Between Meetings

Sixth of seven walkthroughs. Three things a board does between meetings, each with the same shape: you draft it, you issue it to the people who need to respond, Boardwise chases them, and you close it with a record. All three live under Written Consents and Surveys & Declarations on the dashboard.

Anything issued creates an action item for each respondent. They see it on their dashboard under Items Needing Your Attention, in My Action Items, and in the Preparation brief on their next meeting page, and automated reminders go to anyone who has not responded, if you leave reminders enabled.

A. Pass a resolution by written consent

Use this when the board needs to approve something and a meeting is not warranted. All signers must approve; a single decline means the resolution cannot pass by written consent.

Draft it

1. From the dashboard, open Written Consents and click New Written Consent.
2. Enter a title such as "Approval of 2026 Budget".
3. Provide the Resolution Text. Either Write Resolution in the editor (recitals, then the resolved clauses) or Upload PDF if counsel has already prepared it.
4. Check the defaults line: which Governing Body the resolution is for, the governing law (defaults to your organization's jurisdiction), and the Effective Date/Time (defaults to the time of the last signature). Click Change if any of these should differ.
5. Set a Due By date if you need a deadline, and leave Send automated reminders on.
6. Under Signers, every voting member of the governing body is selected. Uncheck anyone who should not be required to sign.
7. Click Create Draft.

Issue it

1. Review the draft on its page. Click Edit if anything needs changing.
2. Click Issue to Signers. Each signer receives an email and a Your Signature is Requested prompt in Boardwise.

Signers open the resolution, read it, and Review & Sign. Signing requires a passkey, so the signature is tied to that person's device and identity. If a director has approved outside Boardwise (a signed page by email, say), you can record their consent on their behalf from their signer row; the certificate then states which signatures were executed by passkey and which were recorded by the Secretary. If a signer declines, the consent page shows Signer Declined with their reason; your options are to Void Packet and bring the matter to a meeting, or to void it and issue a revised resolution.

Certify it

1. When every signer has approved, the page shows Awaiting Secretary Certification.
2. Click Click to Certify and verify with your passkey.
3. Boardwise generates the Final Resolution and the Secretary's Certificate, records the decision in the Decisions register, and shows Decision Recorded.
4. Download PDF under Audit Package gives you the complete trail: the resolution, every signer's record with timestamps, and an integrity digest of the document.

B. Collect declarations

Use declarations for anything each director must attest to individually: the annual conflict-of-interest disclosure, acknowledgement of the code of conduct, independence confirmations.

1. From the dashboard, open Surveys & Declarations, then Declarations, and click New Declaration. Choose From Template if you have run this declaration before; templates keep the statements so you only pick respondents and a due date.
2. Enter a Title and choose the Board/Committee whose members respond.
3. Add Statements. Each is one of: an acknowledgement (the respondent confirms they have read something), a disclosure (a free-text answer), or a yes/no question. Mark the ones that are Required.
4. Turn on Require electronic signature if the response should carry a passkey-verified signature. For conflict-of-interest and code-of-conduct declarations, you usually want this.
5. Set Due By, choose the respondents, and tick Save as template if you will run it again.
6. Save, review, then click Issue. Issued declarations cannot be edited, which is what makes the responses comparable.

Respondents see Action Required and Review & Respond. The declaration's page lists each respondent with their status, and you can Send Reminders at any time. When everyone has responded, or the deadline passes, click Close. Each response is kept with the declaration as part of the governance record.

C. Run a survey

Use surveys for board and committee evaluations, skills matrices, and anything where you want to see the pattern across the board rather than each person's attestation.

1. Under Surveys & Declarations, open Surveys and click New Survey (or From Template).
2. Enter a Title, and an Introduction that respondents see at the top, with any rating guidance.
3. Choose the Board/Committee, and whether responses are Anonymous. Anonymous responses cannot be linked back to a person, including by you.
4. Add Questions. Types are Short Text, Long Text, Yes/No, Multiple Choice, Rating Scale, and Guided Rating. For a skills matrix, define a Rating guide once (for example Minimal, Knowledgeable, Advanced, Expert, each with a definition) and reuse it across the Guided Rating questions.
5. Use Who should answer this? on a question to narrow it to a committee, a role, or independent directors only. Everyone else skips it.
6. Set Due By, choose respondents, save, review, and Issue.

As responses come in, View Results shows a summary and, for named surveys, a Responses by person matrix. When the survey is closed, View Final Results offers Export PDF, an anonymized PDF for sharing with the board, and Export CSV. Note the caveat on the anonymized export: names are removed, but free-text answers can still identify their author, so read before you circulate.

Next

7. What Your Directors See: the whole cycle from a board member's side.

Related reference: Running Surveys and Assessments, Setting Up Passkeys.