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:
- Compliance to Laws and Regulations
- Board Operations
- Supervisory Practices
- Strategic, Program and Personnel Planning
- Financial Management
- 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):
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.