Minutes

The minutes of a board meeting are a formal record of proceedings at the meeting and of the decisions taken by trustees. 

Minutes must be recorded accurately and agreed by trustees. 

In a small organisation, the minute taker might be the trustee board’s honorary secretary; in a large organisation, minutes might be taken by a member of staff. 

The minute taker of a closed or confidential section of a board meeting might be different from the minute taker of the main part of the meeting, depending on the issues to be discussed and the level of confidentiality required.

Once agreed, minutes should be kept indefinitely in a safe place. If an issue or dispute arises in the future, the charity’s trustees (who might be entirely different from the current board) might need to refer back to decisions taken in the past and will need to rely on the minutes as an accurate record of those decisions.

Further information may be found on the NCVO, Charity Commission information, Companies House and Health and Safety Commission websites and in publications such as:

• Voluntary But not Amateur
• The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook