Twenty Questions For Your Board
Twenty minutes, together, about how you work as a board.
How To Use This
Twenty questions, about twenty minutes, and nothing to add up at the end.
The simplest way to use it is to put it on a board agenda. Each director answers on their own first, quietly, then you talk about where you landed differently. The disagreements are the useful part.
Answer Yes, Sometimes, or Not Yet. Not Yet is not a failure. On most boards it means nobody has ever raised it, which is a very different problem and a much easier one.
You do not need to do anything about all of it. At the end you will pick one area, and the rest can wait until next year.
Answer Honestly, Nobody Is Watching
Your answers never leave this page. Nothing is saved, stored, or sent anywhere. Close the tab and it is gone.
Why Boards Do This
Most boards only look at themselves after something has gone wrong. A funder asks a question nobody can answer. A long-serving director leaves and takes half the institutional memory with them. An executive director resigns and the board realizes it does not know what it was supposed to have been watching.
It is a far better conversation to have when nothing is wrong. Nobody is defending anything, nobody is being blamed, and the board can be honest because there is nothing at stake in the room yet.
Small boards in particular tend to be better than they think in some places and thinner than they realize in others. This is a way of finding out which is which, in the time it takes to get through one agenda item.
The Ontario Part, Briefly
Under the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, directors have three duties. In plain language: be careful and prepared, put the organization ahead of yourself, and follow the law, your articles, and your by-laws.
One thing a lot of boards miss. The transition period for the Act ended in October 2024. Any part of your by-laws or articles that does not match the Act is now treated as though it had been changed to match. There is no penalty for missing that deadline. But if nobody has looked at your governing documents since then, your by-laws may no longer describe the rules you are actually operating under.
This is general information and not legal advice. Your own articles and by-laws govern, and a lawyer should do that review.
We Know What The Board Is For
We Work Well With Our Executive Director
We Have The Conversations That Matter
We Get Better Every Year
Where To Start
Three Things To Do This Quarter
Small, free, and doable before your next meeting or the one after.
1. Write Down Who Decides What
Two columns, one page. On one side, decisions this board makes. On the other, decisions staff make without coming to us. Something like this:
| The Board Decides | Staff Decide |
|---|---|
| The plan for the next few years | How a programme runs day to day |
| The budget for the year | Which supplier to use |
| Who the executive director is, and what we expect of them | Who else gets hired |
| Whether we open a new location or close one | How a service gets delivered |
| Whether we take on a new area of work | What goes in the newsletter |
| Whether we run a deficit this year | Which conference someone attends |
Fill it in on your own first, then compare. Where directors disagree is the part worth talking about. Once it is settled, keep it at the front of every board package.
2. Put One Hour Of Learning On The Calendar
Not a full day, not a retreat. One hour, this year, on one topic your board picks from this list.
3. Ask Your Executive Director What Would Make Board Meetings More Useful
Then be quiet and let them answer properly.
Bring This To Your Board
Three questions worth asking out loud once everyone has answered.
Which question did we disagree about most, and why?
What is the thing we have been putting off, and what would it take to deal with it this year?
If a new director joined next month, what would we want them to know that nobody would think to tell them?
One Last Thing
No board gets all twenty. The good ones are not the boards that answer Yes to everything. They are the boards that know which of these they are working on this year.
Some of what comes up here a board can sort out on its own. Some of it goes better with someone in the room who has no stake in the outcome. We work almost entirely with small organizations, so anything we suggest fits the size you actually are.
The first conversation is thirty minutes and there is no charge.
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Candour · The conversation you keep putting off. We help you get it right.
Twenty Questions For Your Board · Version 1.0 · July 2026
Educational information for Ontario not-for-profit boards. This is not legal advice, and your own articles and by-laws govern. Your answers stay on this page.