To get started organizing your Giving Circle,
read Find or Start a GC first. If you
already have read this page, this means that your Giving Circle has probably
already:
P
Determined its causes or issues (at least initially);
P
Developed
a Vision Statement and Mission and Strategic Plan;
P
Determined the Circle's Level of Formality; and possibly even
P
Started developing its
Bylaws.
Congratulations on
taking the first steps!
Depending on how formal or big your Giving
Circle seeks to be, here are some additional tools and steps that you Giving
Circle may want to consider now and/or as it grows. These fall into the
following areas:
Ø
Governance
Ø
Organizational Development
Ø
Fundraising
Ø
Performance Assessment
Ø
Learning & Continual Process
Improvement
Governance
- Determine your Circle's Governance
Structure
Board of Directors: Will you set up a Board of Directors or
something more informal such as a "Guiding Circle" but serving the
same purpose? Read about "Sample
Job Descriptions for Board Members".
Executive Director: Will you have a volunteer or paid Executive
Director? If you have or want an Executive Director (even if
he/she is 100% volunteer), you may want to visit the HRVS website on job
description examples for an
Executive Director
of non-profit organizations.
Roles & Responsibilities: How will the governance
roles and responsibilities be handled?
- Relationship with a Sponsor or Host
Organization (if applicable)
If your Giving Circle is hosted or sponsored
by a foundation, find out the governance requirements of the host or
sponsor.
- Conformance to Federal, State & Local
Regulations
Make sure that, depending on the level of
formality that your Giving Circle has chosen, that it conform with
Federal, State and Local regulations. If your Circle is hosted,
then contact your host or foundation to determine what regulations apply to
your Circle.
Organizational Development
- Determine the rest of your GC's
Organizational Structure
Here are some questions to consider:
Will
you leverage volunteers only or eventually hire employees?
What
is your membership structure?
What
are the expectations and benefits of membership?
- Roles & Responsibilities - Outline
the roles and responsibilities for the leadership positions in your Giving
Circle.
- Other Process Issues - Consider how
to promote effective organizational processes, such as how to:
◦
Hold successful meetings
◦
Track Members
◦
Manage Contacts (not just members but all partners, grantees and
sponsors)
◦
Manage Events & Programs - This would include keeping track of dates,
topics, committees and service providers.
◦
Track Grants &
Grantmaking
◦
Manage workflow among volunteers and/or paid staff.
◦
Align activities with strategy via an action plan so members, volunteers
and staff work in coordination, maximize their effectiveness and track
progress.
- Communication - How and what you
communicate with your Board, staff, volunteers, members, grantees and the
general public will affect the Circle's actual or perceived "culture" and
level of openness. It will also determine its effectiveness in
reaching your Circle's social objectives. It is important to determine
how and when the Circle will communicate with all of its stakeholders, both
inside and outside the organization.
- Learning - Ongoing feedback and
learning is a key element to a growing and constantly improving organizing.
It would be beneficial to determine and plan out in advance how and when to
obtain feedback from stakeholders and incorporate that into the Circle's
ongoing learning and improvment efforts.
Fundraising
Assess
Performance: See our Impact Tools
to baseline, monitor and assess your Circle's effectiveness and performance.
Learning & Continual
Process Improvement: See our
recommendations for your Circle's
learning and continual process improvement.
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