Customer advisory board charters are effective tools to create a foundation and set expectations for all board participants—host company members and client members alike. Not all boards and councils utilize charters, but we have found them valuable in customer advisory board management.  

Effective charters help everyone know what they’ve signed up for and provide program managers and facilitators with a reference point to align agendas and keep the board running smoothly.   

So, once you’ve stood up your Customer Advisory Board (CAB), recruited your client members, completed a successful CAB meeting, and are working through all the follow-on activities: one of those activities should be to create a customer advisory board charter.  

The Basic Components of a Customer Advisory Board Charter 

Charters do not have to be lengthy—one to two pages can cover it—but should include: 

• Board purpose: Describes the Board’s objectives and remit at a high level  

• Board membership: Focus on the size of the Board, member attributes, and the sort of relationship clients and host companies may have.  

• Value to board members: Illustrate some of the benefits of being a Board member including the opportunity to influence strategic direction, access to experts and expertise, and developing and strengthening relationships with Board peers as well as host company executive teams. 

• Member expectations: Include details on terms of service, changes of professional affiliations, and the parameters for board members to be in good standing—and the ramifications if they are not. 

• Responsibilities: Lay out additional ground rules surrounding communication, contributing to agenda development, and meeting attendance. Similarly, articulate host company executives’ responsibilities to engage with full candor and honesty, accept constructive criticism, aid in the development of Board agendas to deliver value to all, and create clear and regular lines of communication with client members. 

Sample Language & Templates for Your Advisory Board

Companies take different approaches to charters, both in how they write them, and how closely they follow them. Some boards formally execute according to their charter, readily labeling some topics or behaviors in or out of charter. Others—due to corporate style, convening topic, or member style—remain loose, using the charter as a more flexible guideline. You can write a charter that matches your specific situation.

Take a look at our customizable customer advisory board charter templates for examples.

Common Pitfalls in Writing or Using the Board Charter 

• Failure to ask for member input or ratify the charter. Getting member input and support needn’t be a protracted effort; a simple discussion and before and/or at the first or second meeting should suffice.  

• Failure to address confidentiality explicitly. To keep things both simple and clear, most Farland Group boards follow the straight-forward and commonly acknowledged Chatham House Rule, “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.” 

• It’s too long, complicated, or “legal-istic”. The charter is a community engagement document. Its purpose is to clarify and align the various members, more akin to a strategy document than a contract. Your industry or corporate context may dictate additional rules of engagement, but, in general, simpler and straightforward will be more useful.  

• It’s one-sided. Don’t undermine the board’s mutual benefit by focusing only on advisor behaviors or the host company’s purpose in forming the board or by over-selling the value of participation.  

• Failure to follow through on expectations set in the charter: While boards differ in how formally they follow the charter, completely neglecting the spirit of its intent can lead to disengagement. This includes helping internal leaders align their expertise with customer-centric conversations, coaching advisors toward effective feedback, addressing participation issues promptly, and managing member transitions or off-boarding sensitively. 

• It sits on the shelf without review. The charter should be a living, breathing document. Use the charter, incorporating some of its language in ongoing meetings, and revisit the contents yearly.