Today, I’ve been busy with some final duties for the non-profit I have been working with for nearly 8 years. On Monday, I announced my resignation from the board effective December 2008. My final duties include doing my part to clean-up our donor database and review and revise our Board Manual and Volunteer Training materials.
This would be oh, so easy, if only…
If only, all the data was in a central location. If only, I hadn’t lost my originals that had been done years ago on computers long gone. If only, the files that I had copied from other machines had actually made it onto the organization’s computer (I could have sworn, they were there before I deleted my back-up.)
Today’s work caused me to reflect upon how people don’t really pay attention to important information when they are involved with an organization, whether it be work or volunteer. This morning, I went through lots of “dead paper” (borrowed from Stephen Arnold) and filed it accordingly.
One thing became very clear, an organization that has lots of volunteer workers in a decentralized environment must have a policy in place about how the meeting records, training materials, and organization policies are archived. Organizational history in a grass-roots organization is critical to the on-going support and well being of the entity. Knowing where new members can access that information is extremely important.
A central place for all of this rich information is important whether in dead paper or electronic. I will make some final recommendations to my fellow volunteers encouraging even more attention to the proper filing/archiving of critical information.
If you have gotten complacent in your own policies regarding information management whether at work or within your own volunteer organization, I would encourage you to follow these guidelines. I know, you’ve heard it before but it really is important.
- Back-up data.
- Electronic documents created on a home computer for work/volunteer should be transferred to the organizations files.
- Don’t let the paperwork overwhelm you; file it, recycle it, but don’t pile it.
- For important documents: Time/Date Stamp and File a Hard Copy and an Electronic Copy.
