Australian Board Portal for Chief Executive Officers
You report to the board, prepare your CEO update, follow through on what they ask you to do, and keep the organisation running between meetings. Most of that work happens outside the boardroom. Our Cat Herder puts your reports, the board's decisions, and your action items in one place so you spend less time on board admin and more time running the organisation.
Your CEO report, where the board expects it
Your CEO report is the paper the board reads first. Upload it to the board pack alongside the agenda, and it goes out to every director at the same time, in the same format. No more emailing updates to the secretary and hoping they end up in the right place.
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CEO report sits next to the agenda item
Your report is attached to its agenda item, not buried as an email attachment. Directors open the board pack and find your update exactly where they expect it, with any supporting papers right below.
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See who has opened the pack
You can see which directors have accessed the board pack before the meeting. If half the board has not opened it by Thursday, you know the meeting will start with catch-up instead of discussion.
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One-click consolidated PDF
One click produces a single PDF with every paper in agenda order, including your CEO report. Directors who want to read the whole pack get a document with a clickable table of contents instead of a pile of email attachments.
Actions that go both ways
The board asks you to get three quotes on the IT contract. You ask the board to approve the budget revision before the end of the month. Both go on the action register with a due date and an owner. Nobody has to chase anyone by email because the portal tracks it.
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Your open actions, front and centre
Log in and your dashboard shows every action item assigned to you. Each one shows the due date, which meeting it came from, and any notes. No digging through minutes to work out what the board asked for.
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Outstanding actions carry forward
Anything not completed rolls onto the next meeting's agenda under Matters Arising. If the board asked you for something two meetings ago and it is still open, it stays visible until it is closed. The same applies to actions you have asked of the board.
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Status updates between meetings
Update the status of your actions and add a note when something is delayed. The chair can see progress without sending you an email asking where things are at.
Board decisions on the record
You implement what the board decides. When someone asks "did the board actually approve that?", you need a clear answer. Every resolution, vote, and minute is recorded in the portal with timestamps and attendees. You find what you need in seconds, not by searching email threads.
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Minutes locked after sign-off
Once the chair confirms the minutes, they are locked and timestamped. If the ACNC or an auditor asks how a decision was made, you point them to the exact minute. Nobody can quietly revise what was agreed.
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Governance document library
The strategic plan, delegation policies, past budgets, and your constitution all live in one place. When you need to check what authority the board has delegated to you, or when a new director asks for the strategic plan, you send them a link instead of searching your inbox.
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New directors onboard themselves
When a new director joins, everything they need is already in the portal: past minutes, policies, the strategic plan, financial history. They get up to speed from the source instead of relying on a handover folder you had to compile.
Meeting preparation that does not eat your week
In many smaller NFPs the CEO coordinates the board pack, sometimes without a dedicated company secretary. Even with one, you still need to get your papers in on time and know the agenda is right. The portal handles the structure so you can focus on the content.
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Agenda templates with standing items
Set up a template with the regular items: CEO report, finance, committee updates, matters arising. Reuse it for every meeting. You add what is new, and the template handles the rest.
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Board pack notifications
When you publish the board pack, every director gets a link straight to the portal. No attachments to download, no version confusion. They read it online, and you can see who has opened it before the meeting.
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Time allocations on the agenda
Each agenda item shows how long the chair expects to spend on it. If the strategic discussion gets 30 minutes but the CEO report gets 10, you know where to put the detail in your papers.
“Arthritis SA has found Our Cat Herder to be an excellent tool for our board and CEO. In particular having access to documents that may be required has saved a great deal of administration time. Board meetings and distribution of papers is now streamlined and effective. It has made my life just so much easier as a CEO.”
Everything else a CEO needs from the board portal
Voting, discussions, and security
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- Circular resolutions between meetings
- Need the board to approve something before the next meeting? The secretary sends a circular resolution through the portal. Directors vote with one click, and the result is recorded with timestamps.
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- Discussion threads between meetings
- Flag an issue with the board between meetings, or let directors ask questions about your CEO report before the meeting. Discussion threads keep conversations visible to the right people and searchable later.
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- Private notes on board papers
- Jot down talking points while reviewing the agenda, or note something you want to raise during the meeting. Your notes are private, saved against the paper, and still there when you open it again.
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- Committees and main board in one portal
- If you attend both the finance committee and the main board, both run from the same portal with separate meetings and access controls. You do not need separate logins.
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- Works on phones and tablets
- Check your actions from your phone, or review the board pack on a tablet before the meeting. It works in any modern browser with no app to install.
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- Security and Australian data hosting
- Board papers and CEO reports contain sensitive information. All data is hosted on AWS in Sydney, penetration tested annually. Your organisation owns its data and can export it at any time.
Action register
Minutes sign-off
Discussion groups
Australian-built for Australian boards
Why Australian NFP CEOs choose Our Cat Herder
- Board papers stay in Australia. Hosted on AWS in Sydney. Your CEO reports, strategic plans, and governance documents never leave the country.
- Built around Australian governance. Minutes sign-off and decision audit trails follow the Corporations Act and ACNC standards. Conflict of interest tracking is built in for organisations that need it.
- No per-user fees. Boards grow and shrink. Committee members rotate. You should not pay more because you added two people to a subcommittee. Unlimited users, unlimited meetings.
- 45-day free trial, no credit card. Set up a portal in under five minutes and try it with your actual board. Full access to every feature during the trial.
- Simple enough to pick up without training. Most of our customers are NFPs where the CEO already wears multiple hats. The portal is designed to save you time from day one, not add another system to learn.
Spend less time on board admin. Start your free 45-day trial.
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Frequently asked questions
- How does a board portal help a CEO?
- It gives you a single place to submit your CEO report, track board decisions and action items, and store governance documents. The board pack goes out to every director at the same time in the same format, so you spend less time coordinating with the secretary and more time on the content of your report. Between meetings, your dashboard shows which actions are assigned to you and which ones you are waiting on from the board.
- Can I use it to distribute my CEO report?
- Yes. You upload your report to the relevant agenda item. When the board pack is published, every director gets a link to the portal where your report sits alongside all other papers. Everyone reads the same version, and you can see who has opened it.
- We do not have a company secretary. Can the CEO manage the portal?
- Yes, and many of our customers work exactly that way. In smaller NFPs the CEO often coordinates the board pack, builds the agenda, and follows up on actions. The portal is designed for that situation: agenda templates, one-click distribution, and automatic action tracking reduce the admin load whether you have a secretary or not.
- How does it help with director onboarding?
- When a new director joins, you give them portal access and they can read past minutes, policies, the strategic plan, and financial history at their own pace. You do not have to compile a handover folder or spend hours briefing them on what the board has decided over the past two years.
- Is Our Cat Herder suitable for small NFPs?
- That is who we built it for. Most of our customers are NFPs, incorporated associations, and registered charities where the CEO wears multiple hats. There are no per-user fees, so adding committee members costs nothing extra. You get a 45-day free trial with full access to every feature.
Resources for CEOs and board administrators
Guides and templates to help you manage board governance and administration.
Guide
Effective Board Packs: The Complete Guide
What should be in a board pack, how to structure it, and how to make sure members actually read it before the meeting.
Guide
Managing Conflicts of Interest in Non-Profits
How to identify, declare, and manage conflicts of interest on your board. Covers actual, potential, and perceived conflicts.
Template
Free Consent Agenda Template
Bundle routine items into one motion so the board can spend its time on the decisions that actually need discussion.
Template
Free Action Register Template
Track every action item from every meeting with columns for assignee, due date, status, and notes. Word format.