What Should Be On Your Non-Profit’s Schedule?

What Should Be On Your Non-Profit’s Schedule?

Managing a team of people is a big task. Add in various volunteer and contractor roles, such as is the case for non-profits, and that job just gets bigger and more difficult. As you start to juggle these moving parts, you need a process to keep everyone in sync and moving the ship together in the right direction. That requires putting the right tasks on the schedule. If you’re unsure of what belongs on your non-profit organization’s schedule, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a checklist to get you started.

Volunteer Shifts and Meetings

Managing volunteers is a big job. One of the best ways to simplify the daunting task of juggling hundreds of people is to get volunteers on the schedule.

If your volunteers don’t work shifts, such as team captains for an event, you can still add important days, including when they’ll be in for meetings and milestones that need to be met. That way, everyone stays informed on their progress and availability to help you move the needle forward.

Employee Shifts and Vacation Days

For the regular team members in your organization, you want to keep teams informed on when they’ll be in the office and when they’ll be out. By adding both vacation time and regular shift time, you can showcase exactly when an employee is available and when she’s away. This approach helps set up boundaries and minimize communication errors.

Paid Holidays

Every company seems to do paid holidays a little bit differently. Some organizations offer certain holidays off while others do not. This flux tends to cause a lot of confusion among employees. For non-profits, that confusion is amplified when a paid holiday lands on a day that’s cornerstone to the non-profit’s mission, such as Veteran’s Day would be for the United Service Organization (USO) or the Wounded Warrior Project. By scheduling the paid holidays, you eliminate that confusion, helping your team get back to work.

Remote Worker Schedules

Many non-profits use remote workers for one-off projects. This saves valuable resources by only paying for what’s needed. As valuable as this is, working with contractors or employees remotely can add confusion to the schedule. By adding remote worker schedules, or project timelines, you can keep everyone on your team informed and in sync.

Conference Room Schedule

A non-profit’s conference room gets used by a variety of groups. Your internal team meets regularly. Your volunteers might use the room to pull teams together and plan out events. You might open your conference room up to the people you serve, giving them a place to relax.

As your conference room gets used more and more, it should have a spot on your schedule. Not only does this help you avoid conflicting meetings, but it also helps keep your team more productive. When your various employees and volunteers don’t have to wait to find out when they can reserve the conference room, they’re better able to schedule meetings and get work done.

Get To It!

Did you notice a few missing pieces on your non-profit’s schedule? Ultimately, you have to make your master schedule your own, but by taking into account the various departments and roles that need tracking, you can keep everyone on the same page. What other areas do you add to your schedule that aren’t listed here?

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 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.