One of many final conversations the latest cohort of the Communications Director Mentoring Program had was round the way you put together for an prolonged depart (or exit) if you find yourself a nonprofit communications director.
That is one thing all of us needs to be doing as a result of you ought to be ready to take a deliberate trip or go on prolonged household depart, for instance, with out the whole lot screeching to a halt otherwise you having to reply the telephone and e mail while you’re away. The identical holds true for unpredictable accidents and diseases — you want to have the option to take the day off to heal with out worrying concerning the work. And naturally, sometime you may want to transfer on to one other place and also you’ll need to depart a good basis for the subsequent particular person.
Whereas this listing isn’t exhaustive, listed below are among the key factors that the group got here up with . . .
Logins and Passwords. You want to have these captured someplace that others can entry. Don’t overlook about any two-factor authentications you could have turned on! If these are connected to a cell phone owned by the nonprofit, ensure that somebody who remains to be working has it. Or change the quantity or take away the authentication quickly.
Normal Working Procedures (SOPs). Describe how issues get finished. What are the steps? Who’s concerned? How usually does this occur? For instance, how does the e-mail publication come collectively and get printed? How usually is the web site or your social media channels up to date? How is all of that content material created?
When you can create templates and doc processes that individuals can use and comply with earlier than you allow, that’s even higher! That means they can provide it a go and have you ever there as a backup for questions and troubleshooting earlier than you allow them on their very own.
Map to All of the Issues. In what folders or information or drives does all of the advertising content material stay? The place are the pictures and logos and boilerplate (all these items that we generally name the Advertising and marketing Financial institution)?
Model Guides. What ought to the whole lot look and sound like? Once more, a advertising financial institution and templates are a enormous assist right here to maintain issues trying and sounding constant.
Contact Info. Who does what and what’s the easiest way to attain them? This goes for inner employees (e.g. when are sure individuals concerned in content material creation, evaluations, and approvals) in addition to exterior distributors and freelancers. If the web site instantly goes down, will they know whom to name?
Editorial Calendar. After all, leaving an editorial calendar behind so individuals know what ought to exit and when and the place can also be a enormous step towards conserving the group’s communications on monitor. Even in case you don’t have an editorial calendar, take into consideration the issues that want to occur on weekly or month-to-month foundation and depart good lists behind.
