Tools and Resources

Navigate By Topic: 

• Leadership and Management

• Coaching

• Finance and Strategy

• Executive Transitions

• Boards and Governance

Leadership and Management

• Nonprofit Organizational Dashboard Sample Indicators

Sample Professional Development Plans:

• Template for Professional Development (PDF)
• Sample Development Plan Template (PDF)

Coaching 

• Coaching and Philanthropy Project - The Coaching and Philanthropy Project was created to assess and advance coaching as a strategy for building effective nonprofit organizations. The project site includes action guides for and about coaching for funders, nonprofits, and coaches and a comprehensive online toolkit that includes FAQs, tools, case studies, and reports. 

Finance and Strategy

• Budgeting Resources
• Guide and Template for Fiscal Policies and Procedures
• Internal Controls Checklist

Executive Transitions

• Building Leaderful Organizations: Succession Planning for Nonprofits - A monograph authored by former CompassPoint staff member Tim Wolfred and addressing three forms of succession planning. Succession planning tools created by CompassPoint consultants and referenced in the monograph follow below.
• A sample template to provide guidance on writing an Emergency Succession Plan
• A self-reflection tool for executives who are questioning whether or not it's time to leave their positions
• The Executive Director Legacy Statement—a tool with which an executive can clarify what he or she wants to accomplish before they exit their job
• A Succession Readiness Checklist that can serve as the basis for the Sustainability Audit
• A sample staff survey for input on capacity building and leadership needs (for conducting the recommended Sustainability Audit)
• A sample board self-assessment survey for planning board development activities as part of the Sustainability Audit
• A list of stakeholder interview questions for gathering input from funders and other external supporters and colleagues (for conducting the recommended Sustainability Audit)
• A checklist of activities for planning and mining the learnings of an executive Sabbatical--a way of testing the bench strength of your organization. 

Learn more about executive transitions here. 
 

Boards and Governance

• Board Café Archives - Board Café is a column for and about nonprofit boards that was a standalone publication of CompassPoint's from 1997 to mid-2008, You can access past issues from this period in the Board Café Archives. 
• Governance Documents Templates
• Nonprofit Board Basics Online - A virtual online orientation for those new to or interested in board membership. Includes an interactive virtual conference experience, the option to “attend” sessions and have "conversations" with characters, and an online self-assessment and virtual conference bag of resources. Made possible through the support of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Cisco Systems Inc.