Building an Organization for Sustainability
As we are still in the construction phase of our website, some aspects of our public information flow are still a few days to perhaps weeks away. Recently, we added a Resources tab to our website, which will provide access to an array of REAS Foundation documents including our Table of Organization, which contains our functional descriptions and explanations, current committee assignments, award criteria, distribution format, applications, etc.
Presently, site visitors can access a draft of the REAS Table of Organization, as well as the REAS Leadership Doctrine.
Some of these documents will be fluid and subject to change as conditions dictate; others will be static and remain rather consistent, due to the very nature of their composition. As an organization grows, so too does its needs, commitments, responsibilities, and structure. This necessitates the ability for successful organizations to maintain and ever-increasing state of adaptability. If an organization cannot respond to evolving demands, challenges, or needs, its sustainability is questionable.Knowing full well the importance of creating an organization that is both sustainable and dynamic, the REAS Foundation was established with a strong organizational structure that is based upon integrity, dependability, accountability, flexibility, redundancy, and decisiveness. Every aspect of the organization has been structured in a manner that demands constant mentoring of subordinate leaders and duplication of skill sets, thus ensuring sustainability that is unaffected by personnel changes or time constraints. This assures the continuing fulfillment of our mission statement.
Another key aspect of the organization is our approach to management. The REAS Foundation employs a clear “Unity of Command” approach, wherein executive staff and the Board of Directors practice the principle of employing unity of effort, decision making, and command for every objective.
Each individual, or working committee within the organization reports to only one facilitator or officer. For example, all marketing and message related items, are vetted and approved by the Chief Marketing Officer to ensure coordination and consistency of content and approach. All outreach and communication efforts are reviewed, approved, and coordinated by the Chief Community Outreach Officer. The Chief Administrative Officer is tasked with monitoring all aspects of the Foundation’s efforts - acting as a filter and a layer of oversight redundancy - which ensures a consistent organizational approach, the avoidance of unnecessary duplication, connectivity of efforts, and the coordination of assets. And so goes each position within the Table of Organization.
Ultimately, this approach eliminates the potential for conflicting information and efforts, both internally and externally, while increasing accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and our ability to provide assistance where most needed.
We also utilize a strict “Management by Objective” approach, whereby all efforts are managed through the development of specific objectives. These objectives are prioritized and assigned specific time-frames for completion to help ensure a “sense of urgency” is attached to all Foundation efforts. Once prioritized, a specific strategy or overall plan of action for each objective is developed by the Executive Board/Board of Directors.
Specifics, relative to the implementation of a plan of action or strategy, are left to the functional group or individuals tasked with completing or implementing the assigned objective(s). This approach fosters creativity while developing organizational talents thereby increasing our capabilities. As well, it helps to increase individual responsibility and commitment, while enhancing authority on demand within the organization. Ultimately, this approach serves to increase the personal and organizational development of all Foundation members, creating a more sustainable organization built upon principles and philosophies as opposed to individuals.
The desire of the REAS Foundation is to establish an organization that becomes institutionalized within the community, regardless of the passage of time or personnel, thereby ensuring ongoing assistance to Sturbridge seniors today, tomorrow, and generations from now.
Suffice to say, beyond fundraising, the most critical project underway is the work being undertaken by the Criteria Committee which is headed up by Jim Malloy. His team consists of Kay Malloy, Barbara Search, Ginger Peabody, Dennis McCurdy, Jeff and Leigh Tasse. Their objective is to review, develop, and establish the criteria for eligibility of grant assistance, which will then be reviewed and voted upon by the full board. This of course is no simple task and in fact is quite daunting. It has and will continue to involve a great deal of time and effort, as our hope is to establish parameters that are broad enough to assist the largest number of Sturbridge seniors in need, while simultaneously ensuring that every dollar awarded fits a real need.
There are several fuel assistance programs available and most are quite restrictive, certainly for good reason. However, it is our desire to establish a set of criteria that will be flexible to reach those with the greatest need, while still being able to assist those who may not quite qualify for some of the most restrictive programs, but are in dangerous predicaments nonetheless. Certainly this will require a great deal of detailed study by this committee, prior to review by the full Board.
Once that criteria has been established and approved, the application process will begin in earnest, with a three person Award’s Committee comprised of Kay Malloy, Ginger Peabody, and Jennifer Morrison conducting review, prioritization, and approval of all grant awards. These will be the only three individuals, other than the Executive Director and the Chairman of the Board (on an as needed basis) who will have access to applications and financial documents. The Executive Director and Chairman of the Board will not be involved in the decision process, unless one or two of the other committee members are unavailable for review. This will help ensure that no application is delayed due to absence of any Award Committee members. In the unlikely event that all three Award’s Committee members were absent, the Vice-Chairman of the Board would step in as the third reviewer.
When the Award’s Committee has completed its review and authorization process, funds will be distributed immediately to the recipient’s energy provider with either Kay Malloy, Jennifer Morrison, or the Executive Director in the absence of both issuing the payment. We have adopted a single signature requirement for all awards so that we can ensure immediate distribution of funds. All awards and distributions will be reviewed quarterly by the full Board of Director’s, however names and personal identifiers will be omitted so that we can ensure the privacy and confidentiality of all recipients.
We are hopeful that in the very near future you will be able to access a more in-depth understanding of our organizational structure and policies, as well as our current committee assignments via a documents menu directly on our website. In the meantime, our Contact Us tab provides the names of all Board members as well as contact information for some. We will soon be providing a photo along with a short bio of our Board members, in order to help you become more familiar with us.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have, and thank you for the generous support that you have been extending our organization in these early days.
Thomas R. Creamer
Executive Director