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 […]
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 […]
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 I dug it out recently and it's very basic and definitely out of date — doesn't even mention electronic payments.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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
Do I need to register my community group or NGO under the NPO Act 2019?
We run a small community group in our area — environmental clean-ups, a bit of youth mentorship, that kind of thing. Nothing massive, maybe 15 active members and we raise a few thousand dollars a year through bake sales and small donations. Someone told us we have to register under the NPO Act 2019 but […]
How long is an NPO’s Certificate of Registration valid, and do we need to renew it?
We registered about four years ago and I've been getting anxious about whether our certificate is still valid. I vaguely remember something about a five-year validity period when we first registered but I can't find the paperwork and I'm genuinely not sure if anything has changed recently. Does anyone know the current rules on this? […]
What is the difference between the board’s role and the Executive Director’s role?
We're a small organisation and I think we have a pretty blurry line between what the board does and what our Executive Director does. Our ED is very hands-on and sometimes makes decisions I feel should have come to the board, but then the board sometimes gets too involved in day-to-day operations too. I want […]