Well folks.
Believe it or not we’re halfway through 2019. With this being summer, July is when I look through thangs’ to see what needs cleaning up and what needs to be put in place. I’ve actually finished the first draft of my company Playbook, Branding Guide, and I’m in the process of putting together a full automation system. (*does leg pops*)
What I haven’t done is check paperwork, go through the mound of paperwork and receipts sitting next to me, or file. Don’t judge.
In planning out next steps, I thought it might be helpful to get cleanup on some of your radar too. There’s no time better than now to make sure you everything ya’ need in place to round the year out. And in true blogger fashion, I’ve made this a checklist. Nonprofits are businesses, so I’ve included them in the list too.
A few things I try to look at when I do a mid-year cleanup are:
Contact Information:
– Is your address correct on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and the other search sites? Is it correct in your website footer and your CAN-SPAM notices?
– Is the registered agent on file for you with the state correct? Note, in Texas the registered agent address does NOT update unless you update it. That includes if you change the address on your franchise filing.
Documents:
– If you’re a charitable organization, do you have your annual conflict statements from all of your board members back? If so, are they all kept somewhere in the principal place of business you can get to easily?
– Do you have your registered agent consent from any new registered agents?
– Have all of your periodic filings have been made?
– If you’ve added on employees, do you have the appropriate tax filing documents, labor notices, and workforce commission notices up?
– Are the books, records, and minutes you have at the principal place of business up-to-date?
– If you’re a charity, are your tax filings and determination letter available at your public place of business?
– If either your mission or purpose has changed, did you update the appropriate agencies with filings? (Note, your mission in marketing should match or just be an expansion of your mission in the paperwork. If it is different, you need to update.)
– Do all volunteers and interns have an agreement signed on file?
Website
– Have you taken a look at your heat map recently? Do you need to move anything around or make it more prevalent?
– Do all of the videos, buttons, and links on your site work (I just had to clean a few off of mine).
Management and Employees:
– Do new board members or shareholders have copies of everything they need, including handbooks and press releases?
– Are employees or managers being reminded to check in with any goals they’ve set for the end of year review? (I know how much it sucks to “remember” come October).
– Have volunteers been engaged, thanked, or treated in the last few months?
Contracts and Services
– Are there contract terms that have expired, and need to be renewed?
– Are there contract termination window coming up that you need to make sure you get on the calendar?
– Are all of your relevant contract in one simple, easy to access place for back-up?
– Are there services you’re not using that you should look into canceling now?
Tools
Cleaning Your Inbox:
Sanelater has quite literally saved my life. It categories your email based on folders you set up, so important emails don’t get caught up with the wicker furniture sales spam that comes in. That way, you can prioritize what you check and work through less important emails when you have time. Unroll is also helpful, in that it lets you unsubscribe easily, I was a big fan of MixMax, which is great for creating email templates, tracking emails, and I understand has even more do-dads.
Time-Tracking:
Part of my commitment for the year is creating more efficiencies, and part of that comes with having a better understanding of how I spend my time. It can be tricky to get into the habit, but tracking time has been amazing for me. I realize I grossly underestimate how long things take me, and I’m less inclined to fritter or things not as important when I’m tracking. Toggl is what I use, but there are a few others out there.
Organizing Documents:
I’m all about the cloud. I’ve been using Dropbox, but they’re doing too much for me right now and I am a super simple lowkey kinda user, so I’m starting to look at PCloud and Box. Whichever service you use, set something up that allows you to back up all your important documents, and easily organize them.
Engagement:
Cloze tells me how long its been since I’ve engaged with someone, and puts them back on my radar. I can categorize by a client, colleague, friends, or whatever else is helpful.
This is just a snippet. If you want to download a checklist, an audit checklist I put together check out the left side of my homepage here.
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