Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Policies and Procedures

Policies and procedures in essence are the instructions for how an organization and its board and staff adhere to its governance structure, governing documents and regulations. The policy tells an organization what to do, and the procedure tells how to do it. Each policy should have a procedure, and together these documents will direct board and staff on making decisions and working within certain limitations.

The first step, and often the hard work, is in the development of policies and procedures. Fortunately, once a template is established it's easier to develop new policies as they arise. The governance model of an organization will dictate how the development of policies and procedures unfolds, but often the development of policies falls to the board and the development of procedures to the Executive Director.

It is the board's responsibility to develop, monitor and amend policies as well as to ensure that decisions are made and actions are taken that comply with policies and follow proper procedures. Regular review and revision of policies is good practice and is often conducted by a committee for board discussion and approval.

CLO and Literacy Link South Central (LLSC) have each developed comprehensive manuals on policies and procedures for adult literacy organizations. Their resources not only include templates for policies and procedures in generic organizational categories like financial management, human resources, administration, marketing and volunteer management, but also include templates specific to literacy service delivery such as information and referral, service planning and case management. CLO's policies guides can be found at: www.nald.ca/clo/publications.htm and LLSC's at: www.nald.ca/library/learning/template/cover.htm.

Charity Village provides a comprehensive online template for non-profit policies and procedures related to organization management, volunteers, consultants and employees.

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