
How do you create a ‘safety zone’ at meetings for sensitive issues? How can executive directors help the board chair take responsibility for managing the board meeting? What is the role of the board versus the staff in facilitating the agenda? How do we create – and ensure that we follow – ground rules for stress-free family meetings?
This Content Collection provides answers to these questions and many more, offering tips and ideas for how to craft better family meeting agendas, keep your meetings on track, and accomplish your work more effectively – perhaps even while having some fun!
Note: for additional insights on understanding and managing family dynamics, see the related Content Collection, Family Dynamics: Avoiding Avoidance in Family Philanthropy.
Featured Resources


Reinvigorating Your Family Meetings
Article
Tips and tools for effective family board meetings
Article
Principled Planning: A Guide for Family Foundation Retreats
Tool
Six Simple Steps to a Successful, Stress-Free Family Meeting
Article
How do we ensure that all family members are heard at our upcoming retreat?
Ask the Center
Do you have any ideas for a brief fun activity to begin a workshop?
Ask the CenterWebinars on Creative Board Agendas and Decision-making

Designing Effective Board Meetings: Purpose, Outcomes, Process, and People

Takeaways Blog on Designing Effective Board Meetings: Purpose, Outcomes, Process, and People
Blog Post
Planning a Family Retreat

Creating a Culture of Learning for Your Family and Board

Creative Agendas for More Effective Family Meetings

Demystifying decision-making in family philanthropy
Sample Groundrules, Policies, and Agendas

Retreat Manual (Longbrake Family Foundation, 2021)
Sample
Sample family foundation meetings ground rules
Sample
Rules of Engagement for Family Foundation Board Meetings
Article
Fist to Five Voting and Consensus
Sample
Controversial grants policy (Roy A. Hunt Foundation)
Tool
Unconscious Bias on a Family Foundation Board: Questions to Ask Yourselves
Tool
10 Tips & Tools to Improve Meetings & Navigate Uncomfortable Conversations
ToolTips and Tools for Virtual Family Meetings

How can board members stay connected across time zones and significant distances?
Ask the Center
Do You Have Suggestions for Tools We Can Use to Communicate with Board Members?
Ask the Center
How Can We Conduct an Effective Board Meeting by Telephone?
Blog PostSample Codes of Conduct
- Code of Conduct (Rockefeller Foundation)
- Code of Conduct (R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation)
- Code of Ethics (Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation)
- Board of Trustees Code of Ethics (Homer A. and Mildred S. Scott Foundation)
- Statement of Board Culture (Surdna Foundation)
- Code of Conduct (Surdna Foundation)
- Code of Conduct (Segal Family Foundation)