What problem does a decision log solve?
Three years from now a donor, an auditor or a new director asks: “Why did you approve that?” or “Who agreed to the exception?” The people who were in the room may have left. The minutes run to forty pages. The answer exists, but nobody can find it.
A decision log fixes this. It is one list, one line per decision, easy to scan and to search. It does not replace minutes. It points to them.
What does a good entry contain?
Keep each entry short and structured.
| Field | Example content |
|---|---|
| Reference | A short code, such as D-2026-14 |
| Date | When the decision was made |
| Body | Board, finance committee or leadership team |
| Decision | One clear sentence |
| Reason | The main grounds, in a sentence or two |
| Alternatives | What else was considered, if relevant |
| Conflicts | Who declared a conflict and stepped out |
| Owner | Who carries it out |
| Due date | When the action should be done |
| Source | The minutes or paper where the detail sits |
The reason is the field that gets skipped and later missed most. “Approved the new office lease” is thin. “Approved the new office lease because the current one ends in March and moving costs less than a renewal at the new rate” is evidence.
How to start a log
- Choose the scope. Start with board and senior committee decisions. Add management exceptions later if needed.
- Define “significant”. Write a short rule, for example any decision above a set amount, any policy change, any exception to a control.
- Set the template. Use the fields above. Do not add more until the habit is in place.
- Log at the meeting. The note-taker adds entries during or right after the meeting, while memory is fresh.
- Check it with the minutes. When draft minutes go out, check that every decision in them appears in the log, and the other way round.
- Review actions. At each meeting, scan the log for overdue actions.
How does the log protect you?
The log protects the organization in four ways.
- Audits and donor reviews. You can show who approved major items and under what authority, without a long search.
- Continuity. New board members and directors can learn why past choices were made.
- Fair process. It shows that conflicts were declared and managed. See our guide on running a conflict of interest declaration process.
- Accountability. Overdue actions become visible, so decisions do not fade into good intentions.
It also protects individuals. A board member who voted against a decision, or stepped out of it, has a record that says so.
What should you avoid?
- Logging only the easy decisions. If hard or disputed ones are missing, the log loses its value.
- Editing after the fact. If a decision is later changed, add a new entry that refers to the old one. Do not overwrite history.
- Vague entries. “Discussed budget” is not a decision.
- Keeping it somewhere private. A log held in one person’s files disappears when they leave. Store it where the right people can reach it, and note who can edit it.
Check local rules and donor agreements for how long to keep governance records. Our guide to board governance basics covers other records a board should keep.
A short example
Two years ago the board approved an exception to the procurement rules for an emergency purchase. The log entry reads: date, the decision, the reason (a flood had cut access to usual suppliers), the member who stepped out because of a link to the supplier, the owner and a note that the exception ended after 30 days. A new donor auditor asks how the purchase was approved. The finance lead opens the log, reads the entry and follows the link to the minutes. The question is answered in minutes.
Without the log, someone would read old minutes for hours and might still be unsure whether the exception had ended. The log turns a slow search into a quick, confident reply.
Keep the habit light. A log that takes ten minutes after each meeting will be kept. One that needs an hour will be skipped, so keep the fields few and the entries short.
Where EMPOBase fits
EMPOBase includes an SMC Decisions Log in Governance & Compliance, together with SMC Management, so decisions sit next to meeting records, conflict of interest disclosures and the Risk Register. You can read about the platform or contact us for a demo. The log is only as good as the entries your team makes, and the tool does not decide which choices are significant.