In a world where time is precious, many nonprofits face outdated policies and procedures that affect the daily and monthly rhythms of operational efficiency. But fear not! By embracing streamlined and up-to-date frameworks, your organization can unlock a treasure trove of benefits beyond mere efficiency.
With crystal-clear policies in place, your team can easily navigate tasks, ensuring compliance and consistency and, most importantly, bolstering the trust of your community.
Focusing on operational excellence not only fuels your nonprofit's success but can also safeguard its reputation. By proactively addressing incidents before they escalate, you'll demonstrate your commitment to transparency and accountability, earning the respect and support of your invaluable donors.
In this blog post, we’ll dig into practical ideas you can take to ensure your operations reflect your commitment to maintaining a positive perception of your mission.
Conduct a Comprehensive Policy Audit
Before writing new policies or reviewing older ones, conduct a comprehensive audit.
An audit will provide consistency across the internal workings of your mission such as:
- Determine any regulatory violations
- Identify potential risks, problems, and areas for improvement
- Ensure employees follow proper protocols
- Evaluate new systems
- Discover possible fraud
- Check for legal breaches
- Decide if your organization meets its financial obligations
- Track employee performance
You should conduct an internal audit once every year to detect risks and prevent serious problems.
Identify Gaps and Inconsistencies
When creating and writing policies and procedures it is easy to overlook key elements that will confuse or harm your organization. A gap analysis will help you improve your operations and your contributions. A completed gap analysis allows you to focus your resources, time, and energy on identified gaps to improve them.
To identify gaps and address discrepancies go through these eight steps:
- Define goals
- Identify the current state of your nonprofit
- Establish your ideal state
- Compare your current state with your ideal state
- Describe the gaps and quantity difference
- Choose and develop your framework
- Create a plan
- Track your progress
During the gap analysis, pay attention to which areas, programs, and processes to analyze. Then decide which ones to adopt. Changes you make in one area may affect others. Include supporting data from your analysis to increase the likelihood that your nonprofit will embrace them.
Ensure Compliance with Industry Standards and Regulations
It is overwhelming to keep up to date with new laws and regulations. Yet, if your nonprofit gets caught in violation of any regulatory obligations it can lead to heavy fines and lawsuits.
To avoid missing important updates subscribe to various regulatory content providers, such as agency filings, industry associations, trade publications, and specialized media sources. Certain tools can integrate with these content sources. They automatically send alerts which you can then act on.
Prepare ahead by mapping existing regulations and industry standards to policies and procedures. Link regulations to a policy first so you know which policy is impacted and respond accordingly.
Engage Stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts
It is impossible to know and understand policy for every aspect of your mission. There are too many industry standards and regulations for one person. Have a team of subject matter experts, both inside and outside, of your organization you trust to review policy processes.
These experts should include stakeholders, like board members and executives.
- Identify stakeholders. These include board members, team members, and outside experts.
- Communicate your goals and expectations. Explain why you are changing policies or procedures, what you intend to achieve, and how to measure the outcomes. Solicit their feedback and address any questions or concerns.
- Engage stakeholders in the analysis and design phase. Allow them to help identify the current state, gaps, best practices, and desired outcomes. Also involve them in the design of the policies, processes, or workflows. Use various tools to engage them, such as surveys, interviews, and workshops. Document your findings and validate them with your stakeholders.
- Train and educate stakeholders. Provide them with the necessary information, resources, and support to understand and implement the policies. Explain the benefits, risks, and implications. Employ different channels to train and educate, such as manuals or videos.
- Implement and monitor the updated policies. Communicate the progress, challenges, and successes of your implementation. Evaluate the impact.
- Review and refine the updated policies. Conduct regular reviews and audits with your stakeholders.
Streamline Policy Documentation and Organization
Policies and procedures require a blend of clarity, precision, accessibility, and organization. When writing your documents make them:
- Simple
- General
- Relevant
- Accurate
- Compliant
- Enforceable
State the roles and responsibilities of departments and individuals.
Assemble your organization’s policies and procedures into a manual. To keep the manual user-friendly, make sure it has a forward and a table of contents. Organize the manual according to departments or ministries. Department policy manuals allow leaders to authorize policies and procedures and ensure a consistent approach.
Implement Efficient Revision Processes
Establish a clear and structured revision process to confirm accuracy. Without an effective revision process, your policies and procedures will hinder your organization. Worse, you could face legal ramifications.
Follow these seven tips to help as you work through the revision process:
- Schedule regular policy reviews
- Tackle them over time
- Track changes
- Use technology
- Obtain feedback
- Communicate changes to stakeholders
- Document changes for future reference
Communicate Policy Updates
It is not enough to update policy and procedures, you must communicate changes to avoid errors and mistakes. With certain policies, it is imperative your organization has signed documentation. This shows you have communicated the policy and that the employees understand it.
To disseminate policy changes, hold face-to-face meetings in-person or virtually. Explain the changes and why they are necessary. Provide training, if needed. Make the policies and procedures easy to find. Consider adding them to the organization’s intranet. In some cases, you need to have employees sign off. Then put a copy in the employee's file.
Training and Employee Awareness
One of the best ways to communicate policy and procedure updates with employees is through training. The training can take place in-person or online.
Your organization can require training at the beginning of the new initiative, once a year as a refresher, or only when needed, depending on the type of policy.
Use these tips as you plan your next training session:
- Explain what to expect in advance
- Consider different learning styles
- Create compelling training materials
- Provide practical activities
- Involve employees
- Repeat yourself
- Keep the session on track
- Gather feedback once the training is complete
The intention behind the training is to make sure employees are aware of new and revised policies and procedures and to promote a culture of compliance.
Monitoring and Continuous Improvement
The process of policy monitoring allows stakeholders to review policies for accuracy and to implement as intended. Your organization can then make the necessary adjustments to achieve your goals and objectives.
Throughout the policy monitoring process, you will want to:
- Solicit feedback: Check in regularly with your stakeholders and schedule times to gather and receive feedback. Use project management software to make it easier.
- Evaluate Outcomes: Set a plan and collect data. Analyze and review the data to determine if you achieve your intended outcomes.
- Improve Continuously: You have a couple of different models to choose from for continuous improvement, such as the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle or Business Process Management.
Leverage Technology and Automation
Technology is your friend when it comes to policy management. It is a big job with constant communication, feedback, edits, reviews, training, and implementation. Policy management software automates these core functions.
It allows your organization to develop policies, publish them to the organization, collect responses, document employee understanding, and report for audit purposes. Nonprofits save time, money, and personnel by leveraging technology.
Establish a Policy Review Cycle
A policy review cycle will confirm the accuracy of everything you review. It will make sure everyone understands and leads to your desired outcome. No person is perfect, and neither is a process. Incorporate a regular review cycle to correct errors or mistakes.
How often should you review your organization’s policies and procedures? It depends on the type. Some policies you need to review each year, including policies from HR, finance, and legal.
You will need to review policies sooner if there are major changes in state or national regulations. New management may dictate you look at your policies and procedures. Don’t wait until an incident occurs to make a change.
When Policy and Procedure Align
Current policies and procedures improve operational efficiency and contribute to a culture of compliance. They also promote continuous improvement within your organization. Delegate team members in each department to keep everything up to date.
By following these guidelines your organization can implement an effective policy review and update process. In addition, you will have policies and procedures that remain aligned with industry standards, regulations, and organizational goals.
Most importantly, you ensure you are doing the work necessary to maintain public trust and donor confidence. Your donor relationships and mission funding depend on effective management, measurable impact, and trust.