Management Tips

Many board members feel uncomfortable asking for money; however, fundraising is a key leadership role of all board members. This includes deciding fundraising campaigns and setting fundraising goals. The organization's board leadership and staff leaders work together with the full board to define and delineate their role so they are equipped and confident. Start with the basics to help members build their abilities to solicit donations for the agency and tell the story of the good work being…

Have you ever wondered whether it was okay to include a portion of someone else's work on your website, in your training curriculum, in a community presentation, or in a publication? Have you had concerns about protecting work that your organization has developed? These are important issues, and a little basic knowledge about intellectual property rights will be helpful to any manager in the nonprofit field. As a manager, you will want to ensure that you inform others about policies and laws…

As a Community Sexual Assault Program manager, you are subject to a formal evaluation process by your supervisor, whether that is the Board, an Executive Director (if you do not also fill that role), or someone else. However, most of us really want to know how we are doing at our jobs — and for managers, that means getting feedback from those who are supervised as well as those who supervise us. How do you get feedback from your staff in an appropriate manner without having them feel like…

As advocates in the Anti-Sexual Violence Movement, we are all too familiar with the term and impacts of vicarious trauma. How then do we relieve ourselves of the imprints that a survivor’s story leaves on us? An important way of coping with the intensity of the work is to first acknowledge that it WILL affect you.

In an organization plagued with policies and procedures sometimes we forget to implement “practices.” A few practices to consider are:

• …

Conversations about how to integrate support for advocates that mitigates vicarious trauma have become common within our organizations, but the need to put these conversations into practice is greater than ever. While widespread coverage about the prevalence of sexual violence has gained traction with the #MeToo movement, resources for organizations haven’t seen much of an increase to meet the need. This requires managers and executive directors to find creative, low-cost ways to support…

At WCSAP we are always working to support programs. Sometimes that means taking time to stop and recognize the amazing work that’s being done and the strength, compassion, and drive it takes for advocates to provide ongoing services.

Recognizing Staff

Programs are generally really good at recognizing volunteers and contributors but sometimes they lose sight of those providing the services. Taking the time to genuinely show appreciation has proven to increase productivity,…

The Office for Victims of Crimes (OVC) has recently released two free resources that should be helpful to community sexual assault program managers:

• A downloadable publication called Strengthening Sexual Assault Victims' Right to Privacy that focuses on maintaining victim confidentiality. It contains key principles, information on challenges, and tips for advocates (…

The annual performance review can be an excellent opportunity to work individually with staff members to enhance their skills and abilities as well as their job satisfaction. Some managers (and some employees) dread performance reviews, seeing them as the venue for telling unwelcome truths. Done properly, however, these meetings can enhance your relationships with staff and volunteers.

• There should not be any surprises. Performance problems should be…

Vision and mission statements are often used interchangeably, but differences do exist. A mission statement describes what an organization or business does and a vision statement describes what an organization or business hopes to achieve as a result of specific actions. Mission statements focus on the present and vision statements look into the future.

Recently rape crisis centers nationally and statewide have been tweaking aspects of their mission, vision, branding, and even agency…

Are you aware that the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) requires you to have either a

• safety committee
• or a regular safety meeting,

depending on the number of employees you have? WAC 296-800-130 clearly identifies this requirement.

If you have 11 or more employees on the same shift in the same location, you must establish a safety committee, which consists of representatives elected by employees as…