Even for organizations that do have the resources for dedicated operations staff, they are often a “team of one” within smaller organizations and lack an external network of peers given the internal focus of their work. We offer ongoing individual coaching and thought partnership to operations staff, including feedback and problem solving around specific technical questions and challenges as well as around broader skill development critical to being a people- and equity-centered operations professional. We’re also building a community of operations staff who can rely on one another for feedback, professional development and camaraderie, and expertise on shared challenges and solutions.

Knowing where your organization stands financially and where it’s trending is crucial. Being able to plan effectively, track progress to that plan, and change course when necessary are all dependent on having clear, timely, and reliable financial information. Sound financial management is not always about restraint – lack of financial information can also result in being too conservative, limiting impact. Structural Integrity can help build financial information readiness and communication through systems and tools focused on:

• Board and finance committee management

• Financial management and accounting software

• Financial reporting strategies

• Cash flow management

• Revenue forecasting

• Overhead and cost allocation models

• Annual operating budgeting

• Expense reimbursement

• Grant budgeting, compliance, and tracking, including for government funding

• Staff financial education and engagement

When your team is small, you often rely on informal approaches to information sharing, documentation, decision-making, and project management. As your staff changes or grows, these informal systems often start to break down, leading to a lot of time spent trying to message consistent information and stay aligned. Cross-team communication is especially crucial, ensuring that your program, fundraising, finance, and operations staff work as a whole and remain informed of how decisions in one area of the organization can impact others. We can help you build collaboration and communication systems, technology, and practices including:

• File sharing and knowledge management

• Project management

• Internal communication platforms and norms

• Systematized coordination across teams to vet new initiatives and funding opportunities

As organizations first start out, it’s often manageable to keep information organized in spreadsheets and other disparate tracking systems. But as your work grows, so does the amount of data you’re managing. Well-organized, thoughtful systems like Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) can help you use data to understand impact, maintain institutional knowledge around donors and stakeholders, forecast revenue, and even track key internal operations essentials like computer inventory and contracts. Strong data systems can also help ensure that the information you manage is as secure as possible. More broadly, technology underpins every element of many organizations’ work. We can help you set up and improve your systems for:

• Staff hardware, software, and tech support

• Data usability and accessibility across all areas of your work

• Data security and compliance with regulations and partner commitments

Ensuring that your staff have information, feedback, clarity, and support is essential for them to thrive and do their best work. People are at the heart of your work and impact, and key staff engagement practices are essential to combat staff turnover and culture challenges. We build systems and tools for:

• Performance management

• Bringing new people into the organization, including hiring and onboarding best practices

• Aligning staff across teams and levels in planning and goal setting

Learn more about our approaches to cross team planning

We can build sustainable systems that are easy to maintain even if you don’t have dedicated operations staff or outsourced support on an ongoing basis. We truly believe that once built, a strong, people-centered operating foundation can generate staff capacity rather than consume it, but we know that systems do not function and endure without proper attention. If you find your organization is ready to hire dedicated operations staff and/or external support, we can help you:

• Identify options for operations roles and team structure

• Assess the options between hiring and outsourcing

• Craft role descriptions and design interview processes for operations hires

• Vet reliable external support