policy
Can an employee expect privacy at work?
Office environments have changed over the last few years. We went from working in a central office to being required to work from home during the pandemic. When it was finally allowed to go back to work in a central office, many employees continued to work from home or embraced varying...
Take the Guess Work Out of Non-Profit Gift Giving
Here and there throughout the operating year, a non-profit will give different kinds of gifts. It might be a gift when an employee reaches a work milestone. It might be a gift to thank a summer student. It might be a farewell gift for a departing board member. There is nothing like the...
What do you do when a board member goes rogue?
Has there been a time when a board member didn’t follow policy and no one, you or other board members, said anything? Has a board member reported tasks that they’ve handled when they were neither asked, nor given the authority, to handle those tasks? Has a board member been making decisions...
The Board Speaks With One Voice
When a non-profit board is being developed and new members added, there is excitement to embrace the diverse perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders. But having many different voices at the table can sometimes make it challenging for a board to make decisions. If a board doesn’t...
Writing Procedures for Great Board Meetings
Meeting procedures is a policy that determines how a board meeting will be handled. It is very common for some meeting procedures to be defined in the Bylaws where the voting membership requires certain minimum requirements. For example: Minimum number of board meetings per year How a...
Governing Policies That Grow with A Non-Profit
A non-profit has so many components, from the board’s governing function to the staff’s running of programs and services. The board is both accountable to its constituents while simultaneously responsible for delivering on its promised strategic plan. That’s a lot to ask and even more to...
Operating Policies
July has been a full month talking about the four kinds of non-profit documentation every board member should understand. So far, we’ve covered Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Governing Policies. We’ll wrap this month with a discussion about Operating Policies. The key difference...
Non-Profit Bylaws
Hi Friends, This month we’re talking about the four kinds of non-profit documentation every board member should understand and how each one connects to the next. Last week we talked about Articles of Incorporation, the public documents filed to incorporate a non-profit. This week let’s...
Articles of Incorporation
Happy summer everyone. In my little non-profit world, July is the month after the AGM. All major reporting has been submitted for my year, and new board members begin their orientation to the organization. Joining a non-profit board is a big step, particularly for first-time volunteers. For...
Anatomy of a Policy
Operating policies are the rules required for a specific task in how your non-profit will be run. You don’t need to have operating policies for every operational task, only for required tasks. Some of those required tasks might include, handling cash, cell phone etiquette, branding rules,...
Bylaws vs. Policies
When your non-profit first started, bylaws were created following the guidelines outlined in your provincial act and regulations. Your bylaws likely include items like the types of memberships you offer, the number of board members you must have, and the kind of activities your organization...
Housekeeping
Today I was answering a handful of questions from a new board member who is one of the signers for financial documents. One of her questions was around a purchasing practice that we’ve been doing for almost a decade. She’s new to her role and wasn’t familiar with this specific practice; and good...