Compliance
The CARF Board Governance Checklist: What Surveyors Actually Look For
Going through CARF accreditation? Here's exactly what board governance documentation surveyors expect -- and how to have it ready in minutes instead of days.
CARF International accreditation is one of the most rigorous quality standards in human services. When surveyors arrive, they expect your organization to demonstrate that your board governs effectively -- with documentation to prove it. Most organizations scramble. It doesn't have to be that way.
This is the definitive checklist of what CARF surveyors actually examine when they review board governance at nonprofits.
What CARF Looks For in Board Governance
CARF's governance standards fall under Section 1 of the standards manual. The specific requirements vary by accreditation type, but these elements appear consistently across reviews:
1. Board Composition and Structure
Surveyors verify that your board has documented:
- Composition requirements -- minimum number of members, any requirements for people with disabilities or family members to serve
- Term limits -- maximum consecutive terms, cooling-off periods
- Officer roles -- chair, vice chair, treasurer, secretary -- defined in bylaws
- Quorum definition -- minimum members required to conduct official business
What they want to see: Your bylaws and a current board roster with terms clearly documented.
2. Board Meeting Records
This is where many organizations fall short. CARF expects:
- Minutes for every meeting -- regular board meetings, executive committee meetings, and special meetings
- Attendance records -- who was present, who participated remotely, who was absent
- Quorum verification -- confirmation that each meeting met quorum before business was conducted
- Action items -- what was decided and assigned, with follow-up documentation
What they want to see: Complete, dated minutes with attendance clearly documented. Gaps in records raise red flags.
3. Conflict of Interest
COI is a major focus for CARF. They look for:
- Written COI policy -- adopted by the board and in the policy manual
- Annual disclosure process -- proof that all board members complete a COI disclosure each year
- Signed disclosures -- actual documentation from every current board member
- How conflicts are handled -- documented process when a conflict arises during a meeting
What they want to see: Signed COI disclosures for every active board member, collected within the last 12 months.
4. Board Orientation and Education
Surveyors ask about how new board members are onboarded:
- Written orientation materials
- Training on COI, financial oversight, and fiduciary duties
- Ongoing education opportunities
- Documentation of attendance at orientation
5. CEO Evaluation
CARF requires the board to formally evaluate the CEO/Executive Director:
- Annual evaluation process documented in policy
- Evidence that the evaluation occurred (meeting minutes referencing it)
- Signed evaluation or summary of findings
6. Financial Oversight
Board-level financial governance is reviewed:
- Who serves on the finance committee
- Frequency of financial report review
- Approval of annual budget
- Audit committee or external audit oversight
Common Gaps That Lead to Findings
After reviewing hundreds of CARF surveys, these are the gaps that most frequently result in findings:
Missing minutes: Even one meeting without documented minutes can be a finding. Organizations that don't have a systematic way to create and store minutes are most at risk.
Unsigned COI disclosures: Collecting COI forms annually sounds simple, but organizations that rely on email and spreadsheets consistently end up with incomplete documentation.
Term limit violations: Board members who serve past their term limits create a compliance issue. Without automated tracking, this is easy to miss.
Gaps in attendance records: Minutes that don't specify who was present -- or that don't confirm quorum was met -- are insufficient.
How to Have Everything Ready Before Surveyors Arrive
The organizations that sail through CARF board governance reviews share one trait: they treat documentation as a continuous process, not a pre-survey scramble.
Monthly: Generate meeting minutes within 48 hours of every meeting. Approve them at the next meeting. Store them in a centralized location.
Annually: Collect COI disclosures from every board member within 60 days of the fiscal year start. Track completion centrally.
Ongoing: Maintain a current board roster with term start and end dates. Flag terms expiring in the next 12 months.
Pre-survey (90 days out): Run a board governance audit. Can you produce minutes for every meeting in the last 3 years? Signed COI disclosures for every current board member? A complete board roster with terms? If not, address gaps now.
The Audit-Ready Export Test
The best test of whether your board governance documentation is CARF-ready: can you export everything a surveyor might ask for in under 10 minutes?
- Complete meeting minutes for the last 3 years: ✓
- Attendance records for every meeting: ✓
- Signed COI disclosures for every active board member: ✓
- Current board roster with terms: ✓
- CEO evaluation documentation: ✓
If any of those take more than a few minutes to pull together, your documentation process needs work before your next survey.
LiveHelm maintains all of this documentation automatically and generates audit-ready exports on demand. Request a demo to see how it works.