Reasonable care should be taken to find a time and place that is convenient for the board to meet, but meetings will have to take place at least as often as is required by the bylaws. If the board cannot physically meet, then telephone or internet conferencing is an acceptable method of resolving the problem.
If a nonprofit organization has a dedicated secretary, he or she will be responsible for keeping the minutes of a meeting as well as keeping a schedule of past and future meetings and coordinating the space where the meeting will be held. This includes planning for non-traditional meeting forms like electronic or telephonic conferencing.
Nonprofit organizations will incur both direct and indirect costs when operating their business, but how costs are described within the organization’s financial statements is a matter of business ethics. Because all filings are publicly available, it is a matter of trust and integrity that the NPO will categorize these costs in the most ethical manner possible.
Many organizations have an ethics code built into their charter that outlines exactly how this will be accomplished.[i] Ethics codes extend to disclosure of personal income for the board members, as well as conflict of interest resolutions. Activities that might be specifically prohibited include influencing an internal election or using NPO transportation or funds for personal enjoyment.
[i]Alliance Organization, online. http://www.allianceonline.org/FAQ/financial_management/how_can_we_allocate_indirect.faq
