![The template open in Strokes: the title “Minutes of the [Board of Directors] meeting”, then a “How to use this template” box and a details table for Organization, Meeting, Date and time and Place.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-light.23f79cb7.webp&w=3840&q=75)
![The template open in Strokes: the title “Minutes of the [Board of Directors] meeting”, then a “How to use this template” box and a details table for Organization, Meeting, Date and time and Place.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-dark.a877484b.webp&w=3840&q=75)
When to use it
- Board meetings of nonprofits, companies, foundations and co-ops
- Committee meetings where members move and vote on motions
- Homeowners' association, PTA, club and church council meetings
- Annual meetings of members that need a signed, approved record
- Any meeting whose decisions someone may need to show later
How to use this template
- Set it up from the agenda
Before the meeting, fill in the details and the members you expect, and copy each agenda item into Proceedings in the same order. Check your bylaws for the quorum and for any motion that needs more than a simple majority. The meeting is then spent filling blanks, not inventing headings.
- Record what was done, not what was said
Write each motion in its final wording, with the name of the member who made it and the result. Robert's Rules of Order, the default rulebook for many boards, names the mover but not the seconder and leaves debate out. If a motion is unclear, ask the chair to restate it before the vote, not after.
- Send the draft within a day or two
Leave the status as Draft, ask the chair to check names and figures, then send it to every member, including the ones who were absent. A Word file or a PDF works for people outside your tools. Fill in the action table first: owners look for their own names there.
- Approve, sign and file
At the next meeting the group approves the minutes. Corrections go into the text, and that meeting's minutes say only that they were "approved as corrected." Then update the status and the approval block, sign as your bylaws require and file the final copy with its attachments. After approval, the record changes only by a vote at a later meeting.
How to write the vote line
Pick one form for results and use it every time, so a reader scanning five years of minutes finds them in the same place.
| Situation | What to write |
|---|---|
| SituationVotes were counted | What to writeAdopted, 5–1. / Failed, 2–4. |
| SituationSome members abstained | What to writeAdopted, 5–1, with 1 abstaining. |
| SituationNobody objected | What to writeAdopted by general consent. |
| SituationRoll-call vote | What to writeEach member's name under For, Against and Abstaining |
| SituationBallot vote | What to writeThe number of votes on each side, no names |
| SituationA member had a conflict | What to writeDana Lee declared an interest, left the room and did not vote. |
| SituationThe motion was put off | What to writePostponed to the November 3 meeting. |
Record abstentions even though, under Robert's Rules, an abstention is not a vote. When a motion needs a majority of the votes cast, abstaining changes nothing. When your rules require a majority of the members present, or of the whole membership, an abstention counts the same as a no, and the minutes are where someone will check.
A filled-in example
Three items and one action from a small board, to show how much detail each line carries:
5. Treasurer's report. Ana Ruiz, treasurer, reported a balance of $6,240 on September 30, including $1,180 in plot fees received in September. The report is attached.
6. Tool shed roof. The board reviewed two quotes for replacing the roof, $2,150 and $2,900. Ben Okafor moved that the garden accept the $2,150 quote, to be paid from the maintenance reserve. Adopted, 4–1, with 1 abstaining.
7. Winter plot rules. Grace Chen presented complaints about plots left unharvested over the winter. No action was taken. Grace Chen will bring draft rules to the December 1 meeting.
Action: Sign the roofing contract and schedule the work. Ben Okafor, by October 20, item 6.
Item 6 keeps the two facts the vote rested on and drops everything else that was said about roofs. For a complete set of minutes with each part explained, read how to write meeting minutes.
Adapting it to your group
- Nonprofit boards. Keep the conflicts line. If your board adopted the IRS sample conflict-of-interest policy (Appendix A of the Form 1023 instructions), its records article asks the minutes to name anyone who disclosed a financial interest, the nature of it, whether the board found a conflict, who was present for the discussion and vote, and the vote. Form 990 also asks whether meetings were documented on time, which its instructions define as by the next meeting or within 60 days, whichever is later.
- Committees. Where the committee can only recommend, write "Recommended to the board" instead of "Adopted," so the board's secretary can carry the item onto its agenda.
- HOAs, school boards and other public bodies. State open-meetings laws and HOA statutes can set what minutes must contain and how soon members or the public can see them. Read yours before you trim anything from the template.
- Executive session. The open minutes record only that the group went into closed session, when, and any action taken after it returned. The session's own minutes are kept separately, as your bylaws direct.
- Team meetings. If nobody votes and nobody approves the record, this is more form than you need. The meeting notes template is lighter.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between meeting minutes and meeting notes?
Minutes are the official record of a group that makes decisions: attendance, motions, votes and actions, approved at the next meeting and filed. Notes are a working memory for the people in the room and need no approval. For a team meeting where nobody votes, notes are enough.
Who signs meeting minutes?
The secretary, at least. Many organizations have the chair sign as well, and some bylaws require both. Sign the final version after the minutes are approved, not the draft.
How do I record members who joined by video?
List them as present and note that they attended by video, if your bylaws or state law allow members to take part that way. If someone drops off before a vote, note when, because it can change the quorum and the count.
Can minutes be changed after they are approved?
Not by editing the file. Under Robert's Rules, a correction after approval takes a motion at a later meeting, recorded in that meeting's minutes. The original minutes stay as they were, with at most a note in the margin pointing to the change.
