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Board Member Nomination Form Template

Bring rigor and consistency to your board recruitment process with a structured nomination form. This template collects the nominee's professional background, the nominator's qualifications argument, relevant expertise areas, and critically — whether the nominee knows they're being put forward. Your Governance Committee gets everything it needs to evaluate candidates fairly before outreach begins.

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The starting point

About this template

A board member nomination form brings structure and accountability to one of the most consequential decisions a nonprofit makes. Without a standardized submission process, nominations arrive by email, text, hallway conversation, and board meeting sidebar — impossible to compare fairly and easy to lose. A structured form ensures every candidate is evaluated on the same criteria and every nomination includes the context the Governance Committee needs.

More about this template

The nominee awareness question is among the most important fields in this form. Discovering that a nominee had no idea they were being put forward — only learning when the governance chair calls to confirm interest — creates awkward and avoidable situations. This field prompts nominators to consider whether they've had the courtesy conversation, which dramatically improves the quality of nominees who reach the formal review stage.

formformform makes it easy to open nominations for a defined window each year, collect submissions from board members and community stakeholders, and close the form when the deadline passes. Your Governance Committee receives instant notifications for each nomination and can export the full candidate pool to a comparison spreadsheet for their deliberations — replacing a chaotic inbox with a clean, organized candidate pipeline.

9 fields to make your own6 required in this starting form

Make it fit your workflow.

Use your own copy to change labels, remove questions and add the details you need. Try the preview alongside this guide to see what respondents will be asked.

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The questions, explained

Fields in this template

Review the starting questions and choices. You can change them in your own copy.

  • Short answerRequired

    Nominee Full Name

    Dr. Samantha Ortega

  • Email addressRequired

    Nominee Email Address

    sortega@example.org

  • Phone numberOptional

    Nominee Phone Number

    (555) 987-6543

  • Short answerRequired

    Nominee's Current Employer and Title

    e.g. Regional Medical Director, Lakeside Health Network

  • Short answerOptional

    Your Name (if different from nominee)

    Leave blank if self-nominating

  • Long answerRequired

    Describe the nominee's relevant qualifications and experience

    Include professional background, community involvement, prior board service, and any direct experience with our mission area.

  • Long answerRequired

    Why would this person be an asset to our board?

    Explain the specific perspective, network, skills, or leadership qualities they would bring that complement the current board composition.

  • Multiple choiceOptional

    Relevant Expertise Areas

    10 choices
    • Legal and compliance
    • Finance and accounting
    • Fundraising and development
    • Marketing and communications
    • Healthcare or human services
    • Technology and data
    • Real estate or facilities
    • Human resources
    • Government and public policy
    • Diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Single choiceRequired

    Is the nominee aware they are being nominated?

    3 choices
    • Yes, they are aware and interested
    • Yes, they are aware but have not confirmed interest
    • No, I am nominating them without prior discussion
Where it fits

Who uses this template

Suggested uses, and why this starting point can help. Adapt the questions to your own process.

Nonprofit Governance and Nominating Committees

Collect structured nominations for open board seats from existing board members, major donors, and community stakeholders using a defined annual governance window.

Association boards of directors

Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Describe the nominee's relevant qualifications and experience” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Community foundation leadership teams

Gather nominations for a foundation advisory council from grant recipients and community partners, emphasizing lived experience with the foundation's focus areas.

University advisory board coordinators

Accept alumni nominations for an advisory board role, collecting graduation year, current industry, and specific expertise relevant to the academic program.

Healthcare organization board committees

Gather nominations for a hospital foundation board emphasizing clinical expertise, philanthropic capacity, and community health advocacy experience.

Arts and cultural institution leadership

Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Nominee's Current Employer and Title” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Professional society governance staff

Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Describe the nominee's relevant qualifications and experience” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Cooperative and mutual organization boards

Gather the details needed before making arrangements. Consistent answers help you spot special requirements and prepare the next step. Review “Why would this person be an asset to our board?” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

What's included

Separate fields for nominee and nominator to handle self-nominations and third-party submissions
Employer and title field to assess professional standing at a glance
Long-form qualifications field with structured guidance for nominators
Expertise area checkboxes to match nominees to board skill gaps
Nominee awareness radio button to flag cold nominations for proper handling
All nominations stored for Governance Committee review and export
Instant notification so committee members can begin vetting promptly
Embeddable on member portals or shareable as a direct link in governance communications

How to create a board member nomination form

  1. 1

    Click 'Use this template' to open the board nomination form in your formformform account.

  2. 2

    Customize the expertise area checkboxes to reflect the specific skill gaps your board has identified in its annual self-assessment.

  3. 3

    Update the paragraph intro with your Governance Committee's name and the nomination review timeline.

  4. 4

    Set the Governance Committee chair's email as the notification recipient for each submission.

  5. 5

    Add a closing date to your form's description or thank-you message so nominators know the evaluation timeline.

  6. 6

    Share the form link in your board newsletter, member portal, and annual governance calendar communications.

Best practices for your board member nomination form

Open nominations annually and communicate the window clearly

a formal, time-bounded nomination process signals governance maturity and discourages last-minute additions to the candidate slate.

Ask nominators to describe board composition gaps

adding a brief question about what specific perspective the nominee would add helps the Governance Committee assess strategic fit, not just individual qualifications.

Require the nominator to confirm nominee awareness before formal vetting

a nominee who declines when contacted wastes committee time; the awareness question surfaces this risk upfront.

Keep expertise checkboxes aligned with your board skill matrix

if your annual governance self-assessment identifies gaps in technology and finance, those should be the prominent options so nominators can see alignment.

Conduct reference checks independently of the nominator

the form surfaces a candidate; the committee's independent due diligence determines fitness.

Store all nominations confidentially

access to nomination submissions should be restricted to Governance Committee members only; configure your notification email accordingly.

15 form ideas you can build with this template

Nonprofit Board Seat Nomination Form

Collect structured nominations for open board seats from existing board members, major donors, and community stakeholders using a defined annual governance window.

Community Foundation Advisory Council Nomination Form

Gather nominations for a foundation advisory council from grant recipients and community partners, emphasizing lived experience with the foundation's focus areas.

University Alumni Advisory Board Nomination Form

Accept alumni nominations for an advisory board role, collecting graduation year, current industry, and specific expertise relevant to the academic program.

Cooperative Board of Directors Nomination Form

Collect member nominations for a cooperative board election, capturing nominee commitment to cooperative principles alongside professional credentials.

Healthcare Foundation Board Nomination Form

Gather nominations for a hospital foundation board emphasizing clinical expertise, philanthropic capacity, and community health advocacy experience.

Museum Trustee Nomination Form

Collect trustee candidates with expertise in art history, collections management, curatorial practice, or major gift philanthropy from existing trustees and museum members.

Housing Authority Board Nomination Form

Accept community member nominations for a public housing authority board, collecting residency status and personal experience with affordable housing challenges.

School Board Advisory Committee Nomination Form

Gather parent and educator nominations for a school advisory committee, capturing nominee children's current grade levels and areas of educational policy interest.

Arts Council Board Nomination Form

Collect board nominations for a regional arts council emphasizing creative sector experience, philanthropy, and connections to under-represented artistic communities.

Environmental Nonprofit Board Nomination Form

Accept nominations for an environmental organization board, capturing conservation science, policy advocacy, and environmental justice expertise areas.

Credit Union Supervisory Committee Nomination Form

Gather member nominations for a credit union supervisory committee, with fields for financial regulatory knowledge and prior audit or compliance experience.

Youth-Serving Nonprofit Board Nomination Form

Collect board nominations with a mandatory field addressing the nominee's philosophy on youth development and direct experience working with young people.

Food Bank Board Nomination Form

Accept nominations for a food bank board emphasizing supply chain, nutrition policy, community organizing, and corporate food industry connections.

International NGO Advisory Board Nomination Form

Gather nominations for an international advisory board with additional fields for global region expertise, language proficiency, and prior humanitarian sector experience.

Performing Arts Center Board Nomination Form

Collect trustee nominations for a performing arts venue, capturing experience in production, venue management, arts philanthropy, and audience development.

Frequently asked questions

Can board members nominate themselves through this form?

Yes. The form includes a 'Your Name (if different from nominee)' field, which self-nominators leave blank. This lets you track which submissions are self-nominations vs. third-party recommendations.

How do we keep nominations confidential?

Submissions are stored in your formformform dashboard, accessible only to users in your organization's account. Restrict dashboard access to Governance Committee members and export submissions only to the committee — don't forward raw notification emails to the full board.

Can we add a field for the nominee to upload a résumé or bio?

A résumé doesn't need to live in someone's inbox waiting to be forwarded along. Put an Upload field on the form and nominators attach it directly, up to 2 MB per file. The long-text fields already built into this template for qualifications and board fit do a lot of that work too, so some committees skip the file entirely and just ask for a LinkedIn link or a short bio pasted in there instead — use whichever gets your committee what it needs.

What happens to nominations after they're submitted?

Your Governance Committee reviews all submissions manually and determines which nominees to contact. formformform stores the nominations but does not automatically notify nominees — that outreach is handled by your team.

Can we use this form for advisory board nominations too?

Yes. Simply update the form title and intro paragraph to reference your advisory board, and adjust the expertise checkboxes to match the advisory board's focus areas.

Is there a way to set a nomination deadline?

You can close the form manually on your deadline date from the form settings page. Until then, it accepts submissions continuously. Add the deadline date to your form's introductory paragraph so nominators know the cutoff.

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