Q&A

Which PTO minutes should be included in the newsletter?

I was reading a PTO newsletter from a neighboring school district, and I noticed that they put the meeting minutes in their newsletter. I have been the editor for my school's newsletter for two years, and no one has commented on my lack of adding the minutes. What is the common practice?
- ClayPTONews

I would not recommend putting the meeting minutes in the newsletter. The reason? Frankly, they don't make very exciting reading. By all means write a little brief or a few bullet points on anything of interest that happens at a meeting--or a bigger story if there's something really significant. But if you reproduce the minutes verbatim, probably the only people who are going to read them are people who were at the meeting anyway. Plus, you have better ways to use that space than reproducing the minutes.
- Craig
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I agree with Craig. The minutes might be businesslike, with just a recording of motions and votes, or more rambling. Regardless, they will not be newsletter material. Having said that, transparent governance is still not the norm at most NPOs. Consider posting things like the minutes, monthly financial statements, annual budget, wish lists, success stories, Form 990, biographical sketches, calendar, etc on your website so that they are available. To me, minutes have a half life of about two weeks, so the faster you and the Recording Secretary post them to the web, the more relevant they will be those who either missed the meeting or want to prepare for the next meeting.
- dclaudew
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Yes, the secretary does post them on the Web site. Thanks!
- ClayPTONews
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