Conducting Complete Fitness Test of Your Nonprofit

Sections of this topic

    Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA Module #12: Conducting Complete Fitness Test of Your Nonprofit

    © Copyright Carter
    McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC
    .

    Much of this program is based on materials adapted from the
    Nonprofit Capacity Building Toolkit(SM).
    This module is in the nonprofit organization development program.
    However, this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study
    exercise to assess the health of major aspects of a nonprofit
    organization.

    Sections of This Module Include the Following

    Introduction
    Outcomes
    Materials for Review
    Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
    Activities to Build Systems and Practices
    Assessments
    Tracking Open Action Items


    INTRODUCTION

    This module provides a set of extensive checklists that can
    be used to assess the health of a nonprofit’s practices in the
    areas of legal, governance (board), human resource management,
    planning for the organization and programs, financial and tax
    management, and fundraising.

    If you have completed the various learning modules in the nonprofit
    organization development program
    , then the various checklists
    in this module will likely indicate that the practices in your
    nonprofit are very healthy.


    OUTCOMES

    Evaluate Quality of:

    1. Compliance to Laws and Regulations
    2. Board Operations
    3. Supervisory Practices
    4. Strategic, Program and Personnel Planning
    5. Financial Management
    6. Fundraising Practices

    MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

    • The following materials will help you address each of
      the topics and learning activities in this module.

    Organizational
    “Fitness” Test
    – – – including the sections:
    – – – How
    to Use the Tool

    – – – Disclaimer
    – – – Legal
    Indicators

    – – – Governance
    (Board) Indicators

    – – – Human
    Resources Indicators (includes for volunteers)

    – – – Planning
    Indicators (includes strategic planning, program planning and
    program evaluation)

    – – – Financial
    Indicators

    – – – Fundraising
    Indicators

    The above links are to individual assessments, each about a
    particular function. If you would like to do one overall organizational
    evaluation that includes all of the functions, see
    Nonprofit
    Organizational Assessment


    SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR REFLECTION
    AND DISCUSSION

    • Learners are strongly encouraged to discuss the following
      questions with peers, board members, management and staff, as
      appropriate.

    1. After doing some or all of the above types of assessments
    (indicators), identify the 2 or 3 functions (Boards, human resources,
    planning, financial and/or fundraising) that had the most checkmarks
    in the “Needs Work” columns.

    2. Which of those 2 or 3 functions needs attention before the
    others? If the Board and/or planning functions got the most checkmarks,
    then be sure those functions get prompt attention because, without
    attending to them, it’s not likely that improvements in other
    functions will last very long. The Board and planning functions
    are what tend to ensure the long-term health of all other functions.


    ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
    PRACTICES

    • Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following
      activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members,
      management and staff, as appropriate.
    • As you proceed through the following activities, be sure
      to note any incomplete actions in the Action Item Planning List.

    1. After identifying which of the 2 or 3 functions need the
    most attention (see #1 above) for now, list the activities that
    were marked as “Needs Work” in each of those functions,
    eg., list the activities that “Needs Work” in Boards.

    2. For each of those lists, refer to that list as a “Work
    Plan” and assign that Plan to a Board Committee to oversee
    that the list is addressed, eg., assign the list of “Needs
    Work” in the Board function to a Board Development Committee
    or assign the list of “Needs Work” in the finances function
    to a Finance Committee to ensure the list is addressed.


    ASSESSMENTS

    There are no assessments in this section of the module, as
    there are in the other modules in the program, because this module
    is all about assessments, as provided above.


    TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

    1. One of the first indicators that an organization is struggling
    is that open action items are not tracked and reviewed. (Open
    action items are required actions that have not yet been completed.)
    Instead, organization members only see and react to the latest
    “fires in the workplace”. Whether open action items
    are critical to address now or not, they should not entirely be
    forgotten. Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open
    action items that includes listing each open action item, who
    is responsible to complete it, when it should be completed and
    any associated comments. When updating the list, consider action
    items as identified during discussions, learning activities and
    assessments in this module. Share and regularly review this action
    item list with the appropriate board, management and staff members
    in your nonprofit. You can use the following Action Item Planning List.

    2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national,
    free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended
    by many human resource and organization development experts.


    REMINDERS FOR THOSE IN THE ON-LINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

    1. Are you exchanging feedback with others about what you’re
    learning in this program?

    2. Are you sticking to your study schedule for this program?

    3. Are you practicing your basic skills in management and leadership,
    including in problem solving and decision making, planning and
    meeting management?

    4. Are you communicating throughout your organization by using
    your skills in internal communications?

    5. Are you managing yourself? How many hours a week are you
    working? Are you noticing any signs of stress? If so, what are
    you doing about it?

    6. One of the ways you might be able to tell if you’re stressed
    out and/or losing perspective might be whether you’re tracking
    details or not. Are you using the action item list referenced
    above?

    7. Are you reflecting on learnings from past modules and how
    they build on the learning in this module? For example, are you
    seeing your organization from a systems view, as explained in
    the module “Starting and Understanding Your Nonprofit?”


    TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

    1. One of the first indicators that an organization or a person
    is struggling is that open action items are not tracked and reviewed.
    (Open action items are required actions that have not yet been
    completed.) Instead, people only see and react to the latest “fires”
    in their workplaces or their lives. Whether open action items
    are critical to address now or not, they should not entirely be
    forgotten. Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open
    action items (identified while proceeding through this program)
    that includes listing each open action item, who is responsible
    to complete it, when it should be completed and any associated
    comments. When updating the list, consider action items as identified
    during discussions, learning activities and assessments in this
    module. Share and regularly review this action item list with
    the appropriate peers, board, management and employees in your
    organization. You can use the following Action Item Planning List. (At that Web address,
    a box might open, asking you which software application to open
    the document.)

    2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national,
    free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended
    by many human resource and organization development experts.


    (Learners in the nonprofit organization development program
    can return to the nonprofit organization development program.)


    For the Category of Evaluations (Many Kinds):

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