Our nonprofit 501(c)(3) has monthly meetings of the members but the board doesn't want to record minutes. We have three business meetings a year; announcement of nominees in September, elections in October, and overall business announcements in January. The bylaws state that the board decides when and where we have membership meetings monthly. Do we need or are we required to take minutes or maybe send out a report of the meetings? We have posted board and membership minutes online but have stopped doing it due to lack of interest.
This is a matter of state law but I am not aware of a specific legal requirement to maintain minutes of membership meetings. It is obviously a best practice, and probably almost universal when you are conducting official business of the organization at the meeting. It is the permanent record of what happened and prima facie evidence of what happened if there is ever a dispute about it. Without it, you can face totally needless litigation while people argue about what they think went on.
I personally think it is a good idea to post the minutes on a password protected section of your website so that the members can see what has been going on if they are unable to attend the meetings in person. Even if there is not a whole lot of interest in the information, it doesn’t take much time or effort to post and creates a much better aura of transparency within the organization.
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