Who counts as a stakeholder for our CSO, and how do we prioritise them?
We're reviewing our stakeholder engagement and trying to figure out who we actually need to be engaging with and how. Right now we mostly focus on donors and beneficiaries. Does government count as a stakeholder even if we don't have a formal relationship with them? What about other NGOs doing similar work to us? And […]
How do we involve beneficiaries in programme design and evaluation?
We design all our programmes internally and then consult with communities once things are pretty much finalised. I know that's the wrong way round but we're always working to tight funder timelines. We did a focus group at the end of our last project and got really useful feedback that would have changed how we […]
Do we have to publish our financial information to the public?
Someone on our board raised the question of whether we're legally required to make our finances public. We currently share financial reports with our donors but we've never published them anywhere publicly. A local journalist once asked to see our accounts and we genuinely weren't sure whether we had to share them. What does the […]
What is the difference between outputs, outcomes, and impact in a project?
I always get confused between these three terms and I've been a bit embarrassed to ask before because everyone else seems to know. We're putting together a grant proposal and they're asking us to describe our 'outcomes and impact' and I want to make sure I'm answering the right question. Like if we run a […]
How do we retain good staff when we can’t compete with private sector salaries?
We keep losing our best people to better-paying jobs in the private sector. Last year we lost two programme officers within a few months of each other. We genuinely cannot match the salaries but I know there must be other things we can do. We've tried talking about mission and impact but that only goes […]
What project management principles should CSOs follow?
We've had a couple of projects that didn't go brilliantly — not complete disasters but they ran over time, there was confusion about who was doing what, and the final reports felt like we were scrambling. I know we need to be more organised about how we manage projects but I don't want to go […]
Do CSOs need to comply with T&T labour laws even though we’re non-profit?
We've always kind of assumed that because we're a non-profit we have a bit more flexibility with employment stuff — like if we can't afford to meet every single requirement at least people would understand. But someone recently told me that's not how it works and we're fully subject to all the normal labour laws […]
How do we communicate effectively with our stakeholders?
We do most of our communication through Facebook, Instagram and a monthly email newsletter. Our donors get formal reports every six months. But I feel like different groups need very different things from us and we're not really tailoring anything. Our beneficiaries for instance — a lot of them aren't on social media or don't […]
What is the National Accountability Framework (NAF) and how do I use it?
I keep hearing about the NAF in sector meetings and I picked up a copy but it's quite a long document and I'm not sure how to actually use it practically for our organisation. Is it something we're supposed to formally adopt? Is there an assessment we're supposed to do first? I don't want to […]
How do we conduct an accountability self-assessment for our organisation?
We've been talking about doing a governance review or self-assessment for a while but we're not sure where to start or what tool to use. Is there a specific self-assessment tool designed for T&T CSOs, or do we have to adapt something from overseas? And practically — who should complete it? Just the board, or […]
What financial policies should every CSO in T&T have in place?
We have a financial policy from about 2015 that nobody really looks at anymore. I dug it out recently and it's very basic and definitely out of date — doesn't even mention electronic payments. I want to do a proper update but I'm not sure what a good financial policy for an organisation like ours […]
What is a Fund Accounting System and does our CSO need one?
We manage all our finances in a single Excel spreadsheet right now. We have about four different funders and each one gave us money for specific activities — it's getting really messy trying to track which money has been spent on what. Someone mentioned we need a 'fund accounting system' but I'm not sure what […]
Are CSOs in T&T required to have an annual external audit?
We're trying to figure out whether we legally need to get an external audit every year. We're fairly small — our annual income is around $300,000. Our previous auditor retired and finding a new one has been expensive and difficult. A colleague told me that small NPOs below a certain income threshold don't actually have […]
How should we record and report in-kind donations?
Our organisation gets quite a lot of non-cash support — free use of office space, printing done for free by a local business, professionals volunteering their time. We've never formally recorded any of it. A donor recently asked about our total resource base and I realised I had no way to include all this non-cash […]
How should we develop an annual budget aligned with our strategic goals?
Every year we basically take last year's budget and add a bit for inflation. Our ED puts it together and the board approves it. It kind of works but I feel like it's not strategic at all — we're just carrying forward the same things year after year without asking whether they actually serve our […]
What documents do I need to submit when registering an NPO with the Registrar General?
We've finally decided to register our organisation properly. We've been operating informally for about two years and now a potential donor is asking for our registration certificate before they'll consider us for funding. I went to the Registrar General's website and honestly it's not very clear about exactly what we need to bring. Do we […]
What are Annual Returns and are CSOs required to submit them?
I keep seeing 'Annual Returns' mentioned in things I read about NPO compliance but I honestly don't know what they are or whether we're supposed to be filing them. We've been registered for three years and nobody has ever contacted us about it. Are these the same as tax returns? Do we have to pay […]
What is “beneficial ownership” and what does it mean for our NPO?
I've been reading through some of the new requirements for NPOs and I keep coming across the term 'beneficial ownership' and I genuinely don't understand what it means in our context. I get what it means for a regular business but for a non-profit it seems different. Is it just about who's on the board? […]
What are the key responsibilities of a CSO Board of Directors?
I've just joined the board of a small NGO here in T&T and I want to make sure I understand what I've actually signed up for. The organisation has been around for years but I get the feeling the board hasn't been very active — meetings are irregular, most decisions seem to get made by […]
How do we recruit new board members effectively?
We have two board members stepping down at our next AGM and we really need to bring in some fresh faces. Our usual approach is to ask people we know but that's resulted in a pretty homogeneous board and we're missing key skills — especially around finance and legal matters. Has anyone done a more […]