Sample Executive Director Report to a Nonprofit Board (slides)

Nonprofit board meetings are a critical time for organizational alignment, transparency, and reporting. Most nonprofits choose to receive a report from the executive director at board meetings. This super simple slide deck gives an executive director a sample format to use for these reports.

Nonprofit boards are made up of volunteers. They do not work at the organization and therefore when they do come together, it is customary for the executive director to give a quick highlight of what has happened since the board last met. Some organizations do this in writing by sending a written report from the executive director and the staff in advance of the board meeting.

My nonprofit executive director report template helps you think through the high-level information on which the board may want updates. These include financial updates, fundraising updates, program updates, staffing updates and more.

Most board reports happen at or in advance of board meetings, which means these may be happening monthly, bi-montly or quarterly. Some organizations may produce more regular updates on very specific issues like a strategic plan or a capital campaign.

An executive director report to the board template can help you save time by using a consistent refillable document. Get feedback from your board on whether your format could benefit from their input. Creating a board report can be time-consuming. So one of the things I do is keep notes in a file of items that I think should be included in the board report. Or, better yet, borrow notes from staff check-in documents or even ask your staff to send several paragraphs on key updates to you, so you can include them in your report.

It is tempting to include the information that you want to include because it helps make you and the staff look great, but be careful not to gloss over any challenges. Your board report should give the board the information they need to make sound decisions. I created this template because I have used a similar (but branded) deck for my organizations.

This nonprofit board report template will save you time, keep everyone informed on critical areas and give you a framework for thinking about what boards may be curious about. Every board is different, so please check with your board if you need to modify this template.