Managing and Executing Chapter Projects

Goal

This policy is intended to ensure that all NFC projects are managed in an effective and efficient manner that is consistent across the organization.                            

Background 

Most NFC projects are managed at the state chapter level.  This includes multi-state projects which while they have national guidelines and templates, are still typically administered at the state chapter level.  

Policy 

  • Once approved, the chapter must assign a project leader who will be responsible for developing a detailed project plan, managing the project, and reporting on status, while serving as the primary internal and external contact.

    • While this can be the person who brought the proposal forward, it doesn’t have to be.

    • Project leaders should be chosen based on ability and availability.

    • Project leaders should be non-officer board members.

“Delegation ensures that all board members have a chance to get involved at a high level if they choose to, while freeing officers up to direct the chapter. Failing to delegate puts too much work in too few hands and negatively impacts daily operations... ”
— Bob Mallard - Executive Director, NFC


  • The project leader must create a detailed project plan consisting of the following. A copy should be sent to the applicable National Vice Chair, National Chair, and Executive Director for review:

    • Primary contact

    • Project description

    • Start and dates

    • Task list

    • Potential partners

    • Chapter resource requirements

    • Field equipment requirements

    • Budget

    • Funding (partner cost-share, grants, local fund-raising, National NFC, etc.)

  • Projects will be scheduled based on time and resource constraints as well as timeliness. 

  • Project updates and supporting photos, graphs, etc., will be provided to the Executive Director every month as part of a routine chapter status update and to support blogging.

Summary 

National NFC has worked very hard to develop a series of formal policies and procedures in regard to how we operate and what we feel are best-in-class practices.  These documents are available online on NFCs internal webpage, password “ArcticCharr.”  To date we have created 67 policy and procedure documents, 18 of which are specific to projects, including technical policies in regard to data logging, eDNA sampling, fish trapping, seining, etc.   

 These documents were developed in a way that allows National NFC to easily update them.  Whenever we encounter something new, we create a new policy/procedure document.  Whenever something that was previously documented doesn’t go as planned, we update the policy/procedure accordingly.  When we update an important policy/procedure such as technical guidelines, we notify chapter officers that the document has been changed with a link for review and dissemination to the rest of the chapter. 

Internal NFC 2Bob MallardComment