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Target Audience

Chairpersons of non-profit organisations or anyone thinking of becoming a Chairperson.

Outline

The role of board Chairperson is an honorary role. There is no legal requirement under the Charities Act or the Companies Act for a board or committee to appoint a board Chairperson. However, Boards should be mindful of obligations contained in their organisation’s constitution and obligations under any other legislation or regulation their organisation may be subject to.  Appointing a board Chairperson makes good, practical sense if the work of a non-profit board is to be progressed satisfactorily. Upon appointment, a Chairperson takes on particular duties and responsibilities appropriate to the role. In this course, we review the role of board Chairperson.

This course can be accessed for up to 30 days after purchase.

Course Structure

The course is divided into 8 component parts and takes approx. 1 hour to review. Participants should allow for additional time to review the templates and Board Handbook which accompany the course. Topics are self-contained to facilitate micro-learning for the time conscious participant.

1. Introduction

People can be reluctant to take on the role of Chairperson, as it is often perceived to carry with it a significant workload. This should not be the case however, if a fair distribution of work is agreed by all committee or board members!

2. The Responsibilities of a Board

This lesson outlines the core functions of the board of directors and the principles of good governance.

3.  The Role of a Chairperson

The duties associated with the Chairperson’s role are outlined in this lesson.

4. Leading the Board

A leader leads from the front, but not so far in front that followers lose sight of him or her! So it is with a board chairperson. The Chair must help ensure that the board complies with governance best practice, adheres to its legal responsibilities and fairly represents the interests of members. Leading the board means helping board members to govern effectively.

5. Setting the Agenda

Agendas help Chairpersons to structure the flow of board meetings and provide opportunities for the Chairperson to bring people back on topic. Agendas help to make visible the topics that require board decisions and discussions.

6. Chairing Board Meetings

The nature and communication styles of the personalities sitting around a board table, can certainly affect a meeting. But remember that there are tools and techniques that a Chairperson can use to help facilitate a board meeting more effectively. This lesson explores this topic further.

7. Working with Senior Staff

The relationship between a non-profit’s most senior manager and its board is critical. One board member is typically delegated the responsibility for line managing the most senior staff member e.g. CEO or Project Co-ordinator. The Chairperson of a board is usually delegated such a responsibility.

8. Succession Planning

Each board needs to rejuvenate and stay energised, if it is to provide effective leadership on an ongoing basis. Therefore, the chairperson (working with board members and senior staff) should actively seek nominations and expressions of interest from potential board members.

Upon successfully completing the course, participants may download free of charge a course Certificate of Completion.

Note: Once an e-Learning course is booked, it could take up to 48 hours for login details to be provided.

NOTE: When booking, please make sure to input all the correct contact details onto the booking form as the information will be used to create learner profiles. Should information be entered incorrectly it could delay the booking process.

Carmichael has designed and developed this new eLearning Programme with the needs of social enterprises and growing non-profits in mind. Each module can be purchased individually or can be purchased here as a bundle. This bundle can be accessed for 12 months after purchase.

Social Enterprise Income and Impact Strategy (eLearning)

Social enterprises compete with a wide range of other companies and organisations in a bid to generate trading income. The challenge in such instances is to generate financial returns without comprising social outcomes and impact. This course is designed to put social impact at the heart of business planning and conversations around social enterprise development.

Governance and Charities Governance Code Carmichael (eLearning)

Structured as a practical and instructive 7.5 hours long eLearning course, the Governance and Charities Governance Code course and resource site provides you with a step-by-step approach to implementing appropriate standards of good governance in your non-profit organisation.

Employing Staff and Managing Human Resources (eLearning)

If your non-profit organisation employs staff, then be aware of the issues that can cause problems in the employer/employee relationship. Hire appropriately, manage fairly and motivate effectively if you wish to retain productive employees. All of this should happen within a human resources framework that adheres to all aspects of employment law, data protection and health and safety legislation. This course comes with a large amount of practical resources and templates.

Financial Management for Non-Profits (eLearning)

Every non-profit organisation must manage its finances in a transparent and effective manner. Indeed, funders, donors and beneficiaries, very much depend on board directors and trustees to make best use of all of an organisation’s resources, finance included. In this course, we will take a practical look at the elements of financial management that non-profits must get right.

Business and Organisation Development for Non-Profits (eLearning)

Different demands are placed on an organisation as it develops over time. Managing change, building resources, generating income and maximising impact all take careful planning. In this 4 hour course, we will take a practical look at levels of organisational planning and development of particular relevance to social enterprises and to non-profit organisations who may wish to scale their operations.

Marketing and Sales for Non-Profits (eLearning)

Marketing activity is essential in every non-profit organisation. It helps organisations to reach out to donors to ask for fundraising support. It helps organisations to communicate the good work carried out by staff and volunteers to a wider public, the local community and funders. It helps beneficiaries and service users to identify the non-profit organisations that can best support them.

In this course, we set out the marketing activities of most relevance to non-profit organisations. We pay particular attention to how marketing may be used to help organisations generate trading income and/or implement their organisational purpose i.e. mission.

Note: Once an e-Learning course is booked, it could take up to 48 hours for login details to be provided.

NOTE: When booking, please make sure to input all the correct contact details into the booking form as the information will be used to create learner profiles. Should information be entered incorrectly it could delay the booking process.

Course Overview

Marketing activity is essential in every non-profit organisation. It helps organisations to reach out to donors to ask for fundraising support. It helps organisations to communicate the good work carried out by staff and volunteers to a wider public, the local community and funders. It helps beneficiaries and service users to identify the non-profit organisations that can best support them.

In this course, we set out the marketing activities of most relevance to non-profit organisations. We pay particular attention to how marketing may be used to help organisations generate trading income and/or implement their organisational purpose i.e. mission. This course can be accessed for 12 months after purchase.

Target Audience

This course offers a practical insight into marketing and sales planning and is aimed at directors, senior managers and supervisors who do not have a professional background in marketing management.

Outline

Course Structure

The course is divided into 10 component parts and takes approximately 6.5 hours to complete. Participants should allow time to review the practical templates provided throughout the course. Topics are self-contained to facilitate micro-learning for the time conscious participant.

Lesson 1: Purpose

This lesson explains the purpose of marketing and introduces participants to key marketing concepts.

Topic 1: What is Marketing?

Topic 2: Defining the Marketplace

Topic 3: Identifying Competitors and Customer Groups

Lesson 2: Identifying Opportunities

This lesson will be of special interest to any social enterprise or non-profit organisation that wishes to identify opportunities to grow trading income.

Topic 4: Market Segmentation

Topic 5: Identifying Gaps in the Market

Topic 6: Market Research

Topic 7: Generating Business Ideas

Lesson 3: Products, Pricing and Distribution

The lesson explores some of the elements of the Marketing Mix i.e. tactics to help an organisation achieve its marketing objectives.

Topic 8: Product Decisions

Topic 9: Services Decisions

Topic 10: Setting Prices

Topic 11: Distribution Channels

Lesson 4: Promotion

There is a host of promotional tools that can be used by organisations to help them to communicate and engage with their communities, beneficiaries and clients.

Topic 12: Promotional Methods

Topic 13: Focus on Networking

Topic 14: Focus on PR and Event Planning

Lesson 5: Digital Marketing

Another form of promotion, digital marketing, helps organisations large and small to cost effectively share their marketing messages with a much wider audience than would be possible using traditional methods.

Topic 15: Inbound and Outbound Marketing

Topic 16: Online Advertising

Topic 17: Social Media Marketing

Topic 18: Search Engine Optimisation

Lesson 6: Customer Service

Good customer service matters in every organisation! This lesson explores customer service in the context of organisations operating in the Non-Profit Sector.

Topic 19: Customer Service in Context

Topic 20: Principles of Customer Service

Topic 21: Features of Excellent Customer Service

Topic 22: Customer Charter

Topic 23: Handling Customer Complaints

Lesson 7: Sales Management

If you want to grow trading income in an organisation, then you must engage in sales activities at some stage!

Topic 24: The Salesperson

Topic 25: Selling Skills

Topic 26: The Selling Process

Lesson 8: Marketing Plans

This lesson brings together learning gained in previous topics and identifies the information that should appear in marketing plans.

Topic 27: Developing Marketing Plans

Topic 28: Branding

Lesson 9: Website Development

This special purpose lesson focuses on website development and will be helpful to course participants who want to design a website from scratch or refresh their existing online presence.

Topic 29: Content Purpose and SEO

Topic 30: Keywords and Headings

Topic 31: Visual and Audio

Topic 32: Lists and Links

Topic 33: Forms and Messages

Topic 34: Reviewing Content

Topic 35: Creating a Style Guide

Topic 36: Web page Layout and Grids

Topic 37: Keeping Content Up-to-date

Topic 38: Working with Web Developers

Lesson 10: Marketing and Sales Templates

In this final lesson, we provide a fast and easy-to-access list of all the templates covered during lesson topics.

Note: Once an e-Learning course is booked, it could take up to 48 hours for login details to be provided.

NOTE: When booking, please make sure to input all the correct contact details into the booking form as the information will be used to create learner profiles. Should information be entered incorrectly it could delay the booking process.

Target Audience

This course is designed for social enterprises that are registered or intend to register as charities. It provides an easy-to-follow guide for board members, charity trustees, managers and volunteers tasked with implementing good governance practices that are compliant with the Charities Governance Code.

The course is also designed to help new charity trustees learn about their governance role and responsibilities and may form part of board induction training.

The resources and templates that accompany the course may prove helpful for trustees and managers who do not have a background in corporate governance or policy development. This course can be accessed for 12 months after purchase.

Outline

Structured as a practical and instructive 7.5 hours long eLearning course, the Governance and Charities Governance Code course and resource site provides you with a step-by-step approach to implementing appropriate standards of good governance in your non-profit organisation.

What is the Charities Governance Code?

The Charities Governance Code is made up of –

  • six principles of governance, which all charities should apply,
  • core standards that we expect all charities to meet when putting the principles into action, and
  • additional standards that reflect best practice for charities with high levels of income and/or complex organisational and funding structures and/or a significant number of employees.

The Code was written with volunteer-only charities and charities with a small number of paid staff in mind, as this reflects the reality of the charity sector in Ireland where these two groups make up the majority of registered charities.

Additional governance standards have been included, which more complex charities are expected to meet.

For these reasons, the Code is relevant for every charity operating in Ireland.

 

Note: Once an e-Learning course is booked, it could take up to 48 hours for login details to be provided.

NOTE: When booking, please make sure to input all the correct contact details into the booking form as the information will be used to create learner profiles. Should information be entered incorrectly it could delay the booking process.

Course Overview

Different demands are placed on an organisation as it develops over time. Managing change, building resources, generating income and maximising impact all take careful planning. In this 4 hour course, we will take a practical look at levels of organisational planning and development of particular relevance to social enterprises and to non-profit organisations who may wish to scale their operations. This course can be accessed for up to 12 months after purchase.

Target Audience

This course is designed with the needs of social enterprises and growing non-profits in mind. It provides a practical hands-on approach to business planning and organisational development for directors, senior managers and supervisors who do not have a background in business management.

Outline

Course Structure

The course is divided into 6 component parts and takes approx. 4 hours to review. Participants should allow time to review the practical templates. Topics are self-contained to facilitate micro-learning for the time conscious participant.

Lesson 1: Levels of Organisational Planning

This lesson explains how to develop strategic plans and operational plans and introduces participants to business planning.

Topic 1: How to develop a Strategic Plan

Topic 2: How to develop an Operational Plan

Topic 3: Business Models versus Business Plans

Lesson 2: Business Model Canvas

This lesson will be of special interest to any social enterprise or non-profit organisation that wishes to pursue a new income generating initiative.

Topic 4: How to use a Business Model Canvas

Topic 5: Key Questions for Non-Profits

Lesson 3: Business Plan

Business plans have been used to guide the development of organisations for well over one hundred years! This lesson looks at the elements of a business plan in depth.

Topic 6: The importance of Business Planning

Topic 7: Key Sections of a Business Plan

Topic 8: Situational Analysis

Topic 9: Market Analysis

Topic 10: Operations Management

Topic 11: Financial Projections

Topic 12: Monitoring Results

Topic 13: Resourcing the Plan

Lesson 4: Operational Planning

As organisations seek to scale resources acquisition and social impact, additional issues must be considered if the quality of service delivery is not to be compromised.

Topic 14: Capacity Utilisation

Topic 15: Scaling Non-Profit Organisations

Topic 16: Managing Cost Drivers

Topic 17: Managing Productivity

Lesson 5: Managing Change

Every organisation will face managing change at some stage in its development. Failure to do so successfully, can greatly undermine the aspirations and potential social impact of a non-profit.

Topic 18: The Nature of Change

Topic 19: Organisation Culture

Topic 20: Change Interventions

Topic 21: Change Management Integration Plan

Lesson 6: Business Development Quick Links

In this final lesson, we provide a fast and easy-to-access list of all the templates covered during lesson topics. Upon completion of the course, the lesson page can be accessed time and again thereafter.

 

Note: Once an e-Learning course is booked, it could take up to 48 hours for login details to be provided.

NOTE: When booking, please make sure to input all the correct contact details into the booking form as the information will be used to create learner profiles. Should information be entered incorrectly it could delay the booking process.