More than paperwork: Turning trustee reports into better decisions

If the agenda is the roadmap for a trustee meeting, the papers are the fuel.

Get them right and your board meetings become focused, confident and forward-looking. Get them wrong and trustees spend two hours reading unnecessary details, asking questions too late, or feeling unsure what they are meant to be doing with the information in front of them.

This blog follows on from my recent post about trustee meeting agendas and looks at what should sit behind them. Not as a checklist exercise, but as a tool to support good decision-making and meaningful discussion.

Trustee meetings should not be about reporting for reporting’s sake. They should be about progress, challenge and next steps.

Papers are not the meeting

One of the most common issues I see is boards trying to use the meeting itself to “get through” information.

Trustees arrive, reports are tabled or skim-read, and large chunks of the meeting are spent explaining what is already written down. By the time everyone is up to speed, there is little time or energy left for decisions or strategic thinking.

That is why the papers matter. If done well, they allow trustees to arrive informed, with questions already forming, and ready to focus on what really matters. The meeting then becomes a space for discussion, challenge and action, not passive listening.

What should be included?

Most trustee papers will include some combination of the following. The key is not just whether they exist, but how they are framed and used.

1. Finance information that tells a story

Finance papers should do more than confirm that income equals expenditure.

Trustees need to understand what the figures are telling them about the health and sustainability of the charity. This might include:

• A clear management accounts summary, not just raw numbers

• Commentary on variances and emerging pressures

• Cashflow and reserves position

• Any decisions or approvals required

The most useful finance papers answer the question: What do trustees need to know or decide this month?

If trustees feel nervous asking finance questions, that is often a sign the papers are not doing enough of the work upfront.

2. The risk register as a live document

Risk registers are often included because they should be, not because they are actively used.

When included well, the risk register helps trustees think ahead, spot patterns and test assumptions. It should be clear:

• What the highest current risks are

• Whether risks are increasing, decreasing or stable

• What mitigation is in place and where gaps remain

• Who ‘own’s the risk

• What the actions are

Trustees should feel invited to ask: Are we still comfortable with this risk? Has anything changed?

If the risk register never changes, or is never discussed, it is unlikely to be serving its purpose.

3. Fundraising updates with context

Fundraising reports are most helpful when they focus on progress, learning and the reality of raising funds!

Rather than long lists of bids submitted or events held, trustees benefit from understanding:

• What is going well and why

• What is proving difficult or slower than expected

• How income compares to forecast

• What support or decisions are needed from the board

This allows trustees to play their proper role in oversight and support, rather than feeling they are simply being updated.

4. Service delivery and impact

Trustees are responsible for ensuring the charity is delivering its purposes, not just that it is busy.

Service delivery papers should help trustees understand:

• What is being delivered

• Who is being reached

• What difference it is making

• Where demand, pressure or change is emerging

This does not require pages of detail. A clear summary, backed by data or insight, is often far more effective than volume.

Trustees should be able to link service delivery directly back to the charity’s aims.

5. Progress against strategic objectives

Strategy should not live in a document that only comes out once a year.

Including progress against strategic objectives in trustee papers keeps the board anchored in the bigger picture. This might be a simple update showing:

• What has moved forward

• What hasn’t changed

• What needs attention or a change of approach

This supports continuity and helps trustees see how individual decisions connect to longer-term direction.

Timing and expectations matter

Even the best papers lose their value if they arrive too late.

Trustees should receive papers in good time, with a shared understanding that they are expected to read them in advance. This is not about being demanding. It is about respecting everyone’s time and enabling good governance.

It can be helpful to be explicit about what trustees are being asked to do with each paper. For example:

• For information

• For discussion

• For decision

This small shift can transform the quality of conversations in the room.

From papers to purposeful meetings

When trustee papers are clear, focused and used well, meetings change.

Trustees arrive prepared. Questions are sharper. Discussions are more confident. Decisions feel grounded rather than rushed.

And importantly, trustees leave knowing what has been agreed, what actions are needed and how the charity is moving forward.

If your board meetings still feel overly focused on reporting, or trustees seem unsure how to engage with the papers, it may not be a people problem. It may be a systems and structure issue.

Sometimes a few small changes to how papers are prepared and used can make a significant difference.

If you want to chat about how you can get your papers in order please do get in touch!