The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta believes highly functioning nonprofits are essential to the region’s quality of life. This requires dedication, outstanding leadership, knowledgeable staff and an organizational culture designed to promote continued professional development. A nonprofit organization’s human resources include paid staff members in addition to volunteers who support programs, operations and governance.
Effective management of human resources is essential to the success of a nonprofit organization and includes, but is not limited to, the following best practices:
- Organization has written personnel policies that are distributed to all staff and volunteers
- Organization has current, written job descriptions for each position, both staff and volunteer
- All staff, including the executive director, receive annual written performance reviews that include a personal conference with their supervisor
- Professional development opportunities, either internal or external, are available to all staff each year
- Staff meetings are held at least once a quarter
- Organization has written policies that address diversity, legal compliance and compensation and benefits
- Staff is representative of the community and clients/audience served
- Succession plans exist for staff leadership positions
- Organization requires staff, board and volunteers to complete a non-disclosure agreement and conflict of interest form annually
In addition to considering best practices when reviewing nonprofit organizations through its competitive grantmaking programs or on behalf of donors, Foundation staff reviews whether an organization has enough staff and volunteer capacity to provide its services, looks for staff leadership to have the necessary education, certification and experience to provide its services and lead the organization, and examines the organizational chart to determine whether there is evidence of staff accountability.
Resources
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Society for Human Resource Management, the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management
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The Nonprofit Board’s Role in Human Resources, article in Blue Avocado, a nonprofit online magazine for community nonprofits
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HR Management section of CCH’s website includes the most recent cases, government studies and legislation affecting human resources management. CCH is a leading provider of business and corporate law information services, software and workflow tools to address the evolving needs of business and legal professionals
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WorldatWork is a nonprofit organization providing education, conferences and research focused on global human resources issues including compensation, benefits, work-life and integrated total rewards to attract, motivate and retain a talented workforce