Okay, continuing with our board structure topics, let’s talk about committees.

So what are committees? Committees are smaller groups—made up primarily of board members—that meet between board meetings to handle more detailed work. Sometimes they include non-board members with specific expertise, but they should always include at least one board member.

The purpose of committees is simple: there isn’t enough time—or need—for the full board to dig into every detail during board meetings.

Some common examples include finance committees, governance committees, executive committees, and fundraising committees.

Now, here’s where this gets practical—especially for small educational nonprofits. Most of us don’t have huge boards. You might have five board members: a president, secretary, treasurer, a couple of voting members, and an executive director who may be non-voting.

If you’re running your board meetings well—maybe four times a year—you should be focused on major governance responsibilities: compliance, finances, planning budgets, evaluating the executive director, and strategic planning.

But each of those areas requires more work than you can realistically do in a full board meeting. That’s where committees come in.

Finance Committee Example

A finance committee is one of the most common and important. The treasurer should absolutely be on it, usually serving as the chair.

Quick clarification: the board president chairs board meetings, meaning they preside over them. A committee chair is the board member responsible for leading the committee meeting and reporting back to the board with recommendations.

So let’s say your finance committee meets three or four times a year between board meetings. Early on, they might focus on creating a planning budget and setting financial transparency policies.

Instead of hashing all of that out during a board meeting, the committee does the detailed work—researching best practices, talking with the executive director about what’s feasible, reviewing statements—and then brings a recommendation back to the board.

At the board meeting, the treasurer reports: Here’s what we discussed, and here’s what we recommend. The board can then ask clarifying questions and vote—without rehashing the entire discussion. That’s key for efficiency.

The same thing usually happens with the annual budget. Staff prepares it, the finance committee reviews it, asks questions, and then recommends approval to the full board.

Other Common Committees

A governance committee might meet once or twice a year to focus on compliance, board evaluations, onboarding new members, and making sure board processes are functioning well.

A strategic planning committee can be especially helpful during growth seasons or major transitions. They might gather stakeholder input, analyze data, and spend several months developing priorities—then bring those priorities back to the board for approval.

An executive committee is another common one, usually made up of officers. This group can handle urgent matters between board meetings, support executive director evaluation, and assist with onboarding. But it’s important to keep their scope limited so they don’t unintentionally replace the full board.

Ad Hoc Committees

You can also create ad hoc committees, which are short-term committees formed for a specific purpose.

For example, if you move to a new building and need a safety plan, you might form a safety committee. That committee could include board members and people with specialized experience—like a parent who’s a police officer. They meet a few times, create the plan, bring it to the board for approval, and then disband.

Ad hoc committees are great for focused work that doesn’t need to live forever.

A Simpler Committee Structure

Here’s another option I really like for small nonprofits: fewer committees with broader names.

Instead of lots of small committees, you might have just three:

Internal Committee (finance, safety, internal oversight)

External Committee (fundraising, marketing, PR)

Governance Committee (board operations, compliance, executive oversight)

This works especially well when your board is small and the same people would end up on multiple committees anyway. It also makes it easier to require that every board member serve on at least one committee, which helps spread the workload.

These committees can be standing committees listed in your bylaws, while everything else falls under ad hoc committees as needed.

Final Thoughts

Committees exist to handle detailed work between board meetings and bring recommendations, not decisions, back to the board. They should support the executive director without drifting too far into operations or slowing staff down.

They’re also a great way to involve people with specialized knowledge who may not want to serve on the full board.

Just like board meetings, committees should be run efficiently—someone should take notes, and the chair should report back clearly.

I hope this helps you better understand what committees are for and how you might structure them in a way that actually supports your school instead of creating more work.

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