These templates ensure that whenever someone needs to know “how do we do X?”, the answer is one search away. This is a standard page layout for any recurring process or task in the organization (e.g. “How to Acknowledge a Major Donation,” “Monthly Finance Reconciliation Process,” “Deploying Website Updates”). Consistency in SOPs helps readers quickly grasp the format. Everyone is encouraged to contribute to improving SOPs as things change (with an approval workflow if needed). By documenting workflows, we maximize decision velocity and autonomy.
- Purpose: A brief statement why this procedure exists (tie to goals or compliance needs).
- Scope: What exactly it covers (and maybe what it doesn’t, to clarify boundaries).
- Owner: Who is responsible for maintaining this SOP (role or team).
- Steps: A numbered or bulleted list of the process steps in order. Use sub-bullets for detailed instructions. Where possible, include links to templates or forms used in the process (for example, step 3 might be “Fill out the Event Brief Template” with a link to it).
- Expected Outcome/Definition of Done: What does a successful completion look like (e.g. “Donor receives receipt email and is tagged in CRM accordingly”).
- Tips/Best Practices: (Optional) Additional advice, common pitfalls to avoid, or screenshots (if we were allowing images, but since we aren’t, this might just be descriptive text).
- Last Updated: And revision history, to keep track of changes.