New Year Resolutions for 2005

For Management and Staff, I resolve to....

1. Protect the organization. Some boards think “volunteer immunity” is an alternative to liability insurance and that a financial audit is done at the discretion of the treasurer. Protect yourself and the board through adequate insurance coverage and an annual financial audit.

2. Promote professional development. Not many organizations sufficiently fund staff training --- some budget more for exterior landscaping! Develop a multi-year plan for the board to understand how staff will grow and what training you recommend. Don’t let the line item for staff education be the one funded “if anything is left over.”

3. Write down procedures to create an operations manual. Nonprofit executives often manage with their heart and their gut. They have not documented the routine tasks to construct an operations manual. Improve staff training, member service and board confidence by creating an operations manual in 2005.

4. Know thy history. Many organizations forget their rich history. Recognize the founding fathers (and mothers) by maintaining an on-line chronology of achievements and member excellence. It helps prospects understand why they should join when they see the organization’s successes.

For the Board of Directors, I resolve to....

5. Conduct an effective board orientation. Too many boards skip orientation. Attendance should be mandatory. Divide your orientation into four parts: About the Organization; Responsibilities of the Board; Risk Management; and Goal Setting or Strategic Plan Update.

6. Evaluate board performance. Besides the executive director’s performance review, the board should measure its own performance. There are guides to measure if volunteers feel respected, have the information they need to make decisions, understand their roles and enjoy their time on the board and committees. Use the results to make improvements.

7. Encourage the board to act strategically. The organization’s strategic plan should guide the work of the board. When non-strategic conversations arise, board members and staff should feel empowered to indicate these discussions are not strategic and might be inappropriate or ineffectual for the meeting. Make strategic thinking one of your organization’s values.

8. Maintain a policy manual. Policies are the wisdom of the board --- interpretations of the bylaws and articles of incorporation over time. Some organizations have no policy manual or the CEO commits them to memory. Its time to update or maintain a policy manual so the board can govern more effectively.

For the Committees, I resolve to....

9. Ensure committees are charged with work from the strategic plan. Avoid committee chairs asking, “What should we do this year?” Be sure your board chairman charges committees with projects to advance the strategic plan. Remember the adage: “Committee Recommend, Boards Approves and Volunteers/Staff Implement.”

10. Educate committee chairs how to conduct meetings. Present a guide to committee chairs to inform them how to prepare, conduct and wrap up their meetings so they can maximize the commitment of busy volunteers to accomplish their tasks.

Robert C. Harris, CAE, is chairman of the Nonprofit Resource Center in Tallahassee, Florida. E-mail: bob@rchcae.com. Copyright 2004 Robert C. Harris, CAE.  Free resources and templates are available at www.nonprofitcenter.com.