I am the Chair of Louisville Grows, a local nonprofit that plants thousands of trees to increase the tree canopy throughout the beautiful city of Louisville, KY, so I know the value of saving our trees! We never print excessive paper copies, and I feel like every time one board transitions to paperless meeting materials, it is a step in the right direction – one more board doing our part!
Have you considered how many trees it takes to put together one board meeting book?
Have you thought about moving to a paperless delivery system for your board meeting materials?
It’s not really the way of the future anymore, it is really what we should do now!
When transitioning your board from a paper passing board to an electronic board, there are many things to consider. Going paperless can be a significant change especially for board members who are accustomed to paper copies of meeting materials.
With proper planning, a paperless board meeting offers many benefits:
- Savings on paper and ink
- Savings on time it takes to print
- Savings on binders and space necessary to store documents
- Savings on your back that is strained by carrying these big binders back and forth to the board meetings
MyBoardButler works with a charter school board in Cincinnati Ohio, comprised of experienced board members, school leaders, educators and retirees who started using the services of MyBoardButler.com. This is a group of veteran board members and educators who support the effort. When they prepare for meetings, all documents are emailed in advance of the meeting. If someone doesn’t bring a phone, an iPad, or computer to the meeting, one printed copy of the materials is available and there is a computer accessible to pull the documents up on the screen for all to see. This way, there is access to the materials and the board members can still review a hard copy, if needed.
As you consider implementation of a paperless board meeting process, you will want to consider the following:
Organizational considerations:
- Do we have support from the board president and senior staff of the organization?
- Will the whole board and all committees use a paperless system?
- What board management system should we use and how do we ensure it is secure?
Logistical considerations:
- Can the school afford to purchase board iPads or can the directors use their own devices?
- If the school purchases the devices, how do we manage the directors’ Apple IDs and general maintenance?
- Do the directors need a data plan if we purchase an iPad for them?
- What happens if a board member leaves or loses their iPad?
Roll-out considerations:
- How will this change how we prepare for meetings?
- How will we train the board of directors and staff on the system chosen?
- What if there are board members that won’t use an iPad?
Talk to your board today about transitioning. IPads are wonderful tools, and platforms used by companies like My Board Butler have apps to make transitioning user friendly for even the most novice board member. With professional development and a reasonable timeline, you can work with your board and leadership team to seamlessly transition to paperless meetings and continue the policy as new membership is brought into the organization.
Put your binders down! Let’s take a stand against unnecessary printing. It’s not the way of the future. It’s what we should be doing now!
If you want to learn more about how your board can go paperless, please contact us at 502-512-0202 or [email protected].
