Process

How we do things

Little besides the financial reports is being updated.

Someone who has done a particular task for a long time may not need a process description for the task. However, everyone else does, especially someone who contemplates doing the task. The How We Do Things folder has five pieces:

1. A Planning Framework to encompass everything we do.

2. Financial reports designed for planning and reflecting the ‘Planning Framework’.

3. Flow charts for critical processes.

4. A listing of duties for officers, the Board and others.

5. Policies designed to give a head start to a few recurring hard questions.

Money is not the only thing important for HAS. In fact, it is not even the most important thing. But it is important. Our financial reports need to help with our planning rather than be something accountants will love. To this end, the first step is to describe a Planning Framework that leads to the design of the financial reports.

All HAS activities are listed in the plan and grouped into small segments that can be discussed by themselves. One group is called Basics which are the regular expenses normally covered by dues. Rent for meetings and speaker fees would be here. For us, though, many baisc functions do not require money, such as trips and counts.

We are fortunate to have an endowment which is used to pay for things that do not occur regularly or are not necessary for the organization to function. Tractors and bridges are in this group. It is also used to pay for shortfall in the Basics or Stand Alone segments.

The Wildlife Series and food expense at the banquet in their own segment so the Basics segment can be discussed without these distractions. It was renamed from Self Supporting to the more apt Stand Alone.

We have flow charts for processes that involve many people. One is for the Dues Letter process from the time the letter is written in March until the time the checks are deposited and the membership list for the Program Handbook is delivered in July. The other is for the Program/Handbook from the time the content is delivered in June to the mailing of the book in August.

If you looking for something to do for HAS or like to complain about somebody not doing their job you might take a look at the list of duties.