I knew from my past experience on boards, that our giving circle would need to take minutes, but I wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed. After reading a couple books about Robert’s Rules, I put together the template for our circle’s secretary that included what I felt were the essential elements we needed to capture.

You are welcome to copy these to create your own template. Because we meet virtually, we have this form on a web page that automatically creates a .pdf file when the submit button is clicked.The meeting agenda and the meeting minutes are then uploaded to our giving circle’s Google Docs folder so they can be accessed by members who missed the meeting or as a reference for our activity.

If you complete your meeting minutes manually, consider scanning them and then uploading that file to a virtual location all your members can access with ease.

Meeting Minutes

Date And Time of Meeting: ______________

Meeting Type: Regular, Annual, Special

Presiding Officer: Write name of President or president’s representative

Presiding Secretary: Write name of Secretary or secretary’s representative

Last Month’s Meeting Minutes Approved: Yes No

Meeting Events:

Include motions (but not motions that are withdrawn) and diposition of motions (i.e. the vote). Document votes by indicating the majority vote or in the case of roll call voting, list each member and his/her vote. Document any points of orders or appeals and their rulings. Do not include debate or discussions as it is not necessary and will overburden your secretary.

Action Items Assigned:

List supporting materials such as reports or presentations provided or discussed during meeting.

List any guest speakers and the subject of his/her talk but do not include a summary of their remarks

Next Meeting Date: