The Consent Agenda
Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2023
ShareDo your board meetings include a consent agenda? If not, you might want to consider using one so that you can spend more time focusing on strategic discussions.
What is a Consent Agenda?
A consent agenda is a bundled list of routine or non-controversial items that can be approved without discussion. These may include prior meeting minutes, committee reports, or standard procedural matters. Routine financial reports may be included as an item in a consent agenda; however, if the organization is struggling financially, has cash flow issues, or is facing financial challenges, the financial statements should not be included as a consent agenda item.
Items that involve complex issues, significant policy changes, or matters requiring in-depth discussion and analysis should generally be excluded from a consent agenda. Additionally, any items that board members may need more information about or have differing opinions on should be discussed separately rather than included in the consent agenda. It's important to reserve the consent agenda for routine, straightforward items to maintain the effectiveness of the process.
If there are items included in a consent agenda that a board member feels needs to be discussed, that item should be moved from the consent agenda to a separate item on the agenda. The remaining items on the consent agenda can then be approved.
Benefits of a Consent Agenda?
Using a consent agenda streamlines meetings by removing routine items from discussions and allows the board to spend more time on more critical or strategic issues. It is important to remind board members that they still need to review the items in the consent agenda prior to the meeting as they are approving these items. You also want to make sure that important details are not overlooked.
If your organization uses a consent agenda, make sure you note what is included in the consent agenda in your board meeting minutes. Do not just document “consent agenda approved.” Instead, document “consent agenda, which includes 11/15/2023 board minutes and 11/8/2023 finance committee meeting minutes, approved.”
A consent agenda is a great tool for boards to use to make their meetings more efficient and allow them to focus on more important matters. Just make sure that if you do use a consent agenda, you approve it and move on; no discussion of items included in the consent agenda. Sometimes boards still fall back on having discussions on those items listed in the consent agenda, which defeats the purpose of it.
Contributed by: Carrie Minnich, MAcct, CPA | Partner | DWD CPAs & Advisors
Posted in Mission Minded Nonprofits
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