Educational Resource Packets
In 2015, Ohio’s nonprofit sector employed more than 480,000 people, 11.6% of the total workforce, making Ohio’s nonprofit sector the 4th largest industry in the state. Knowing those numbers, we find ourselves in a highly competitive environment, including competition for funding, volunteers, staff and board members. The sheer growth of the number of nonprofits makes it hard for people to decide who they should donate to and which organizations are using their money wisely. Public trust is such an important asset and bad press about poorly run organizations gives us all a bad name.
IRS Tax Form 990, filed annually, calls on each nonprofit to embrace best practices. It has several questions related to good governance and proper management. Nonprofits are asked to describe how they handle various areas such as conflicts of interest, document retention and destruction, if they have whistleblower, reimbursement of expenses, joint venture, and compensation policies in place. In addition, the Form 990 also requests information on how each nonprofit handles policies on gift acceptance, solicitation, auditor independence and what methods are in place to uncover any family or business relationships that may exist in a nonprofit.
We have regulatory scrutiny, public scrutiny and we’re competing with thousands of nonprofits. OANO recommends adopting best practices for all areas of your organization through the Standards for Excellence Program so that you can stand apart from your peers.
Educational resource packets that include sample policies and procedures are available to OANO members to help them implement best practices and principles in their specific organization while protecting the donors and taxpayers that help fund them.
The following list is a SAMPLE of the many packets available upon request.
- Mission and Organizational Evaluation
- Program Evaluation
- On-Going Planning by Organization’s Board of Directors
- Compensation and Employee Evaluation
- Board Composition
- Conduct of the Board
- Conflict of Interest
- Personnel Policies and Employee Orientation
- Volunteer Policies
- Financial Planning and Monitoring – Budget, Audit and Internal Financials
- Reporting Financial Improprieties
- Financial Policies
- Legal Compliance – Liability
- Public Accountability
- Fundraising Practices
- Solicitation and Acceptance of Gifts
- Employment of Fundraising Personnel
- Public Policy Advocacy, Promoting Public Participation
To request a packet, please email info@oano.org or call 614-280-0233 / 888-480-6266. Please note: Resource packets are only available for current OANO members.
