Make admin work easier with BoardEffect’s custom fields

Jovie is a board secretary for a mid-sized healthcare nonprofit. She’s ironing out the details for a big meeting ahead, but she’s stuck. She needs to place the food order, but she knows at least two of the participants have very specific dietary restrictions, beyond the vegetarian or gluten-free on her old registration form. And there are board member attendees who are new to the board.

The caterer is flexible, but that makes it more complicated. Luckily, Jovie is about to find out that custom fields can make gathering this information easy and make her administrator life even easier.

Let’s take a look at how BoardEffect’s custom fields feature supports the work of mission-driven organizations and people like Jovie.

Getting info from board members can be a challenge

Board administrators like Jovie are in the information business. To fully support their organizations, administrators must gather lots of different types of information from board members, leaders, key staff and others. They also need to gather data at different stages of the board member lifecycle from onboarding to departure. This data not only includes standard profile information but can revolve around organizing meetings and events, gathering feedback and data for board evaluations, compliance and other requirements.

Collecting this data manually or through email can be time-consuming and inefficient. Responses often come in different formats requiring significant effort to organize and standardize. Following up on unanswered emails adds to the workload, especially when dealing with busy board members.

Additionally, each scenario may call for different types of information, making the process even more complex and repetitive. Board administrators also have to be cautious about over-burdening board members and others with numerous emails for information requests that seem trivial but can make planning a whole lot easier.

Finally, administrators need to make sure the information they get back is usable. And they must be able to gather the data in a way that they can easily report on it or transmit key findings to leaders, partners, suppliers and more.

Custom fields add the flexibility to enable admins to do this data-gathering efficiently and quickly.

The benefits of custom fields

BoardEffect’s custom fields, one of many BoardEffect features to explore, are useful in a number of ways.

• Tailored data collection. Every mission-driven organization is unique, and the information you need or will find useful can vary just as much. Collect data across the spectrum, from demographic information and relationships to nuanced areas like major giving, volunteer hours, backgrounds and skill sets, professional-development hours and beyond.
• Improved organizational efficiency. Using one system, such as your board management software for gathering and storing data about the board and others, helps to streamline administrative processes and minimize the learning curve for the board. Point board members to BoardEffect and train them over time to use the software to provide information relevant to their service.
• Enhanced communication. With custom fields, administrators can improve efficiency in communications — for example, streamlining special requests for upcoming meetings. Custom fields save time for the board member as well because they can quickly fill those out on their device, any time, anywhere.
• Security with private field options. Custom fields can be made private and visible to administrators only for security or sensitivity reasons.
• Flexibility and adaptability. The ability to create new custom fields at any time allows administrators to quickly adapt the platform to capture new or evolving data as organizational needs change, without requiring system customization or IT support.
• Data accessibility. With custom fields accessible through member profiles, relevant information is easily retrievable by administrators, improving decision-making and record-keeping. Custom fields can also be added to the directory display to make information faster to access. example: include regional/chapter/division data along with their name/email.
• Analysis and distribution. You can export custom field information to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for analysis and distribution.

How administrators can use custom fields now

There are endless ways administrators can use custom fields. Here are some ideas based on some of the interesting ways that we have seen our BoardEffect customers implement them:

Board member expertise

One administrator has built a framework to measure the strength of the board in key areas. Using custom fields, they asked their board to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 3 in fields such as audits and tax, membership recruitment and business development, financial management, public relations, strategic planning and more. This data helped identify gaps in board member skills, helping identify needs for future recruitment.

Engaging alumni in higher education

Alumni data is a powerful asset for educational institutions. When used thoughtfully, it helps schools foster a lifelong sense of community and engagement in areas of fundraising campaigns, career networking and mentoring.

Regular information updates

You can schedule an annual task asking the board to ensure their personal preferences and contact info are up to date; board members can update their own data directly in BoardEffect.

Capturing personal preferences

Supporting board members through their service is easier when you understand their needs. In addition to important dietary requirements, other data may include allergies, t-shirt sizes, political affiliations and pronouns.

Top tip: BoardEffect’s surveys and polls features can also help collect key information.

Tracking equipment or other resources

One client’s IT manager uses custom fields to track equipment loaned to members, such as mobile devices and laptops, as well as software installed on those devices. Another client is a theater; its staff uses custom fields to track performances that members have attended.

How to create custom fields

Setting up custom fields is easy. Follow these steps:

1. To create a custom field, navigate to Site Settings on the BoardEffect home page
2. Select Custom Fields from the options list
3. Click on Manage at the top right, then choose New Custom Field
4. Select the field type, enter a name in the Field Label, add any additional details and save the field

Once custom fields are set up, administrators can use the Messaging option to send an email to all board members, instructing them on how to access and complete their custom fields.

How board members access custom fields

Board members can access custom fields through their Profile pages.

1. Log into their account
2. Go to Directory
3. Find their profile and select Edit Profile
4. Click on the Additional option in the menu and navigate to Custom Fields to fill in the relevant details

Custom fields are a feature that can benefit your organization — one of many that Diligent has added to BoardEffect. For more information or to schedule training on using custom fields please contact our Support Team or your Customer Success Manager.