Making Your Board Feel Appreciated Tips

Board members often work hard for an organization and feel unappreciated at times. Here are some tips to help you show your board members how much you value their time, talent and treasure.  

1. Send board meeting agenda and committee reports at least 10 days before the board meeting so board members have ample time to review these items before discussing them at the board meeting. (Email is usually the best for most people, and will save you time as well as printing and mailing expenses).
2. Provide light refreshments at board meetings. You don't need to provide a full meal, which is usually a distraction (unless your meetings are over the lunch hour). But how about some nice healthy snacks for breakfast (granola bars, fruit, etc) instead of donuts. And if your meeting is the end of the day, maybe some unsalted nuts and healthy snacks.
3. Spruce up your board meeting room. Make sure it is clean and tidy before the board meeting, and how about some flowers in the room?
4. Send board members a birthday card on their birthday.
5. Speaking of cards, how about a valentine, a thanksgiving card, a card to celebrate National Philanthropy Day in November, or just an occasional note to say how much you value their service.
6. Clip and forward newspaper articles of interest to individual board members or forward them a website that may be of interest to them.
7. Recognize board members who have done something outstanding at each meeting.
8. Provide them with board training and education, but make it fun and interesting.
9. Hold an occasional board meeting or retreat offsite at an interesting place: a museum, an environmental education center, a retreat center, etc.
10. Don’t ask board members to make financial commitment in a haphazard way at a board meeting. Plan a formal board appeal, showing board members that they are important major donors to your organization, regardless of the size of their gift.