Board papers should be concise and clear with an understanding of the high level. Drilling down to operational detail should only be done where it is required to make a strategic decision. Utilizing charts or graphs to summarize data or information trends is a great way of delivering insight at a lower level. In an appendix, it’s useful to provide a link for more technical details or statistics.

The paper should define the reason for the paper (information, discussion, or seeking a resolution) and include a short executive https://boardroomofficial.com/preparing-your-nonprofit-board-for-a-fundraising-campaign/ summary that provides the recommendation. The executive summary should not go beyond 4 to five lines.

The paper should detail the most important issues and risks that are associated with the proposal. If the risk is substantial an effective mitigation plan and its impact must be determined. It’s important to include the potential for future risks if the proposal is not fully implemented or if it is not achieved even in the event that the risk is believed to be low.

The report should outline the various options that were considered in the decision making process and give a summary of the pros and cons or explain how the most preferred option performed on the relevant decision criteria. The inclusion of an analysis of alternatives is important as it provides the Board with more than one alternative to consider when performing their governance duties and helps ensure that all possible outcomes were examined.