Standing committee charter set

Why charters

A committee named in the bylaws that has never met is a finding waiting to be written. A charter fixes that in both directions: it gives the committee a defined job and calendar, and it gives the board a written basis for what the committee may and may not do on its behalf. Three model charters follow. Each states its authority narrowly — a committee recommends; the board decides — because delegated board authority carries statutory conditions that most organizations do not intend to trigger.

Finance Committee

Purpose

To give the board informed oversight of the organization’s financial condition, budget, controls, and audit.

Membership and cadence

At least three directors, one serving as chair, appointed annually by the board. The treasurer serves ex officio. Meets at least [quarterly], and always in the month before the budget is presented and the month the draft audit is received.

Duties

• Review the monthly or quarterly financial pack before it reaches the board, and flag what the board should discuss.
• Review the draft annual budget and recommend it to the board with any changes.
• Review the cost-allocation methodology annually and recommend changes to the board.
• Meet the independent auditor at planning and at delivery of the draft audit, without staff present for at least part of the delivery meeting, and recommend acceptance of the audit to the board.
• Review the internal-controls and accounting policy manual annually.
• Monitor reserves against the board-adopted reserve policy.

Authority

The committee recommends; it does not adopt budgets, engage auditors, or approve expenditures unless the board has expressly delegated a defined authority in writing. The committee reports at each regular board meeting, and its report is recorded.

Governance Committee

Purpose

To keep the board itself in good order: composition, recruitment, policies, evaluation, and the records that evidence governance.

Membership and cadence

At least three directors appointed annually. Meets at least [three times a year].

Duties

• Maintain the governance calendar: meeting cycle, policy review cycle, officer and committee cycle, and the disclosure cycle.
• Run the annual conflict-of-interest cycle through the named reviewer, and present the standing report to the board.
• Recruit and propose new directors against a written profile of what the board needs; run new-director onboarding.
• Review the bylaws and board policies on a stated cycle and propose amendments.
• Coordinate the board’s annual self-evaluation and the evaluation of the chief executive.
• Keep the officer succession outline current.

Authority

Recommends candidates, policies, and amendments; the board elects, adopts, and amends.

Quality Committee

Purpose

To give the board a working view of program quality, compliance posture, and risk — in a form the board can act on.

Membership and cadence

At least three directors; may include non-director members with relevant expertise, who serve without a vote. Meets at least [quarterly].

Duties

• Review the quality-assurance sampling results, incident patterns, and corrective actions each cycle — patterns, not individual case detail.
• Review licensing, accreditation, and contract-monitoring findings, and track each to closure of the system that produced it.
• Review the risk register on the board’s cycle and recommend changes to likelihood, impact, and ownership.
• Review outcome indicators against the adopted framework and flag movements the board should understand.

Authority

Reviews and recommends. Client-level and personnel-level matters remain with management; the committee sees de-identified patterns.

The annual work plan

Each committee gives the board a one-page work plan each January: the meetings it will hold, the items it will bring and in which month, and the reviews it owes the board. The plan is recorded in the minutes, and the year-end committee report is written against it. A committee with a work plan cannot quietly stop meeting — which is the point.