Learn About the Board HQ App for Board Management

Let Board HQ be your headquarters for everything board-related!

What is Board HQ?

Board HQ is an advanced app that serves as the organizational hub for important items related to your board: board membership, meeting planning and communication, evergreen documents, and board member giving. It's designed by people who have been there and know how hard it can be to have everything everywhere!

Board HQ is organized into the following areas:

• Next Meeting - Start putting together your next meeting by attaching previous meeting minutes, managing a list of action items, and running your financial reports right from MonkeyPod.
• Board Members - Manage your board membership here and stay up to date on board member terms. Easily track who serves on various committees too.
• Resources - Upload and manage evergreen documents and email them to one, all, or specific board members.
• Meeting Archives - Upload and view previous meeting minutes.
• Give or Get - Track board member donations and soft credits.
• Settings - Choose whether to enable access to board information in the Community Portal and configure optional "Give or Get" goals.

How do I install Board HQ in my MonkeyPod?

To install Board HQ, choose Apps & Integrations > Governance from the main menu. Then select the option there to learn more about the app, and click Install. Once installed, Board HQ appears in the Apps & Integrations menu under "My Apps & Integrations".

How do I manage my board members in Board HQ?

Select the Board Members tab to view and manage your board membership and committees.

To record someone as a board member, choose Add a Board Member and start typing their name to search your MonkeyPod for an existing relationship, or select the Create new option if needed.

Enter the title and dates of the term for each board member. If you've set up committees in Board HQ (described below), those committees are listed here as well so you can easily select any committee that the board member serves on. Click Save when done.

Editing board member information

If you need to edit a board member's details, select the edit icon associated with their entry.

If a board member resigns before their term is up, uncheck the Active option, then enter the end date of their service on your board and click Save.

Inactive board members are hidden in the Board Members tab by default, but you my show them by selecting the Include inactive checkbox. All inactive members will then be displayed and labeled as inactive.

If you want to completely delete a board member's entry, rather than archiving it, use the trash can icon in the Board Members list view.

Viewing board member "classes"

Staggering board member classes—that is, organizing board terms so that only a portion of the board turns over each year—is a widely recommended governance practice for nonprofit boards. It helps to ensure continuity, stability, and smoother leadership transitions and maintains a healthy balance of fresh perspectives and experienced leadership.

The "Classes" section of the Board Members tab lists your board members by their class based on the date their term ends.

How do I manage committees in Board HQ?

The Board Members section of Board HQ is also where you can manage your committees. To add a committee, enter the committee name under the "Committees" heading and click the check mark to save it.

Once you've created your committees, you can record which board members serve on each committee by editing the board member's details (as described above) and selecting the appropriate committee(s).

How do I use Board HQ to organize my next meeting?

To begin planning for your next board meeting, select the Next Meeting tab in Board HQ, and then click Add a meeting.

From here you can add the details of your board meeting such as the date and time, type of meeting, location, and any special instructions. For the scheduled date and time, MonkeyPod will default to using the time zone entered in My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings.

Once you click Save to save the meeting, the details appear under the Next Meeting tab. Select Edit Details if you need to modify the meeting information.

Now that the meeting has been created, you can use Board HQ to track what needs to be done to prepare your meeting packet.

Set up your meeting prep "To Do" list with action items

Create "action items" for yourself right in Board HQ as you prepare for each meeting. This creates a useful "to do" list can then be copied from meeting to meeting to make sure nothing falls through the cracks!

Get started by adding an action items in the "Meeting Prep" section. Just enter the task and click the green checkmark to save it.

Check off an item when complete. Or to view or edit the action item, click the item name and adjust the due date, status, priority, description or tags. Quickly assign the task to someone by clicking the assign icon next to the task.

The next time you set up a meeting, you will have the option to "Copy previous action items" to easily create copies of the action items used for the previous meeting!

Pull together your board packet

Your next step is to pull together any documents you need for your board meeting. These often include prior meeting minutes and financial documents, for starters. Board HQ makes it easy to gather these documents under the "Documents for Board Packet" section.

If available, the previous meeting's minutes are included by default. To add any other documents click Add a document and and upload what you need.

Generate your financial reports

Use the links under "Standard Reports" to run your Statement of Activities and your Statement of Financial Position reports. Once the reports have been generated, you can download them and then add them to "Documents for Board Packet".

Add any guest attendees

Board members will always be listed as potential attendees, but if you have any guests coming to the meeting, add them under the "Guest Attendees" heading. This serves as a reminder of who's attending, and it lets you include them when you send a reminder email about the meeting (see below).

To add a guest, start typing their name,. If they're already in your MonkeyPod, select their name when it appears in the list as you type. If they aren't already entered, you'll have the option there to create a new relationship in your MonkeyPod for the guest.

If you need to remove a guest, simply select the trash can icon next to their name to delete them from the meeting.

How can I email the meeting information to the board?

Once you have your board packet together for the meeting, and you've added any any guest attendees to the meeting, select Send Meeting Reminder and Materials at the top of the page to do just that!

On the next screen, choose which board members, guests, and committee members should receive the email. Customize your message if needed, and click Send.

Where can I see past and future meetings in Board HQ?

Future meetings as well as previous meetings, minutes, and documents can be accessed in Board HQ through the Meeting Archives tab.

View and edit future meetings

Click the gear icon next to a future meeting to edit its details. Or click the trash can icon to delete it completely.

Upload past meeting minutes

All past meeting will be listed chronologically under the "Past Meetings" header. To upload previous meeting minutes, choose Attach minutes for that meeting and upload your minutes. This will store the minutes for this meeting and also attach them as "Previous meeting minutes" to the next meeting.

Check off previous meeting "to dos"

When viewing a past meeting, you can also mark all action items from that meeting as "complete" if appropriate. Clicking the option to Mark # action items complete will not show you the action items, it will just clear them all from your list of action items since the meeting has already passed.

Where can I manage evergreen documents in Board HQ?

Board HQ can serve as a repository for your evergreen documents. These are documents that are not specific to a particular meeting, but are documents your board members will likely want to refer to on a regular basis. Examples include your board handbook or your organization's bylaws.

You can add these to Board HQ by selecting the Resources tab and clicking Add Document.

Sending documents to your board from Board HQ

Once you've uploaded your documents, you can easily send them to your board by selecting what you want to send here and choosing Email Selected Documents.

You can then choose who the recipients should be, add an introduction, and a signature, and click "Send" to have MonkeyPod to send the documents for you. The email will include a link for the recipient to use to access the file, rather than sending it as an attachment.

Where can I track board giving?

Many boards have a "give-or-get" policy that establishes annual fundraising targets for board members. Board HQ's Give or Get section can help you track those targets and monitor board members' progress.

You can set up a giving goal for your board members under the Settings tab in Board HQ by choosing a fiscal year and entering a goal amount. Click the check mark to save your changes.

Then, under the Give or Get tab, your MonkeyPod automatically tracks board members' progress toward the goal.

What counts toward a board member's give or get? 

Any donations or pledge payments that the board member makes during the fiscal year count toward the goal. Soft credits also count (this is the "get" part).

Do pledges count? 

Pledge payments made during the fiscal year count, but pledges by themselves don't. (Talk is cheap! We're looking for actual money in the bank.) Note that this is different from how accrual accounting works, so other parts of MonkeyPod might report different totals if a board member pledges support that hasn't yet been fulfilled.

What about householding? 

Householding allows you to assign credit for a donor's gifts to the "parent" relationship. For the purposes of give-or-get tracking, if a board member is the "head" of a household in MonkeyPod, they'll get credit for donations associated with other members of the household. Likewise, if a board member is a "child" entity in a household, they won't get credit for anything since their gifts will be credited to the parent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can board members access all this information directly?

Yes! MonkeyPod can display a tab in the Community Portal where your board members can access information about upcoming meetings, download documents, or see past meeting minutes. Go to the Settings tab of Board HQ, and enable access to the board member tab in the Community Portal.

To send a board member a link to their portal, select the Community Portal icon to copy and share the unique link for each board member.

Are there any example documents that can help me get started?

Yes! Check out our samples and templates for agendas and minutes. These document have been put together by people who have been doing this a long time!

What's this warning about my prior meeting minutes are missing?

Ideally, you will upload your meeting minutes to past meetings when those minutes are ready. That way, when you pull together the documents for your board packet for the next meeting, your prior meeting minutes will automatically appear, ready to be included.

If your previous meeting's minutes have not be uploaded in Board HQ, you'll see an alert when planning your current meeting that shows that "Prior meeting minutes are missing".

Don't use the Add a document link to upload them here. Instead, click the "Meeting Archives" tab in Board HQ to access your previous meeting's information. Select Attach minutes for the meeting and the minutes will be added to that meeting and automatically appear as an option for next meeting's board packet.