Govenda Reviews

Pros

It has made a huge difference in how we manage board communication by keeping everything in one place,financial statements, board packets, reports, attendance, polls and more. It also does a really good job with user management since permissions can be assigned clearly, you can group users into committees and multiple files can be combined into one printable PDF. One feature that has been especially useful is being able to deactivate users without deleting them which works perfectly for organizations where board members rotate off after their term and come back later. The iOS mobile app is excellent, honestly even better than the website. Because of it, our board shows up to meetings much more prepared and ready to go.

Cons

There have been a few bugs here and there but whenever I've reached out to it, they've either fixed the issue or given me a workaround right away. Other than that, I really don't have any complaints about the software.

Pros

Board communication, meeting packets and scheduling are all much more organized with this platform. Since it works in a web browser on any computer and also has an app for most mobile devices, getting everyone onboard was fast and smooth. Setup went quickly and our board of directors has had no trouble using it.

Cons

The only drawback we've run into is that it doesn't include built-in video. We still have to rely on a separate tool for virtual meetings which adds an extra step though we're hoping it releases its own video option soon to make the experience even better.

Pros

With board members working remotely, this platform has become absolutely essential. They can get alerts and notices, view every document and keep up with meeting schedules from any device. Having historical documents stored in one place has saved me a lot of time because I no longer have to handle so many one-off requests. It's also very simple to learn and use.

Cons

A few things could be improved, I'd like tracking for emails that are sent and opened, the option to edit offline votes and a better way to enter and manage tasks because that part feels tiring. The e-signature feature is also pretty restrictive,for example, if I only need one approval from any of three possible signers, having to require all three signatures makes the process unnecessarily tiring.

Pros

Having every meeting across the bank stored in one place has been really helpful and it makes finding the documents we need quick and simple.

Cons

Turning an agenda into meeting minutes is not user-friendly at all. It's hard to format the minutes so they look presentable unless everything gets copied and pasted into a Word document and once you do that, things start falling out of order. There really needs to be a simpler way to rearrange and adjust the layout of the minutes.

Pros

Managing it is very simple and board members can use it without much effort.

Cons

It feels a bit stiff. The platform could work well for plenty of other use cases but the titles and labels make it seem strictly built for boards. If you try to use it for something else, you end up having to explain what it is.

Pros

Starting this job two years ago, getting a board portal in place was high on my list and after comparing several options, choosing it turned out to be the best decision I could have made. It's more user-friendly than I expected and has saved me a lot of time. I also use it to archive older board minutes which makes research much faster and far less tiring. Also, the user activity tracking is something I really appreciate because it keeps everyone accountable.

Cons

Wish it had the ability to upload video files.

Pros

This platform really filled an important gap in board management especially for small to mid-sized nonprofits, while still being capable enough to serve large corporate clients as well.

Cons

Since I started using it early on, a few of the features that are available now weren't there at the beginning. Still, the product has continued to improve over time, with new and better features being added and the team clearly stays focused on making it better.

Pros

Everything feels very user-friendly, it's simple to manage and it's also a cost-effective option.

Cons

One thing I'd still want is more flexibility to change the formatting, colors and fonts of the board agenda items.

Pros

After a year of using it, I'm really happy with it. We brought it into the company as part of moving all of our materials into a digital format after doing everything the old-fashioned way for years. The site feels well organized and accessible and most of our staff has adapted to it without much trouble. It's also reassuring to know all of our documents are kept in one safe and secure place. For us, it's absolutely essential.

Cons

The rollout was a bit challenging for some members of our Board of Directors who aren't very comfortable with technology. That said, I believe that will improve over time and I'm not convinced another platform would have been any easier for them to learn.

Pros

Having one central place to share and gather information related to the organization's board work has been really useful.

Cons

It would be better with separate project or committee rooms, along with a simpler way to upload files and manage discussion threads.

Pros

Right from the start, the software felt user friendly and simple to use. Our board members and trustees are comfortable with it during board meetings which has made adoption much easier. The management team is also able to schedule meetings for the full year ahead so it's simpler to find times that work for most executives. On the admin side, uploading documents, rearranging meeting agendas and applying updates is all very convenient.

Cons

For nonprofits and smaller organizations, the pricing is on the expensive side.

Pros

Getting agendas set up is very simple. After building one agenda in the system, I can reuse it for future meetings as a template which saves a lot of time. It's also really helpful that I can pull previous minutes into a new agenda. The platform tracks RSVPs and attendance automatically and the survey, voting and e-signature tools have been especially valuable for supporting my 40-trustee board spread across different locations.

Cons

Minutes section is where things get frustrating since it's hard to navigate and the embedded formatting doesn't cooperate well at all. Because of that, it's actually simpler to write the minutes in Word first and then paste them into the minutes template.

Pros

After our organization moved to this platform, the goal was to improve how we shared materials with the Board of Trustees and our committees. It has absolutely helped us do that and we've also seen cost savings along the way. Every one of our board members has been able to use it with little to no help. it also keeps improving the product, adding new features that help us work more efficiently on items that need the Board's attention between meetings.

Cons

At this point, we haven't run into any downsides.

Pros

Putting together meeting packets with it has taken away a lot of the usual hassle. Filling everything in, downloading it and sending it out is very simple. Updating details or removing information is just as simple which makes the whole process much more convenient.

Cons

Honestly I don't have any complaints. Even the first time I used it, the steps were clear and I never felt confused about how to move through the different sections.

Pros

Coordinating volunteers is already challenging and the constant flood of email only makes it worse. The biggest benefit of it is that it gives administrators a separate, private digital space to manage communication with board members and other key volunteers. There's no more digging through inboxes trying to track down "that email with the agenda from last month" or figure out whether the next committee meeting time was confirmed and who's actually attending. It also helps avoid people dropping off on calls just because they can't locate the right documents. it brings all of those tasks and a lot more, together in one shared place.

Cons

One frustrating issue is that some emails sent through it end up in certain users' spam folders. That means we have to send extra reminders or backup alerts which is both inefficient and irritating. It's probably tied to individual user settings but these are volunteers who already have a lot on their plates so the software really needs to work smoothly to keep them fully engaged.

Pros

So I like that putting together board papers has become much more manageable with this software. The layout is very user-friendly and it has completely changed how I compile our board packs. I used to print everything and manually number the pages myself and our board packages are usually 350 pages or more so that took a lot of time. Now the system generates the agenda and numbers all the pages automatically which saves me a huge amount of effort. Another big plus is that the board papers can be accessed anytime and from anywhere which is really fantastic. I also really appreciate that it links the meeting date directly to Outlook and sets a reminder ahead of the meeting. Overall, I genuinely love it.

Cons

The only downside for me is that everything has to be uploaded in PDF format. There are times when I need to upload presentations or Excel sheets and I have to save them as PDFs first before I can add them. Other than that, I do not have any further comments.

Pros

Was quite simple to get my board comfortable with it. They haven't started using the voting feature yet but that's the next part I'm planning to teach them.

Cons

At this point, I really haven't come across anything I dislike.

Pros

It really does live up to the user-friendly label, both on the admin side and for everyday users. I also appreciate that the developers keep adding new functionality to make the platform more capable, like e-signature.

Cons

Oftentimes it comes up during board meetings... members get logged out while the meeting is still going. Our meetings often run for several hours so that may be part of the reason but it's still annoying when they're trying to keep the screen open and it goes dark because there hasn't been any activity.

Pros

Getting around the software feels very simple and saving documents and uploading them to the portal is simple.

Cons

I haven't run into any issues. The software is very user-friendly.

Pros

This has been the simplest way for us to share documents with our external board members.

Cons

What's been frustrating is the new enhanced drop mode. I know the classic drop mode is still available but it would be much better if we could set our preferred option as the default instead of having it automatically switch to enhanced. Since that change, the Manage Documents section also no longer scrolls with the rest of the page. I really hope that gets fixed soon.