This month's board packet, drafted

What to send

Send last meeting's minutes and action list, the treasurer's or bookkeeper's reports, this month's giving and program reports, and any decision papers. Grantkeeper reads the meeting date from your calendar link and asks for anything the packet had last month that is missing this month.

It returns a draft agenda, an action table with owner and status, a short director's narrative, the decisions the board will be asked to make, and labelled attachments. If you run Ad Grants, a short monthly summary of clicks, grant spend and recorded conversions goes in its own section.

Fictional example: the action table shows seven items from last month. Five are done, with the date each was finished. The audit quote and the van repair are still open, each with its owner and next step, so the board can see what's stuck at a glance.

Keep the numbers honest

Every figure names its report and period. Giving totals are not the bank balance, restricted gifts sit on their own lines, and grant spend is Google's in-kind advertising, not cash. Grantkeeper uses the balances your treasurer supplies and doesn't calculate new ones.

Donor names, care requests and volunteer contact details stay out unless a decision needs them. Read the draft, fix anything that's off, and share it with the board the way you usually do.

Aim to have the draft a few days before the meeting. That leaves time for the treasurer to check the finance pages and for board members to read on their phones before they arrive.

The board report guide explains the full routine, and the minutes recipe handles the meeting afterward.