How to Maintain Happy Staff

Whether it’s your support staff in the office, your fundraisers, or even your volunteers, it’s important to take steps to keep your entire team happy. After all, job satisfaction and morale have a direct effect on performance, and happy staff are more likely to be a productive one! All it takes is just one or two disengaged members to affect the mood and ability of your entire organisation!

Take the following steps to create a workplace environment that’s energising and enjoyable, and that will support your staff and encourage them to give their best effort every single day!

Trust

No one likes to feel as though someone is always looking over their shoulder trying to catch them in a mistake. One of the best things that you can do to create a healthy workspace is to trust your team and their abilities. Empower them to make decisions and act to fix minor issues. Trust them with meaningful work. Give them opportunities to learn new things by cross-training in other departments and encourage task sharing and teamwork.

Education

Make sure that your team is ready to perform its duties well by giving them everything that they need to be well equipped and prepared. This means offering them training and guidance and providing them with updated tools and equipment that will increase their productivity and make it easier to complete their assigned tasks. Nothing is quite so frustrating as trying to use outdated hardware and software to complete duties that would be easier and faster to perform with current equipment and continuing education.

Communication

Does your team know what’s expected of them? Do they understand your workplace culture and are they a good fit for your organisation’s values and goals? Do they share your vision and mission? Regardless of someone’s position in your organisation, make sure that you have clearly communicated to them their roles, responsibilities and rights. Talk with them on a regular basis about their performance, as well as their short, mid-range and long-term career goals. Learn about each member’s needs and seek ways to help them meet their career objectives, including connecting them with people and resources that can help them learn new skills and gain new experience that will help them grow on both a personal and professional level.

Respect

Be realistic in your expectations for your team regarding their performance and the commitments you ask from them in terms of time and effort. Show them that you respect them as people by being sensitive to their needs for time away from your organisation to meet other obligations and have time to rest and relax. Offer flexible scheduling and other accommodations to be more inclusive, diverse and fair. Acknowledge your team and specific members when their performance truly stands out and exceeds your expectations. In addition to regular praise, look for ways to express your gratitude for their hard work on a personal level that your individual members will find meaningful.

As you repeat each of the four steps over time, the bonds between you and your team will strengthen, performance will improve as will comradery and morale. You will have created a robust and resilient organisation one interaction, and person, at a time!

How Volunteering Can Help Your Career

Many individuals consider volunteering because they want to give something back to their communities. They sometimes hold back and resist taking the plunge because they worry they won’t have the time and energy to commit to volunteering and working in a paid position as well. When it comes to filling the post of volunteer treasurer, many of the duties that need to be performed can seem so overwhelming that it makes folks reluctant to take on the role.

If you have a good bookkeeping software to help back you and your processes up, so that its quick and easy to keep your accounts updated, serving as a volunteer treasurer offers several benefits that far outweigh any concerns that might be holding you back from volunteering.

This is especially true if you want to move up in the current organisation where you work, or enter a new field completely as volunteering at a nonprofit offers the following benefits for your career prospects.

Improve Your Job Performance by Improving Your Health

Many nonprofit volunteers report that the work that they do to help others improves their self-esteem, personal satisfaction and confidence. They also report feeling calmer, less stressed and more at ease. This boost to your mental health makes you more resistant to the effects of stress and can boost overall immunity.

When our minds and bodies are healthy, and our immunity and mood are high, it’s easier for us to resist common colds and other bugs as they make the rounds in the workplace. This provides an indirect benefit to our careers since being healthy and resistant to stress reduces absenteeism and makes it easier to achieve peak performance so that we get noticed and promoted at work!

Increase Your Flexibility

Volunteering can be a great way to practice your existing skills, as well as pick up new ones if the volunteer work that you perform involves tasks and duties outside of your previous background. This makes volunteering the ideal way to keep your existing skills current as well as pick up new ones.

Prospective employers that see your volunteer work on your resume, and become aware of all of the tasks and duties that you fulfilled in your role are more likely to see you as the flexible and motivated employee that they need. It can also increase your chances of promotion and other forms of advancement.

Meet New People

As a volunteer, it’s likely that you will have the opportunity to meet and talk with people you would never have otherwise. Not only will you work with other volunteers, but you’ll also probably meet some of the beneficiaries of your nonprofit’s services. You may also come into close contact with donors, staff, board members, other volunteers and advocates.

Each time that you meet and interact with someone new, you are being given an opportunity to connect with people from diverse backgrounds who share your interests and values. When it comes time to find a new position, your new connections may well be the ones that help you locate your next paying position!

Spur Your Creativity, Cooperation and Critical Thinking Abilities

Most volunteers wear many hats in their organisations. Working with different groups of people, completing tasks and searching for solutions on the fly are all activities that you will likely perform as a volunteer. Activities like these boost your creativity, as well as improve your ability to cooperate and collaborate on shared projects and improve your ability to analyse information and reach logical, well thought out conclusions.

So, what’s so great about improving your ability to create, get along with others and make good decisions? These characteristics just happen to be some of the top traits shared by the world’s most successful leaders. Serving as treasurer or other volunteer gives you a chance to polish your leadership and gives you a head start on how to lead yourself and your team to greater levels of success!

Attracting Millennials To Your NFP

NFPs need all sorts of employees and volunteers to function at its very best. Employing millennials (individuals born between 1980 to 2000) is a must, if it is your intention that your NFP stands the test of time. Millennials are not only generous to causes they believe in, but they can also educate you on new and improved ways to reach other millennials and increase donor support.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 25% of 18 to 25-year-olds and 27% of 25 to 34-year-olds volunteered in 2014. This is compared to 39% of individuals aged 35-44 and 42% of 15 to 17-year-olds. The 18 to 34 age group could definitely do with some more incentive to volunteer and gain employment with NFPs. Millennials are a huge part of the population, and organisations need to understand that there may be alternative ways to engage them.

It is essential that you create a brand or marketing campaign that millennials will be happy to get behind. Millennials resonate with individuals and organisations wanting to make a positive change in the world. If they feel empowered by your brand, then they will get excited about it. As millennials are heavily connected online, having a solid website, cleverly constructed 'About Us' page and well laid out social media channels is important. Make it eye-catching, inspiring and mobile-friendly.

Ensure it is easy for them to connect to you. The younger generation tends to make their decisions based on impulse. Don’t let anything stand in their way. And once you have their interest, try to keep them engaged. A millennial who follows your cause will be more willing to pass your information on to others.

Storytelling campaigns are one of the best ways you can connect with millennials. Showcase stories and profiles of individuals who are making strides in your industry, so they have someone to emulate.

If you use just some of the following tips to attract the millennials, then you stand more of a chance in increasing millennials.

• ·         Strive for diversification in the workplace
• ·         Use social media to communicate your story
• ·         Explain career paths and opportunities
• ·         Offer meaningful experiences
• ·         Be open to new ideas
• ·         Create entry level positions with real room to grow

Millennials appreciate companies who provide fulfilling jobs and flexible workplaces. NFPs must understand how to communicate this information authentically to draw in the younger crowd.

NFP Treasurers' Awards 2016

If you are reading this, there is a good chance you know full well how much time and energy goes into being a treasurer for a volunteer organisation. No one does it for the glory, but instead to offer service and energy to a worthwhile cause or group in their community.

As a token of appreciation for the endless hours and ongoing sacrifices treasurers make to keep organisations 'in business', Our Community and the Commonwealth Bank established the Not-for-Profit Treasurers' Awards.

These awards honour and highlight the work of three treasurers each year who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure “good financial management, good financial governance and good financial outcomes.”

If you or somebody in your team deserves to be recognised for their contribution, be sure to nominate them when the competition opens in February. Consider signing up for the Our Community newsletter, Our Community Matters, to keep up with the initiative.

Lessons From Geese

This is a popular story across the internet and it’s easy to see why. I’m not alone when I say that the animal world has a lot to teach us if we just pay attention. This story is filled with lessons which apply to the way we work in teams and particularly as volunteers for not for profit organisations. Sometimes it seems as though our voice is the only one trying to bring attention to the cause but, as you read this, you will realise that you’re not alone, and your team is with you. Learn how to work with it for better results.

Lessons from Geese

As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird behind it. By flying in a V-formation, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier when they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down. They stay with the goose to help and protect it until it is able to fly again or it dies. Then they launch out with another formation to catch up with the flock.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other.

Whenever a goose falls out of the formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go.

When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.

Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.

The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging - not something less than helpful.

Now that you’ve read the lessons, take from them what you can. Volunteers are amazing people – you are an amazing person – so stick together like geese and move forward as one. You have more chance of being seen and heard if you fly together as one.

Why Do People Volunteer?

Although volunteering is a term dating back to the middle of the 18^th century, it is a thriving practice in the modern world. People all around the world volunteer for certain causes and events and a lot of charities and activities are constantly recruiting volunteers.

Have you ever wondered why people volunteer?

Certainly volunteering has a lot of advantages. For example, volunteers notice an increase in their self-esteem, feeling that they are doing something good and making a difference. Moreover, a lot of people volunteer to do things they like, which means that they are having some fun while doing it. It also brings them into the company of new friends and acquaintances who are connected by the commitment to the same good cause.

Of course, there are other reasons that make people volunteer. For example, volunteering is now widely recognised as a strong point on one’s resume, university or job application. Moreover, by participating in certain activities, volunteers develop various professional and personal skills that may come handy in their later life and career. Working in teams may also have benefits for the volunteers, improving their social skills and leadership qualities.

We should not forget that lots of the events recruiting volunteers aim to make the world a better place to live. This is surely a strong motivation for a lot of volunteers, who are up for bringing about social change and improving the world. Working for a charity or an organisation with a good cause certainly looks like a good way to spend your free time instead of wasting it.

Of course, there may also be other reasons why people volunteer; the reasons are different for everyone. When asked about why they participate, volunteers share various reasons; for example, because they were asked, because they wanted to impress someone, to relax or take their mind off of something or because they wanted to help people.

Volunteers are amazing people who make a significant difference to the world. Let’s make sure we appreciate them.

Passing The Buck

When your term of office as a Treasurer comes to an end, there is a simple but clear process for handing over the bookkeeping responsibilities to the new Treasurer.

Firstly, it is imperative that you make sure that all of your financial records are up to date, even if there are monies outstanding or invoices unpaid for some reason. As long as you have it all clearly recorded, the new office bearer can move easily into the role and the financial administration can continue to run smoothly.

Many committees don't remember to have their books audited but it makes sense to have a complete audit before you hand the books over to someone new. You will then have a clear record of the state of the finances at the point of handover. Many accountants will offer their auditing services free of charge if you are a small NFP organisation so make enquiries with your local accounting services.

When you contact the bank to organise for any new signatories to be added to the account, don’t forget to get the necessary paperwork for removing anyone who no longer holds a role as signatory within your organisation. Otherwise you can end up with a long list of people who can move money in and out of the NF’s bank account/s and it can become very difficult to maintain accurate banking records. That can obviously expose you to some risk.

Always hand over every historical financial record to the new Treasurer. Although legally you are only required to keep records for the past seven years, it can be a handy reference tool when it comes to expenses and investments, so it often pays for an NFP to keep them for much longer.

Finally, spend some time with the new treasurer and show them how the system works. Every system is a little different and it is important that they can follow an audit trail if they need to look up an older transaction.

A good handover means a smooth progression for the role so take the time you need together.

100 Online Tools for Non-Profits

Wild Apricot has provided a great list of applications to help you out with a variety of tasks from project tracking and collaboration to donor and membership management, and from building your non-profit website to tracking its effectiveness. Some fall into more than one category of purpose, but most are web-based software-as-a-service tools, so you won’t have the hassle of troubleshooting, maintaining and updating software and servers.

It is well worth a look through the list to find a tool to suit your organisation and budget to improve the life of the volunteer committee.

Well done guys. Check it out at Wild Apricot.

Canberra Business Twitters US$1000 for Breast Cancer

When two businesses provide a funding boost to a volunteer organisation it is worth spruiking about. Well done Kayako for running the competition.

Canberra-based software company Admin Bandit has won US$1,000 on Twitter for Bosom Buddies, a local volunteer group that supports women living with breast cancer.

Director Nerida Gill secured the donation on the popular social networking site by entering a competition run by Kayako, an international provider of online help desk software, which invited entrants to nominate a charity to receive a funding boost.

“A number of friends and family have suffered from breast cancer, so this cause is close to my heart,” Gill says. “Bosom Buddies provides vital aftercare for women who have undergone painful treatment for a disease that is frightening and often makes them question who they are as women.”

As a provider of volunteer treasurer software in community groups and a user of Kayako, Gill is also pleased to have won funding for an organisation staffed by volunteers. “Everyone at Bosom Buddies gives their time and energy simply because they care,” she says. “This kind of selfless giving is the backbone of our communities.”

Bosom Buddies is delighted with the unexpected windfall: “Nerida’s donation is like a rainbow delivering a pot of gold,” says Marilyn Brookes, chair of the organisation’s breast awareness education subcommittee. “We raise all our own funds, which is time-consuming and hard work.”

Brookes says the gift will be used to provide a range of support for those experiencing breast cancer, as well as their families and supporters, including: education materials, 24-hour telephone support, a one-on-one buddy system, hospital visits, and practical surgery aftercare in the form of soft prostheses and cotton shoulder bags to hold post-surgery tubes.

Kayako Chief Operating Officer Ryan M Lederman is also pleased to assist such a strong initiative. “We’re glad Admin Bandit chose to donate their US$1,000 to Bosom Buddies,” he says. “Breast cancer is a very important problem facing the world today.”

Lederman adds that Twitter was the perfect forum for hosting the competition. “Social networking is hot right now,” he says. “We believe in building relationships that last a lifetime and we want people to know they’re our highest priority. Twitter is one of the best ways we know to do that.”

$250,000 in fuel vouchers to volunteers

As we all reel from the shock of calamities from bushfires to floods to droughts to global economic turmoil, community organisations are becoming more important than ever, providing a safety net, giving people a place to heal, providing help, support, hope, empathy and light relief.
The volunteers that sustain these great community groups need support.

With this in mind, Volunteer Treasurer Network would like to make you aware of a great initiative by BP Australia, "Vouchers for Volunteers" - which opened on Monday, April 27. Through this scheme BP will be providing $250,000 in fuel vouchers to volunteers assisting not-for-profit organisations.

For further information on this offer, please go to http:/www.talkstoppedlongago.com.au/v4v_home.html

Meeting your objectives through successful fundraising

Volunteer treasurers are an important part of any committee and if there are insufficient funds to meet the goals of the organisation it can make the job more stressful. This can be overcome by the organisation running successful fundraisers through goal setting.

S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting

Like all successful endeavours, a fundraiser should start by clearly setting its goals. There is nothing like a good goal to help your team focus on the job at hand, and keep the big picture in mind. The most common method for arriving at a goal is to use the SMART technique. That is, a goal should be:

Specific – well defined and clear
Measurable – activity or production should be quantifiable in terms of progress toward the goal
Agreed – all key stakeholders have agreed to the goal, and have some stake in its achievement
Realistic – based on real world estimates and information, and not over-ambitious
Timely – should have a time frame built in.

A well put together goal might read something like:

‘Kindergarten Centre aims to raise $5 000 by 30 June for the construction of new playground equipment’
Or
‘All funds raised from the Club Trivia Night will go toward purchase of new team uniforms’

Without clear goals there could be a lack of understanding among your team as to what you are trying to achieve – which means valuable energy and resources may not be being employed in the most productive way. You will find that your team will also be more cohesive, and experience a greater sense of achievement when your goals are achieved.

This article has been supplied by The Fundraising Directory who provide an A-Z guide to Fundraising Products and Services in Australia.