4 Ways Non-Profit Organizations Can Increase Productivity

4 Ways Non-Profit Organizations Can Increase Productivity

Are you having a hard time sticking to your goals? Productivity in non-profits is oftentimes harder to maintain than in organizations where employees are paid for their time. To help you stay on task toward your goals, here are four ways to boost your productivity.

1. Clarify Your Plans

Before you can get productive in your nonprofit, you need to get clear on what it is you hope to accomplish. You know the end goal you’d like to reach, but how clear are you on the steps to get there?

Clarify your plans in a step-by-step format. To do this, work backwards from your goal to where you are now. What will you need to accomplish to check each step off the list?

When you have all of the steps needed to be completed, you’re in a better position to come up with a plan to tackle each of those tasks. Here are a few considerations to add to your plan:

– How many resources will you need to achieve your objective?

– How many volunteers will you need on deck to help?

– Are there any other organizations who you can partner with to help achieve your goals?

2. Publicize Your Plans

Once you have your plans in place, it’s time to publicize them. Let others know what you need from them in order to tackle your goals.

People want to help, but sometimes, they’re not sure how. You can’t always rely on volunteers to be proactive in asking about different ways to help. Making your plans public and showing the gaps where you’re lacking sufficient resources will spark more people to step up and volunteer.

3. Schedule Your Volunteers for Shifts

Once you have a list of volunteers, it’s time to put them to work. People are busy and like to be guided to know when you need help and when you don’t. This will also enable you to have enough hands on deck for every shift you need, instead of having an abundance of people during one shift and not enough during another.

Make this process as simple as possible on your volunteers by giving them access to an app where they can check their schedule. A non-profit scheduling app makes it so volunteers don’t have to make an extra trip into your office to check the printed out or handwritten schedule. It also helps them avoid email overload while trying to book multiple people. This will give your volunteers the freedom to move shifts around as needed amongst themselves without bombarding your entire list.

4. Give Yourself Room to Grow

When it comes to scheduling volunteers, you’ll notice very quickly that it’s harder to rely on people to show up at the agreed upon times. Although people have good intentions, they are also keenly aware that they’re giving up other areas of their life to help fulfill your goals. You will likely have no-shows for each shift, so make sure to book a few extra helping hands.

Productivity Doesn’t Have to Suffer

Maintaining productivity takes some work, but it doesn’t have to suffer because of a lack of organization. By clarifying and publicizing your goals, you’re more likely to attract an eager group of people to help. Keep these people on task and keep yourself equipped with enough hands on deck by employing smart scheduling practices.

Author Profile Jon Forknell is the Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions, Inc., a software marketing company specializing in employee scheduling software, including ScheduleBase employee scheduling software, and other business software solutions. In the past, Jon has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Atlas Business Solutions was named as one of Software Magazine’s Top 500 Software Companies in 2004 through 2007 and again in 2010, 2013 and 2014.