Nonprofit Handbook Review: Directors, Employees, and Volunteers (3 Sessions)
02-04-2025 to 02-06-2025 1:00 PM EST.
An organization is most effective when everyone in it understands its goals and their responsibilities in helping it to achieve them. For nonprofit organizations, this includes board members, employees, and volunteers. An organization's handbook is an excellent place for management to communicate its expectations so that everyone understands their role in fulfilling its mission. A handbook can serve a variety of purposes. The handbook can serve as a legal document, a vehicle for disseminating organization policies, a vehicle for communicating general information about the organization, or as a vehicle for conveying information specific to the recipient and their role in the organization. A nonprofit should generally have three handbooks: one for employees, one for volunteers, and one for directors. Each will contain different information, but all 3 serve the same purpose. Brad Lebowsky, a seasoned nonprofit consultant with over 25 years of experience, will discuss the materials you should include in each handbook, their strategic and legal value, and their importance in training and as a reference for your employees, volunteers, and board members.
What You’ll Learn
Mr. Lebowsky will discuss the following topics during this webinar:
- Handbook Organization, Contents, and Updating
- Legal Review, Drafting Tips and Errors
- Handbooks for Training, Improved Productivity, Efficiency, Loyalty, and Distribution
- Directors Handbook Organization and Contents
- Employee Handbook Organization and Contents
- Volunteers Handbook Organization and Contents
Outline
During this 3 session Handbook Review webinar series Mr. Lebowsky will be discussing the topics listed in the below outline.
A. Handbook Organization, Contents, and Updating
- The organization and contents of your handbooks, as well as the purpose of each section
- The importance of reviewing handbooks on a regular basis
- A list of policies to include or exclude from your handbooks - employment, benefits, etc.
B. Legal Review, Drafting Tips and Errors
- Policy and procedure drafting: legal considerations
- Avoiding common drafting errors and pitfalls
- How your handbook can serve as a legal document and reduce your risks and liabilities
- Seeking legal counsel to review each handbook before distributing it
C. Handbooks for Training, Improved Productivity, Efficiency, Loyalty, and Distribution
- Using your handbooks to train recipients
- Training managers and supervisors with the handbook
- How to improve productivity, loyalty, and efficiency with your handbooks
- How will your handbooks be distributed online or in print?
D. Directors Handbook Organization and Contents
- Table of contents
- Letter of welcome
- An overview of the organization
- The mission statement
- Board members' responsibilities
- Job descriptions for board members
- Corporate documents such as bylaws and articles of incorporation
- Minutes of meetings
- Information regarding finances
- Strategic plan
- A description of the organization's programs
- A list of board members
- Role descriptions and staff directory
- Committee assignments and committee information
E. Employee Handbook Organization and Contents
- Introduction
- A letter of welcome
- The mission statement
- General description of the organization's workplace
- Grievance reporting and resolution procedures
- Policies concerning workplace safety, harassment prevention, and confidentiality.
- Employee benefits, such as vacations, PTO, health insurance, 401(k), etc.
- Dress code and code of conduct for employees
- Policies related to cyber security
- The use of company equipment
- Potential conflict of interest
- Relationships at work
- Directory of staff
F. Volunteers Handbook Organization and Contents
- Table of contents
- Getting started
- The mission of the organization
- Projects and initiatives
- Staff contact information
- The roles and responsibilities of volunteers
- Operational involvement of volunteers
- A description of volunteer policies and requirements
- Code of ethics and conduct for volunteers
Who Should Attend
- Executive Director/CEO
- Board of Directors
- Senior and Middle Management
- In-house Counsel
- Volunteer Coordinators
- CFO and Controllers
- Human Resources
- MBA in nonprofit management specializing in finance and budgeting
- Over 25 years of experience in nonprofit management
- Podcast host of the NEA Podcast
- Expert in budgeting and finance, grant writing, strategic planning, board training, donor management, employee management, and volunteer retention