How to Take Booster Club Meeting Minutes (With a Template)

What Goes In the Minutes

RONRRobert’s Rules of OrderRobert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the rulebook most booster club bylaws adopt for running meetings. It governs a club only if the bylaws adopt it, and state law and the bylaws come first.All terms sets out the content of minutes in three parts.

The opening paragraph states:

1. The kind of meeting (regular, special, or annual) and that it is a board or general membership meeting
2. The name of the club
3. The date and time, and the place if it varies
4. Whether the regular president and secretary were present, or who substituted
5. Whether the minutes of the previous meeting were approved, as read or as corrected

A booster club should add the names of the board members present at a board meeting, or the number of voting members present at a general meeting. That line proves the quorum.

The body has a separate paragraph for each subject and records:

• Every main motion in its final wording, whether adopted or lost, with the name of the member who made it
• The result of each vote. When the vote was counted, the numbers on each side. When the vote was by ballot, the full tellers’ report. Individual names only on a roll call vote.
• MotionsMotionA formal proposal that the club take an action or a position. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, a motion is the only way a board or membership meeting makes a decision.All terms that carry over, such as a motion postponed or referred to a committee
• Points of order and appeals, and the chair’s ruling
• Any previous notice given of a motion for the next meeting
• Reports given, by whom, and any action taken on them. A key fact (such as the treasurer’s ending balance) may be noted, and written reports may be attached.

The closing paragraph states the time the meeting adjourned. The secretary signs the minutes.

What Stays Out

• Summaries of discussion. Minutes do not record who argued for what. Summarizing debate is improper under RONRRobert’s Rules of OrderRobert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the rulebook most booster club bylaws adopt for running meetings. It governs a club only if the bylaws adopt it, and state law and the bylaws come first.All terms and creates a document that people will fight over.
• The name of the member who seconded. RONR leaves the seconder out of the minutes.
• The secretary’s opinions. No “lively discussion,” “excellent report,” or “heated debate.”
• Motions that were withdrawn, unless needed to understand something else in the record.
• Personal information about students and families. No student names tied to financial need, discipline, medical issues, or fee waivers. Refer to “one family’s request” or handle the matter in executive session.
• Executive session business. Executive sessionExecutive sessionA portion of a meeting held in secret, with only board members and anyone the board invites present. Votes may be taken, and the proceedings are confidential.All terms proceedings are recorded in separate minutes that are read and approved only in executive session.

Sample Wording

Write the motionMotionA formal proposal that the club take an action or a position. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, a motion is the only way a board or membership meeting makes a decision.All terms in its exact final wording. If the motion was long or complicated, ask the maker to hand it to the secretary in writing before the vote.

Approving the Minutes

1. The secretary sends draft minutes to the board, marked “Draft,” within a week of the meeting, while memories are fresh.
2. The draft goes out again with the next meeting’s agenda.
3. At the next regular meeting, the chair asks, “Are there any corrections to the minutes?”
4. Corrections are proposed and, if no one objects, made in the text. A disputed correction is decided by vote.
5. When there are no further corrections, the chair says, “The minutes are approved as read” (or “as corrected”). Under the 12th edition, no vote is taken on approval itself.
6. The secretary makes the corrections in the original, signs the approved minutes, and removes the “Draft” label.

The minutes of the approving meeting say only that the prior minutes were “approved as corrected,” not what the corrections were. If an error is found after approval, the board can still fix it with a motionMotionA formal proposal that the club take an action or a position. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, a motion is the only way a board or membership meeting makes a decision.All terms to amend something previously adopted, and that correction is recorded in the minutes of the meeting that makes it.

General membership meetings are often months apart. The membership can authorize the board or a small committee to approve the minutes of a membership meeting, so they are not left unapproved until the next annual meeting.

Who May See the Minutes

Under RONRRobert’s Rules of OrderRobert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the rulebook most booster club bylaws adopt for running meetings. It governs a club only if the bylaws adopt it, and state law and the bylaws come first.All terms, any member of the club may examine the minutes of membership meetings at a reasonable time and place. Board minutes are available to board members, and to other members as the bylaws or the board provide. Many booster clubs choose to post approved board minutes for members, which builds trust with parents and costs nothing. State law may also give members inspection rights; check the club’s state page.

Keeping the Minutes

Approved minutes are permanent records. Keep the signed originals (or signed PDFs) in a minute book organized by date, with a second copy in a shared folder owned by the club, not by an individual volunteer. When the secretary changes, the minute book goes to the new secretary at the officer transition. Retention practices for all club records are on Booster Club Records and Document Retention.

Shared document tools and board management software can store minute templates, track drafts, and keep the permanent minute book in one place that survives officer turnover.

Minutes Template

[Club name] Booster Club
Minutes of the [Regular / Special / Annual] [Board / General Membership] Meeting

The [regular / special] meeting of the [board / membership] of the [Club name] Booster Club was called to order at [time] on [date] at [location or "by video conference"], the president, [name], presiding, and the secretary, [name], being present. [If substitutes: "In the absence of the secretary, [name] served as secretary pro tem."]

Present: [board members present, or "[number] voting members, per the attached sign-in sheet"]. A quorum was present.
Absent: [board members absent]
Guests: [names and roles, if any]

Agenda. The agenda was adopted [as distributed / with the addition of (item)].

Minutes. The minutes of the [date] meeting were approved [as distributed / as corrected].

Treasurer's report. The treasurer reported a [checking] balance of $[amount] as of [date]. The report was filed.

[Officer or committee] report. [Name] reported on [subject]. [Name] moved that [exact wording]. The motion was [adopted / lost] [count, if counted].

Unfinished business. [Exact wording of motion and result.]

New business. [Name] moved that [exact wording]. The motion was [adopted / lost / postponed to (date) / referred to (committee)].

Notice. [Name] gave notice that at the next meeting [he / she] will move to [text].

Announcements. The next meeting is [date, time, place].

The meeting adjourned at [time].

[Signature]
[Name], Secretary

Approved: [date of approving meeting] [as read / as corrected]