Description

This section provides some ideas for compiling your VOPE’s annual report, and provides some examples and checklists for you to keep in mind.

An annual report is a comprehensive report of an organization's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give stakeholders and other interested people information about the organization's activities and financial performance. It may also serve to share the plans and focus areas for the next year, or update the vision as it was captured in the organization’s plans.

For a VOPE, an annual report is useful for communicating important information to the VOPE members and donors, and is an indication of good governance. The report also creates the opportunity for a VOPE to communicate its achievements, share its challenges and ensure that the VOPE management stays focussed on the organization’s objectives.  It is a good idea to distribute or present at least the annual financial report at the Annual General Meeting and publish it on the VOPE website. Specific rules, regulations and legislation about Annual Reports may apply in your specific country, so make sure that you are aware of what they are, and that you comply.

Some important considerations:

o   Before considering themes, designs, output formats, etc., carefully plan what information needs to be included in the report. 

o   An annual report should focus on accomplishments rather than activities.  The annual report is not a description of activities and rather should summarize what was achieved.

o   The financial aspect of the report should be informative and easy to read.  In most cases, some graphs and a copy of the balance sheet are sufficient.   Information about the income streams of your organization and allocation of the funds to specific programs/events or administration could be included. 

o   Many organizations use the opportunity to issue a call to action to members, mobilizing members by including a request to assist. 

o   The annual report should be easy to read, easy to view (consider a .pdf version, an online version, presentation or separate executive summary), easy to understand (especially the numbers; provide enough information to keep the reader engaged but do not overwhelm your readers with huge amounts of data and complicated graphs) and include visuals (photos, diagrams).

o   It might be helpful to organize your report around a theme that speaks to the focus of your organization for that specific year.   

What is included in the annual report?

The KnowHowNonProfit website (http://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/communications/effective-communications-1/annual-reports [3]) provides a step-by-step guide of the key elements to include in the different report sections. These steps are adapted and summarized below:

• Introduction and executive summary

Start the report with an introduction by the Chair of the Board or the President of the organization.  This should be their own personal reflections on the year’s activities, pulling out particular successes and highlighting some of the plans for the following year.

• Objectives

Include the objectives or aims of the organization.  Provide information on what the organization does and why?  This should be a relatively short section and should align closely with the organization’s business plan / strategic plan.  Include both the VOPE's long-term and short-term objectives.

• Achievements

Provide readers with information on the VOPE's key achievements over the year, measured against the objectives set for the organization. 

• Impact and value

Demonstrating the impact and value of the VOPE’s services is crucial. It is this part of an annual report that can really set your organization apart and help demonstrate to funders, supporters and all potential supporters the value of the work the VOPE does.  However, it is important that claims are backed up by evidence, and that an evaluation reflects any commitments made in the organization’s plans, founding documents, etc. A VOPE, intending to deliver service to those interested in professional evaluation, may take this opportunity to model effective evaluation of the organization and effective reporting. 

• Volunteers (if relevant)

Many VOPEs rely on volunteers to keep their services running and help raise money.  Include information on their role and achievements.

• Ambition and long-term strategies

In this section, the following questions are addressed: How do this year’s activities and successes provide a platform for future plans? What are the challenges that lie ahead and how will they be overcome? What opportunities are there in the year ahead? This final section should be ambitious and forward-thinking, but keep it realistic.

• Statutory information

As a general rule, it is best to leave the statutory information (as required by your country’s legislation) to the back pages, unless you can find a way of including it in such a way that you communicate your annual report messages better.  When presenting the information, use graphs, infographics and diagrams which are easy to interpret, where possible.

 Description

This section provides some practical advice for VOPEs which are about to develop a new website. It links to various toolkits and examples.

In many instances, a VOPE’s website is its flagship product.  It is usually a good idea to start off with a page that meets your basic needs and then add additional modules to the site as your VOPE matures and gains additional resources.

First Things First – Registering a domain and setting up a website

You can register and pay for your VOPE’s domain (a once-off fee and usually annual or bi-annual payment renewal) and website hosting (usually monthly or annual fee) yourself, or include it in your web developer’s contract.  Most VOPEs choose an .org domain as it is associated with non-profit organizations.

You can either take the open source or proprietary route in terms of web development.  Keep in mind that proprietary solutions are more expensive but support and skillsets are more readily available, while open source solutions at the outset are more cost-effective.  Make sure that the relevant support and skillset for your choice is available in your local market.

Keep in mind that, just like a database, a website has a “front and backend”.  The backend constitutes the administrative tools, membership database, archived content, etc. that is linked to the front (user end) of the website. Both these aspects should ideally be included in the website’s Terms of Reference for contractual and change control purposes. Technical specifications, maintenance requirements, content creation and content management should be specified as clearly as possible.

Most VOPE website design caters for sections of the VOPE itself (Board, policies, membership – becoming a member and some sort of membership directory, reports, and minutes), training and job opportunities, newsletter and listserv signups, information for donor or volunteers, resources, events and news.  The inclusion of good search functionality will enhance the user-friendliness of your website considerably. Other forms of social media (e.g. links to Twitter and Facebook) are usually also embedded in the website.  If resources allow, consider embedding a full membership management module (automatic membership expiration notifications, links to membership payments, voting eligibility, etc.) and an online Board voting module into your website, creating an electronic audit trail for these important VOPE management functions.

The procurement and Terms of Reference for any web development should be in line with the VOPE’s procurement policy.  Consider whether you want to embed mobile or other technology into the website’s development, and remember to include browser/operating system compatibility testing in the Terms of Reference.

Managing the VOPE Website

It is advisable to design the website in such a way that VOPE members can easily add and edit content.  There are various user-friendly website toolkits available that can be incorporated into your site to enable content management.  As with social media and listservs, various administration-related functions and membership information (usually only partially searchable unless the member indicates otherwise) should always be password protected in line with your VOPE’s Privacy Policy.

There are multiple tools available to assist in managing website content. Generating and keeping website content current are usually the most labour intensive part of managing a website. Crowdsourcing/communities of practice contributions/collaborations/peer review functions from fellow online members can add great value to a website, but as with a listserv, it can potentially require time and effort to moderate responses if open to the general public.  There are drawbacks to closing sections of a website off to members only – the content in these sections is often not detectable by search engines, which in turn generates less traffic to your site.  The counter argument is that members-only sections of a website (particularly job and training opportunities) might encourage a higher membership subscription.

Managing content created by third parties, whether VOPE members or not, requires documented rules and guidelines in the form of a website policy.  Care should be taken to review content for appropriateness, copyright infringement, etc.

Creating Traffic to your Website and Website Analytics

Link exchanges/business directories are the most common way of diverting additional traffic to your site.  Many VOPEs/other organizations will agree to post a link/information to and about your website on theirs and vice versa.  Another user-friendly method to generate traffic is search engine optimization. For well-resourced VOPEs, most major search engines have a pay per click option where your website search ranking is increased in exchange for – often not so cheap – rates.  The more relevant content and keywords your website contains, the higher your search engine ranking will be, so the pay per click is not really necessary for non-commercial ventures. Website Analytics will assist you in tracking your users (demographics), which pages are most popular, how often they visit and many other useful titbits without infringing on your visitors’ privacy. 

  Description

This section will help you think through some of the human resource management issues that VOPEs typically have to deal with, whether the VOPE relies exclusively on volunteers, or a combination of staff and volunteers. Resources on how to recruit VOPE leaders and documenting role descriptions are referenced as resources.

Board Effectiveness

A VOPE is usually governed by a volunteer Board or Governing Body as set out in the constitution of a VOPE. This Board may have multiple roles (according to the community toolbox http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/organizational-structure/board-of-directors/main [85]):

• Doing the VOPE Work – where the Board helps with the functioning of the organization by carrying out tasks;
• Providing credibility – where they show members that the organization is legitimate;
• Providing relevant experience – e.g. where an accountant or lawyer is brought in for their special expertise;
• Assisting with fundraising – where the networks of Board members help the VOPE to secure financial or other in-kind resources; and
• Safeguarding the VOPEs mission and philosophy – by providing oversight and guidance to activities.

Ensuring that the Board works effectively at all of these roles is a typical challenge that VOPEs face. Volunteers usually start with good intentions, but if they are not clear about expectations up front, or if they don’t have the necessary skills or time to commit, or if they never get an opportunity to reflect on their contributions, it is possible that the goodwill of the volunteer Board may not be realized into measurable effects. Lobbying for the right Board members to be nominated to the future Board is one of the most important tasks that a current Board would have. The “right” Board members would typically add a diversity of skills and experience to the Board (e.g. fundraising, networking, web management or financial management skills), while ensuring that important representivity criteria (e.g. gender, sector specialization) are met. Most importantly, however, Board members’ work and life circumstances must be such that they would allow them to invest the extra time and effort into Board activities. It is not unheard of that volunteer Board members could spend as many as 2 hours per week just to keep up with email communication among Board members. If a Board involves non-board members in sub-committees, these sub-committees might provide an appropriate place to identify possible future Board members with a track record of working constructively.   

Once a Board has been selected, it may be useful to:

• Develop a Board code of conduct that stipulates minimum levels of participation in Board meetings and other Board activities (e.g. if a Board member misses three consecutive Board meetings, he / she may be asked to resign). This will help Board members to realize when they are no longer able to meet the needs of the VOPE, and it will help the VOPE to hold Board members accountable.   
• Develop a description of generic roles and responsibilities for all Board members, and those applicable to each Board member’s portfolio.
• Appoint a smaller group of the VOPE board to make some of the day-to-day decisions on behalf of the Board – a small executive consisting of a chair, treasurer and secretary may be required to meet and communicate more frequently than other Board members.
• Institute an occasional reflection process during which Board members are asked to reflect on their own and their peers’ performance on the Board against a set of pre-selected indicators. A VOPE may also consider instituting a special award to recognise the quality and significance of specific Board members’ contributions.
• Develop a process through which previous Board members could be kept involved in the activities of the VOPE (e.g. through involving them as members or coordinators of special sub-committees).

It is typical for VOPE Board members to have a limit on the time period that they are allowed to serve on the Board. This is usually stipulated in the constitution, bylaws or founding documents of the VOPE and ensures that there is a constant flow of new energy on the Board. The effects of losing institutional memory when Board members leave a Board would, however, have to be managed carefully. It is advisable to develop a plan to ensure that all Board members (especially those who hold key board positions, such as secretary, chairperson, and treasurer) do not rotate off the Board at the same time. Some VOPEs also have a system where an incoming chair and outgoing chair support the work of a current chairperson.  

Recruiting full-time and part-time staff

The Board might recruit volunteers and administrative or program personnel on a part-time or full-time basis to assist the VOPE to deliver on its mandate.  Personnel may be appointed as consultants or as permanent staff members; each kind of employment would have certain legal implications for the organization.

Having a clear set of guidelines and policies in place will make the recruitment process easier and more efficient. It will also increase your chances of recruiting the best person. According to Chapter 10 of the Community Toolbox (http://ctb.ku.edu/en//tablecontents/sub_section_main_1103.htm [86]), the typical activities for hiring and training of staff are as follows: 

• Identify the needs of the VOPE in respect of administrative staff and volunteers.
• Refine the organization structure for the VOPE by including all employees who are not part of the governing body but who will be employed by your VOPE.
• Develop a plan for staff hiring and training which will address questions such as:
• What kind of people do you want as staff members? 
• What can you afford?
• What will the hiring process look like? 
• Develop Personnel Policies (Hours of work, leave, administrative requirements).
• Develop Staff Orientation Programs.
• Prepare the Job Descriptions and Criteria for selection.
• Decide on the level of remuneration to be offered.
• Advertise the position(s).
• Shortlist suitable candidates.
• Interview for position(s).
• Develop a training program for each staff member.

 If your organization wants to make use of volunteers, you need to plan and develop guidelines for how the volunteers will be involved, how they will be recruited, orientated and trained. It may also be useful to have a code of conduct for volunteers and a written undertaking which outlines the mutual expectations in terms of efforts required, handling of confidential information and processes when a volunteer is no longer able to assist.

It is imperative to keep in mind that selecting the right people and training them well are some of the most important things you can do to ensure that your organization is effective. 

 Description

This section shares some ideas about how a VOPE could run its process for the nominating, voting and appointing of Board members, with some suggestions regarding software that could be used, as well as some examples of how VOPEs have done this previously.

A VOPE is usually governed by a Board selected by the VOPE members from nominated individuals within the organization. .  The constitution for the VOPE typically contains an explanation of how the leadership and governance structure works. It usually outlines eligibility criteria for Board membership and procedures for nomination, voting, and election to these positions, including the term of office for each position. (link here to 1.2 Founding a VOPE - Constitution).  The voting administration process should manage the nomination, voting and appointment of Board members. 

The election and voting process can be administered during a members’ meeting, such as an AGM, however since many VOPEs have geographically-dispersed members, they opt to administer their elections electronically using online voting administration systems.  The elections process usually consists of four steps:

1. nomination;
2. confirmation of nominations;
3. voting; and
4. appointment of Board Members

For voting administration systems, a VOPE generally has two options available.  On option is that the election and voting process can be conducted during a membership meeting, such as an AGM, where members can nominate and vote with the show of hands, ballot papers or electronic input devices.  Nominations can be made and confirmed during the meeting or before the meeting.  If the nomination process is completed before the meeting, ballot papers can be printed for voting.  In paper-based voting systems, votes are cast and counted by hand.

Alternatively, these systems can include an electronic input device and votes counted electronically. Online voting (also known as e-voting) uses electronic systems to aid in the call for nominations, casting and counting votes.  A list of members should be available to enable members to have information on who can be nominated. Once the nomination period has expired, the nominated candidates should confirm that they are prepared to serve as a Board member.  At this point, information about the candidates can be published on the website or through relevant email communication.  Once the voting is declared open, members can cast their votes electronically using computers / smart phones up to the time the voting is closed.  The system should have additional functionality to ensure that members are eligible to vote and can vote only once.  Votes are counted electronically, the results published and members appointed.  All this can be done via the VOPE website if the functionality is included in the design of the website.

The two administration systems (supervised or remote) have different costs. Administering the voting through a meeting may appear low cost but more time and effort is required in supervising and counting votes.  Members may also incur travel costs.  An e-voting system may require an upfront fee but can save time in administration and counting.  Consequently, the total cost of operating the voting administration system needs to be considered right from the start.

The voting administration system should allow the VOPE to:

• provide information about the members that can be nominated (members list);
• email / notify members of the nomination period and process;
• open the nomination process;
• allow members to nominate (checking against the membership database);
• store the nomination information;
• close the nomination process;
• notify potential candidates and ask whether they are willing to stand for the elections (checking against the membership database);
• provide information on nominated candidates;
• email / notify members of the voting period and process;
• open the voting process (checking against the membership database, allowing only active members to cast the determined number of votes);
• store voting information;
• analyse and verify voting per nominee to confirm appointments;
• publish results of voting (in a report, excel sheet);
• notify new Board members and confirm acceptance; and
• notify VOPE membership of confirmed appointees.

It is imperative that the steps for managing the system be clearly documented, for transparency and since turnover in staff is likely. Standard operating procedures for administering the voting process should be developed, clearly stipulating tasks, processes, roles and responsibilities.