On other boards a staffperson writes up the minutes which are then reviewed by the Secretary or President prior to distribution. It's hard to tell if all the hair-raising stories about the Year 2000 problem in computers are just hype or whether the sky really is falling. Much of the decision-making work of many nonprofit boards is managed through committees. Committees can also serve as an important mechanism for actively involving all board members in the agency's work, and for board leadership to emerge. Most boards have committees because smaller groups can work more efficiently and less formally.
Committees can play a helpful role in building teamwork among larger boards.
While they require more administrative management from the staff and board president, they also divvy up tasks and expertise efficiently. Increasingly, some boards are choosing not to have any committees at all. In other cases, an ad hoc committee or task force is formed to complete a particular task within a few months. Many board members feel more comfortable signing on to a temporary, ad hoc committee than to a permanent standing committee. In addition, assigning responsibilities to individuals rather than to committees may result in fewer meetings and more efficient work.