Structure and Practice

When looking at the structure and practice of sub-committees, it is important to remember that one of the reasons for creating sub-committees is to make the Board's work easier and enable faster action.

It is therefore important that each committee or sub-committee is not too large to be effective.  You should also make sure that members of the committee are appointed on the basis of skills, knowledge and experience in the area to ensure that the committee is bringing specialist skill in the portfolio area rather than replicate the Board knowledge in the portfolio already.

The size of a committee will likely depend on the workload assigned to each committee. Whilst having more people to sit on committees and complete tasks is useful, it should also be recognised that the committee needs to be small enough to stay focussed on the tasks and not become unmanageable in terms of administration.

An example of a committee TOR can be downloaded below.

Downloads:
application/pdf iconCommittee Terms of Reference.pdf
Example: Committee terms of reference from England Hockey.
Related Links:
Commitees Better Practice
A short list of better practice guides to sub committees.
Audit Committee
Short guide to setting up an audit committee.
Advice for committees
Good advice about the structure of sub-committees, setting up committees, size and responsibilities.
Typical types
A guide to the typical types of committees that a company would set up.
Advantages V Disadvantages
An overview of the advantages and disadvantages a non-profit organisation could face by using board sub-committees.
Effective Committees
A guide to how a system is designed that ensure a effective use and running of the sub-committees.
Finance Committee
A sample charter for the finance committee.
Governance Committee
Sample terms of reference for the governance committee.
Committee Work Plan
Sample of the Board of Directors committee work planning.
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