 organizational capacity organizational capacity goodpushadmin fri 1042019 1543 building up your skate project s capacity this toolkit will give a brief overview on developing your skate project s capacity structures and sustainability it will touch on your project s mission the change you hope to make strategic planning staffing options and governance many skateboardingforgood projects begin as grassroots initiatives run by a few dedicated volunteers in the early stages a lot can get done with limited time spent on planning and paperwork as your project grows however you can start feeling overwhelmed and pulled in a million different directions getting your ideas out of your heads and written down on paper can be one of the most important steps to sustainability and growth and can help your team be motivated towards a common goal your mission vision values clarifying what your project s mission vision and values are can be really useful for two main reasons internal making sure your whole team including new staff volunteers knows your project s aim and future direction external sharing your work more clearly with people outside of your project such as donors community members media and partners even if you already have your mission vision and values documented it s worthwhile reviewing these every 5 years or so to ensure they re still relevant mission statement a mission statement is the core aim of your project in one sentence every skate project is unique with its own mission you can help define this by answering the questions below what does success look like for your project what business is your project in even though it s notforprofit ie community building skateboard teaching who are your customers ages locations genders backgrounds of those you serve some example mission statements for companies values  these are the 35 main principles that guide how you run your organization they are the foundations of your skate project s culture from the programs activities you do to the daytoday management here are some examples save the children s values accountability ambition collaboration creativity integrity lufthansa s values team spirit quality leader individual care vision statement  this is your ambitious big picture end goal it should capture how the future will look for the community your skate project works in usually in 5 to 10 years time key competencies  a useful guiding element when thinking about your mission and vision is to first identify what makes your skate project special and different from others doing similar work as a team ask yourselves what is your organization best at what sets your skate project apart from others note this could simply be that you are the only one working in a particular community planning for the future creating a strategic plan is a great way to put down your organization s ideas on paper and make sure all team members are headed in the same direction most strategic plans are for 3 or 5 years for new or smaller skate projects things change so fast that a 3year plan is a good starting place strategic planning tips  bring as many of your team members together as possible including all decisionmakers take a look at your vision statement where you want to be in 510 years and brainstorm as many activities projects that would help you to get there in the brainstorming phase resist the urge to criticise ideas as unrealistic or silly and try to encourage people to come up with as many ideas as possible it can be helpful to group ideas these under work streams ie operations communications admin legal finance fundraising programs then as a group decide on which activities project are essential to do at this point be ruthless cut out any activities which are nonessential to meeting your mission and vision it can be helpful to decide as a group whether each activity will realistically happen in the shortterm mediumterm or longterm assign a person to be responsible for each project once you ve come up with activities and projects to pursue put them into a short strategic plan document and share with the entire team  see 1page examples here  this will also be a useful document for sharing with partners and supporters to show your organization s ability to plan ahead you can also include a visual chart like 2013 example from skateistan in your strategic plan organizational governance structure most skateboarding projects are founded in the diy spirit with skaters coming together for a common cause without thinking about hierarchy or structure however if your organization starts to grow and become more formalized with official legal entities and charitable status there will come a time when you need to clearly document your organizational structure the staff and volunteers running the daytoday activities your governance structure how your organization s accountability is overseen usually by a board of directors 2012 skateistan example showing connection between governance advisory board and organization in order to make an organizational chart also called an organigram for the first time you ll need to ensure that all the key roles in your project have job titles there can be multiple people in your team with the same title like skate teacher but especially those managing the project should clarify their roles and think about how responsibilities can be distributed the most efficiently with people working in their areas of strength and expertise tip  if you ve drafted your vision and or strategic plan think about how the staffing needs of your project might need to change or grow in the long term and try to create your organizational structure to reflect this example skateistan south africa s organizational structure 2017  sustainability a last important point for the management of your skate project is sustainability which means the ability to continue something at a certain level over time many skate projects rely on volunteers both for shortterm projects like skatepark builds and ongoing support as skate teachers or coordinators if you would like your skate project to continue longterm here are a few questions that can help you assess the sustainability of your current set up for longterm volunteers do you have clear policies and structure including an agreement that specifies expectations on time commitment including start end date if not check out our volunteer agreement template here  if your leadership team are volunteers is this realistic to continue indefinitely if not do you have a plan to fund salaries or handover responsibilities if your project is run by foreign staff volunteers do you have a plan for handover to a local team what funding needs are required to carry out your vision and keep your regular activities running  next steps  use our handy 1page worksheet to clarify your project s mission vision values and identify your organizational strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats if you don t yet have a job description for key members of your team including yourself take 3060 minutes to sit together and write out the key work tasks that each person is doing it s normal if some areas ie teaching skating social media are covered by more than one person feel free to put your notes into this job description template if it s helpful whether you re part of a grassroots project looking for some guidance on how to professionalize or an established project that wants to build a more longterm strategy this is the section for you every communitybased skateboarding project is different but these tools and templates will give you a headstart on creating solid foundations for sustainable growth volunteer agreement template for skate projects pdf  public skatepark development guide tony hawk foundation  community toolbox centre for community health and development  example organizational structure for an ngo sample set of ngo bylaws how to get taxexempt status in usa 501c3  nonprofitreadyorg free ecourses  unesco project planner tool a guide for building a website for your nonprofit organisational resilience ecourse women win  organizational development worksheet docx  job description templates docx  job description examples pdf  