calendar Management, Collaboration, Document Management, Electronic Signature, For Nonprofits, Member Directory, Minutes Management, Polls / Voting, Role-Based Permissions, Zoom Integration, Private & Group Messenger, Engagement Analytics
Azeus Convene– Board portal and paperless meeting software
About Azeus Convene : Azeus Convene is an easy to use board management software with an efficient suite of mobile and web-based meeting tools. It provides executives and directors to have secure access to board papers. Top features include agenda management, board meetings, legislative meeting, post-meeting tools, voting management, etc. This software aims to streamline meeting processes, from pre-meetings to preparing post meetings document distribution. It is cloud-based and on-premise software for Windows and MacOS.
Azeus Convene Board Management Features : Approval Process Management, Calendar Management, Collaboration, Document Management, Electronic Signature, For Nonprofits, Member Directory, Minutes Management, Polls / Voting, Role-Based Permissions
5 Benefits of Adopting Board Management Software
As technology has increased the speed of communication, it has also raised expectations for boards of directors to conduct their business differently. With the rise of cloud technology and digital access to important documents, boards cannot only rely on printed board packets before meetings to stay up to date.
As more and more boards of directors realize the challenges of keeping information updated and accessible, they have turned to board management software to streamline administrative work and help board members find information more easily.
1. Quickly Access Important Board Information
With board software, board members can access all the important information necessary to effectively deliberate and make decisions.
Traditional boards are typically limited to the printed information that is provided for specific meetings. The transition to board software allows board members to have secure, remote access to important documents, such as:
- Past meeting minutes
- Strategic plans
- Policy manuals
- Orientation materials
- Audit reports
In the context of a meeting, board members are able to quickly search through past documents to find answers, instead of raising questions or requesting additional documents from administrative staff.
2. Streamline Board Administration
With board management software, meeting preparation time is reduced from hours to minutes. Instead of printing, assembling, and shipping paper copies of materials, all documents are instead uploaded to the cloud. Files automatically convert to PDF as they are uploaded.
Administrators can save draft meeting books until a final version is ready to publish.
Board software also allows administrators to organize committees, set meetings, request votes, create surveys, and share files. Meeting agendas can be created once, and saved as templates for future use.
Additionally, board software removes the concern about last minute revisions to meeting materials, since updates can be made quickly and shared instantly. With board software, board members always know to look to the software – not the board secretary – for the latest version of a board packet.
3. Increase Board Member Engagement
Member collaboration is no longer confined to the boardroom. Votes, survey tools, and discussion boards allow committee members to provide feedback as their schedule permits, while keeping to firm deadlines.
Instead of relying solely on meetings to create urgency behind decisions, board software can allow administrators to keep projects on schedule, and can even reduce the need for frequent meetings.
Also, going back to our first point, members can access relevant documents from anywhere. That means that, as time permits or conversations require, a board member can reference materials from their mobile device, and quickly relay information as needed.
Instead of waiting for a policy manual or bylaws to clarify an issue, board members can simply reference the materials at their convenience.
4. Control Access to Information
Board software provides specific controls over who has access to what information.
Administrators can easily add or remove members, edit profiles, and assist with forgotten passwords. Members can be assigned to one or more committees. Committee information is private and can only be viewed by the committee’s members.
Meeting materials can be scheduled for automatic archival or deletion. Permissions can be set at the document level, allowing administrators to share documents with specific individuals within a committee.
Administrators can configure settings to suit their organization’s security requirements; such as enabling or disabling printing, emailing, and annotations.
5. Reduce Board Administration Costs
As we mentioned earlier, boards typically spend valuable time and money on printing, assembling, and shipping board packets before meetings. With board software, information is shared instantly and securely with members, significantly reducing costs and speeding up the distribution process.
Organizations using board software experience a substantial return on investment from materials and labor savings alone. Additionally, with the current trend toward green initiatives, reducing the use of paper helps the environment and generates goodwill among key stakeholders.
Conclusion
Board Suite is a nonprofit board management software that helps small non-profit boards run more effectively, and creates a language to speak about the things that really matter to your organization.