Board of Directors Positions in a Nonprofit: Roles, Responsibilities & How to Keep Them On Track

In this article, we will be looking to address these three questions:

What positions do we actually need on our board?

1. What does each role really do?

2. How do we keep everyone clear, compliant, and accountable over time?

In this article, we’ll walk through the key nonprofit board positions, what they’re responsible for, and how tools like NFPHub can make managing your board much easier.

Why Board Positions Matter So Much in a Nonprofit

Nonprofit boards aren’t just a nice-to-have – they are legally and ethically responsible for the organisation’s governance.

Good practice (and in many cases, regulation) expects boards to:

• Provide strategic direction

• Ensure financial stewardship

• Oversee risk and compliance

• Support and supervise the CEO/Executive Director

Clear board of directors positions in a nonprofit make this work manageable. They:

• Avoid confusion and overlap

• Help recruit the right people for the right roles

• Provide accountability when things go wrong

• Support succession planning and board renewal

Most nonprofit boards will have at least these core officers:

• Chair / President

• Vice Chair / Vice President (optional but very common)

• Secretary

• Treasurer

• General / Ordinary board members

Let’s break each down.

Chair / President: The Board Leader

The Chair (often called the President) is the primary leader of the board.

Key responsibilities

• Lead board meetings: Set the tone, keep discussions on track, and ensure all voices are heard.

• Support and supervise the CEO/Executive Director: Regular check-ins, performance reviews, and ensuring the CEO is executing the strategy.

• Board culture and performance: Encourage constructive debate, manage conflict, and promote a positive, mission-focused culture.

• Succession and recruitment: Often plays a big role in recruiting new board members and planning leadership transitions.

• External representation: Acts as a key spokesperson and ambassador for the organisation.

How NFPHub can help

• Keep Chair action items, follow-ups and decisions attached to each meeting.

• Store CEO KPIs, performance review documents and board-approved objectives in one secure place.

• Use built-in term tracking to support succession planning and Chair transitions.

Vice Chair: The Reliable Deputy

Not every nonprofit has a Vice Chair, but it’s increasingly common and recommended.

Key responsibilities

• Step in for the Chair when they are unavailable.

• Take leadership of specific projects or committees (e.g. strategy review, governance review).

• Provide continuity and succession – often viewed as a Chair-in-waiting.

How NFPHub can help

• Assign the Vice Chair as alternate meeting owner and track their responsibilities and committee leadership.

• Keep governance review papers, policies and action logs linked to relevant meetings and committees.

Secretary: Guardian of Governance & Records

The Secretary is responsible for the board’s official records and many of the compliance processes.

Key responsibilities

• Organise board meetings: Notices, agendas, and ensuring meeting procedures comply with the constitution/ bylaws.

• Minutes and records: Ensuring minutes correctly capture decisions, actions and resolutions – and are stored securely.

• Registers and filings: Maintaining registers (e.g. directors, conflicts of interest) and supporting statutory filings as required.

• Governance documentation: Policies, constitutions, committee charters and board handbooks.

How NFPHub can help

• Build agendas, upload board papers and publish board packs in a few clicks.

• Capture structured minutes, decisions and actions directly in the system, with a clean, exportable minutes report.

• Maintain conflicts of interest records and term/eligibility dashboards against each board member.

Treasurer: Financial Steward & Risk Watchdog

The Treasurer leads the board’s financial oversight.

Key responsibilities

• Financial reporting: Work with staff or external accountants to present clear financial reports to the board.

• Budget & forecasting: Help prepare and monitor budgets, cash flow and financial risk.

• Compliance: Ensure audits, filings and other regulatory financial obligations are met.

• Chair the finance/audit committee, where one exists.

How NFPHub can help

• Attach financial reports directly to agenda items so directors can review materials in advance.

• Tag decisions that have financial implications (e.g. budget approvals, major contracts) for easier future reference.

• Provide an audit trail of what was presented, discussed and approved at each meeting.

General Board Members: Collective Responsibility

Not every director will hold an officer title – but all directors share core legal and fiduciary duties.

Common responsibilities include:

• Act in the best interests of the organisation and its purpose

• Exercise care and diligence in decision-making

• Ensure the charity stays solvent and manages risk

• Understand and monitor the financial position – not just leave it to the Treasurer

• Uphold policies, ethics and compliance obligations

• Support fundraising, advocacy and stakeholder relationships, where applicable

How NFPHub can help

• Give each board member secure access to meeting materials, policies and key documents – from any device.

• Use read receipts or acknowledgements (e.g. “I’ve read the Conflict of Interest Policy”) to evidence compliance.

• Track each board member’s attendance, terms, and eligibility in one place.

Committees & Other Board of Directors Positions in a Nonprofit

Beyond the core roles, many nonprofits use committees and additional positions to share the workload:

• Finance & Audit Committee – supports financial oversight and audit preparation

• Governance or Nominations Committee – handles recruitment, evaluation and board development

• Risk & Compliance Committee – focuses on risk, policies and regulatory obligations

• Fundraising / Development Committee – supports revenue generation

• Program or Impact Committee – monitors outcomes and program effectiveness

Each committee typically has a Chair, clear terms of reference, and a defined link back to the full board.

How NFPHub can help

• Create separate boards or workspaces for committees, with their own agendas, packs and minutes.

• Store committee charters and review dates centrally, so they stay up to date.

• Link committee recommendations directly to the main board meeting where decisions are confirmed.

Setting Up Board Positions: Practical Tips for Nonprofits

Whether you’re forming a new board of directors or refreshing an existing one, consider these best practices:

1. Define roles in writing

Document role descriptions for each board of directors position in your nonprofit, including:

• Purpose of the role

• Key responsibilities

• Time commitment and term length

• Reporting lines

• Required skills, experience and behavioural expectations

Store these in your board handbook and include them in recruitment packs.

2. Use term limits and staggering

Many nonprofits use terms of around three years, with a limit of two consecutive terms, and stagger them so not everyone rotates off at once.

NFPHub’s term tracking and eligibility dashboard can help you:

• See who is approaching the end of their term

• Avoid “surprise” vacancies

• Plan for Chair and committee succession

3. Invest in induction and ongoing education

New directors need clarity on:

• Your mission, strategy and key risks

• Financial position and funding model

• Governance framework, policies and committees

Using NFPHub, you can:

• Provide a digital induction pack – constitution, key policies, last few sets of minutes, strategy, risk register, etc.

• Track which documents each new board member has accessed.

• Use meeting notes and decision logs as a “living history” of how the board has evolved.

4. Make governance digital, not paper-based

Modern governance guidance increasingly points to the benefits of digital tools for security, version control and effectiveness.

NFPHub is designed specifically for nonprofits and charities to:

• Prepare and distribute board packs securely

• Capture decisions, minutes and approvals in one place

• Manage conflicts, terms, and compliance – without enterprise software price tags

Bringing It All Together

To run an effective nonprofit, you need more than passionate people around the table. You need:

• Clear board of directors positions in your nonprofit

• Well-understood responsibilities for each officer and director

• Practical tools that support governance, rather than adding more admin

That’s exactly where NFPHub fits: a board governance platform built for nonprofits and charities, focused on compliance, clarity and affordability.

If you’re currently tracking roles, terms, conflicts and decisions in spreadsheets, emails and PDFs, it might be time to move to something built for the way nonprofits really work.

Want to see how NFPHub can support your board of directors positions and governance processes?

Book a short demo and we’ll walk you through how agendas, board packs, minutes, term tracking and compliance dashboards all come together in one place – designed specifically for nonprofits.