Free meeting minutes template

How to fill it in

Take the minutes as the meeting runs, not from memory afterward. Most of the form fills itself in if you keep up.

• Header: name the organization and the meeting type, set the date, start and end time, and the location or link, and note who presided and who is recording.
• Attendance: list who was present and who was absent, then confirm whether a quorum was present. If there was no quorum, the body generally cannot take binding action, so say so.
• Motions: write each main motion in the exact words it was adopted or disposed of in, name the member who made it, and record the result and the count.
• Reports: note each report received and whether it was adopted, filed, or simply received, rather than summarizing its contents.
• Adjournment: record the time the chair adjourned the meeting. Robert's Rules lists this as the final item of the minutes.
• Leave the approval line blank until the next meeting, when the body approves these minutes and the secretary initials and dates them.

What to record, and what to leave out

This is where most minutes go wrong, so it is worth being precise. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (12th edition) says at section 48:2 that minutes should contain a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said by the members, and that they should never reflect the secretary's own opinion on anything said or done. In practice that means you record the motion, who moved it, and how the vote came out, but not the debate. Section 48:4 lists the elements the opening paragraph should carry: the kind of meeting (regular, special, adjourned), the name of the body, the date and time and place, the fact that the chair and secretary were present or who stood in for them, and whether the previous minutes were approved. One detail trips almost everyone up. Under section 48:5, you record the name of the member who made a motion, but you do not record the seconder's name unless the body specifically directs it. Most templates on the web get that backward.

How minutes get approved

Draft minutes are just that until the body approves them. For a group that meets regularly, Robert's Rules (section 48:9) has the minutes of each meeting read and approved at the start of the next regular meeting, right after the call to order. Members offer corrections, and the minutes are approved as read or as corrected. If there is a correction, you fix it in the text of the minutes being approved; the minutes of the meeting that makes the correction simply note that the prior minutes were approved as corrected, without restating the change. Once approved, the secretary writes 'Approved,' adds their initials, and dates it (section 48:14). Minutes can still be corrected later, even years on, through the motion to amend something previously adopted, so an error that slips past approval is not permanent.

Minutes vs agenda vs resolution

These three documents get mixed up constantly, and they do different jobs. The agenda is the plan, circulated before the meeting, listing what you intend to cover. The minutes are the record, written during or after, stating what was actually decided and how each vote went. A resolution is a single formal decision the body adopts, often written up as its own document and signed for a bank, lender, or government office that needs proof the decision was made. So the sequence runs: send the agenda, hold the meeting, record the minutes, and if a specific decision needs standalone proof, issue a resolution. If you need the plan for an upcoming meeting, that is an agenda. If you need proof of one particular board decision, that is a resolution. The minutes are the connective record that shows both happened.

Are corporations required to keep minutes?

In most states, yes. The Model Business Corporation Act, which many states have adopted, requires a corporation to keep as permanent records the minutes of all meetings of its shareholders and board of directors, along with a record of any action taken without a meeting (MBCA section 16.01). Delaware, where a large share of US companies incorporate, does not spell out a single 'you must keep minutes' command the way the Model Act does, but its law assumes minutes exist: the corporation statute governs the form of corporate records including minute books (Delaware General Corporation Law section 224) and gives stockholders a right to inspect the minutes of meetings (section 220). For nonprofits, the pressure comes through the IRS. Form 990 asks, at Part VI, Section A, line 8, whether the organization contemporaneously documented every meeting and written action of its governing body and of any committee with authority to act for it. The Form 990 instructions define contemporaneous as by the later of the next meeting or 60 days after the meeting, and they accept approved minutes, email, or a similar writing. It is a disclosure question rather than a flat legal mandate, but a 'No' answer stands out to the IRS and to donors who read the return.

Public bodies: minutes under open-meeting laws

If you sit on a government board, minutes are usually required by statute, and the rules are specific. The details are set state by state, so check your own law rather than copying a figure, but two verified examples show the shape of it. In Texas, the Open Meetings Act (Government Code section 551.021) requires a governmental body to prepare and keep minutes or make a recording of each open meeting, and the minutes must state the subject of each deliberation and indicate each vote, order, decision, or other action taken. Section 551.022 makes those minutes and recordings public records open to inspection. At the federal level, the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. section 552b) takes a stricter line for closed meetings: a covered agency generally has to keep a complete transcript or electronic recording of a closed meeting, and a set of minutes is allowed only when the meeting was closed under a few specific exemptions. The common thread is that for a public body the minutes are not optional housekeeping; they are part of the legal record.

Signing the minutes and what they prove

The secretary signs the minutes. Robert's Rules (section 48:7) says minutes should be signed by the secretary and may also be signed by the president if the body wishes, and it notes that the old closing 'Respectfully submitted' is not essential. You can sign the minutes online, print them, or keep them in a digital minute book. One point worth keeping straight: minutes are a record, not a contract, so nothing on the page binds a party the way a signed agreement does. What they do carry is evidentiary weight. Once approved, minutes are treated as the official record of what the body did (Robert's Rules, section 48:16), and a corporation's minute book is routinely relied on as evidence of board and shareholder action. How much weight a court gives them depends on the jurisdiction and the circumstances, so treat approved minutes as strong proof of what was decided rather than the last word on a contested fact.