A foundation or association often starts with an idea to fill a void that is there. The statutes are drawn up. One goes to the notary and a board is appointed. And then? Then the work begins. The association or foundation must be kept running and the board cannot do this alone. Not even small foundations. Volunteers are often involved, but unfortunately this do not cover all the work, or do not have all the knowledge in-house.
A solution is to hire external parties for certain very specific tasks and for the rest as much as possible let the members of the association or those involved in the foundation carry out the tasks themselves, so that the board is not overloaded.
Tasks that can be left to volunteers:
The members administration
Taking minutes (notes) at meetings
Project committees
Recruiting sponsors
Maintaining daily contacts
Execution of the projects
Writing a plan of approach
Go through mail
Complaint’s handling
Website maintenance.
A few are tough tasks, and the volunteers must have the time to perform them.
At somewhat larger foundations and associations they have employees or a board office to support them. What does a management office do:
Coordinating the daily work
Advising on communication, relationship management and policy
Monitoring the implementation of objectives
If there are no employees or a board office, it is better to purchase the following expertise from external parties:
Drafting regulations of the articles of association
Advice on specific projects
Writing a policy plan
Write annual plan
Create financial statements
Advising board on policy matters
Collect, analyze, and visualize data about competition or target audience
Storytelling with data, telling the story of the foundation as succinctly as possible.