Editing Board of directors (section)

==Non-corporate boards==

The responsibilities of a board of directors vary depending on the nature and type of business entity and the laws applying to the entity (see [[types of business entity]]). For example, the nature of the business entity may be one that is traded on a public market (public company), not traded on a public market (a private, limited or closely held company), owned by family members (a family business), or exempt from income taxes (a non-profit, not for profit, or tax-exempt entity). There are numerous types of business entities available throughout the world such as a corporation, limited liability company, cooperative, business trust, partnership, private limited company, and public limited company.

Much of what has been written about boards of directors relates to boards of directors of business entities actively traded on public markets.<ref>See generally, Bowen, William G., The board book: an insider's guide for directors and trustees (2008 W.W. Norton & Co.); Murray, Alan S., Revolt in the boardroom: the new rules of power in corporate America (2007 Collins); Charan, Ram, Boards that deliver: advancing corporate governance from compliance to competitive advantage (2005 Jossey-Bass); Carver, John, Corporate boards that create value: governing company performance from the boardroom (2002 Jossey-Bass); Harvard Business Review on corporate governance (2000 Harvard Business School Press).</ref> More recently, however, material is becoming available for boards of private and closely held businesses including family businesses.<ref>See specifically Tutelman and Hause, The Balance Point: New Ways Business Owners Can Use Boards (2008 Famille Press).</ref>

A [[board-only]] organization is one whose board is self-appointed, rather than being accountable to a base of members through elections; or in which the powers of the membership are extremely limited.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

===Membership organizations===
In [[Voluntary association|membership organizations]], such as a society made up of members of a certain profession or one advocating a certain cause, a board of directors may have the responsibility of running the organization in between meetings of the membership, especially if the membership meets infrequently, such as only at an [[annual general meeting]]. The amount of powers and authority delegated to the board depend on the bylaws and rules of the particular organization. Some organizations place matters exclusively in the board's control while in others, the general membership retains full power and the board can only make recommendations.{{sfn|Robert|2011|p=481–483}}

The setup of a board of directors varies widely across organizations and may include provisions that are applicable to corporations, in which the "shareholders" are the members of the organization. A difference may be that the membership elects the officers of the organization, such as the president and the secretary, and the officers become members of the board in addition to the directors and retain those duties on the board.{{sfn|Robert|2011|p=484}} The directors may also be classified as officers in this situation.{{sfn|Robert|2011|p=572}} There may also be ex-officio members of the board, or persons who are members due to another position that they hold. These ex-officio members have all the same rights as the other board members.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about RONR (Question 2) |url=http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715132111/http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#2 |archive-date=15 July 2017 |access-date=2015-12-24 |website=The Official Robert's Rules of Order Web Site |publisher=The Robert's Rules Association}}</ref>

Members of the board may be removed before their term is complete. Details on how they can be removed are usually provided in the bylaws. If the bylaws do not contain such details, the section on disciplinary procedures in ''[[Robert's Rules of Order]]'' may be used.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about RONR (Question 20) |url=http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715132111/http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#20 |archive-date=15 July 2017 |access-date=2015-12-24 |website=The Official Robert's Rules of Order Web Site |publisher=The Robert's Rules Association}}</ref>