Resource library · free toolkits, templates and guides
The practical library for people who build nonprofits
235 really practical toolkits, templates and guides for nonprofit and NGO leaders, and the consultants and funders who support them. A mix of the classics and newer methods.
Suggestions are welcome235 resources · 15 topics · 147 publishers · 218 free to use
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14 resources found
- Search: ai self-assessment
- 12.3C249
AI Opportunity & Risk Snapshot
A free self-assessment that takes about 3 minutes. A mission-driven organization answers 14 questions on leadership, skills, data, governance, tools and use cases, and gets 2 scores: how much AI is advancing its mission, and how well it is protected where informal AI use exposes it. The free result lists top strengths, missed opportunities and exposures; adding an email unlocks prioritized next steps, and a paid version gives a board-ready report. AlignIQ says answers are not stored.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 7.3C095
Organizational Learning Self-Assessment Tool
An 18-question self-assessment that nonprofits and grantmakers use to gauge their learning culture in 5 to 10 minutes. Items are rated 1 to 5 across 3 areas: organisational habits and behaviours, leadership and strategic direction, and capacity and resources. Each area suggests 5, 15 or 30 minute actions and further resources. Teams use it to start a discussion, and can share it with funders or partners.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 12.2C158
Data Maturity Assessment
A free online self-assessment that gives a snapshot of an organisation's data and AI maturity. It scores 3 areas: purpose, practice (data quality, security, ethics and infrastructure) and people (leadership, talent and culture), plus a separate AI score. Results come in a shareable format for talks with colleagues and funders, with recommended guides and resources for next steps. It is aimed at social impact organisations, government agencies, funders and universities.
CurrentTool or templateFree with sign-up - 13.2C176
Trust-Based Philanthropy Self-Assessment Tool
A self-assessment that helps a grantmaking organisation reflect on how far it has put trust-based philanthropy into practice. It covers 4 areas: culture, structures, leadership and grantmaking practices. Each section gives reflective prompts on how trust shows up and where practice needs work. It is available as an online interactive tool and a fillable PDF. Foundation teams use it to plan changes.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 9.1C112
A Practical Guide to Integrated Communications
A workbook from Idealware that helps nonprofit staff plan communications across channels as one system. It has 18 worksheets in 4 sections: getting started with a self-assessment and an ideal channel mix, planning a campaign with schedules and a week-by-week calendar, planning ongoing maintenance content, and combining both into an integrated week and a longer-term plan. Teams can work through it from start to finish or use single worksheets.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 6.4C082
Resiliency Guide
A discussion and self-assessment guide that helps funders and nonprofits talk openly about the pressures nonprofits face and reflect on organisational strengths and weak spots. First developed in 2014, it has gone through several versions and draws on the 2020 study Resilience at Work. Grantmakers use it to decide where, when and how to invest in capacity building, and grantees use it with their funders.
Start hereCurrentTool or templateFree - 8.2C107
StrongNonprofits Toolkit
A free set of financial management tools for nonprofit finance staff and leaders. It is organised by topic: budgeting, navigating uncertainty, cash flow, operations, data and analysis, audit readiness, and governance and strategy. Downloads include a financial risk self-assessment, an equity in financial management self-assessment, a financial infrastructure self-assessment and a fiscal management activities calendar in Excel. Short videos from BDO explain equity in the finance function.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 8.2C199
Financial Health Check Assessment Tool
A free self-assessment for small and medium NGOs, first published by Mango as Mango's Health Check and now kept by Humentum. Any staff member or trustee can complete it without finance training. It scores the organisation on 6 areas: planning and budgeting, basic accounting systems, internal controls, staffing, grant management and financial reporting. The result is a score with recommendations and a glossary of financial terms.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 9.2C118
Stories Worth Telling
A guide from Georgetown's Center for Social Impact Communication and the Meyer Foundation, based on a review of storytelling at more than 150 social impact organisations. It covers 5 building blocks of a story: character, trajectory, authenticity, action-oriented emotions and a hook. It then walks through a story cycle of planning, production, distribution and evaluation, and ends on building a storytelling culture. Companion checklists and tools include a culture self-assessment and a story bank guide.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree with sign-up - 3.4C039
Good Governance: A Health Check
A board self-assessment tied to the Code of Good Governance (3rd edition) in Northern Ireland. It has 92 questions across 5 principles: understanding the board's role, working as a team, control and risk, integrity, and openness and accountability. Boards rate each item not met, part met or fully met, record evidence against suggested prompts and fill in an action table for each principle with actions, owners and dates.
Start hereCurrentTool or templateFree - 11.2C146
Developing child safeguarding policy and procedures
A facilitator's guide for workshops that help organisations write or strengthen a child safeguarding policy and procedures. 4 sessions cover risk and mitigation, drafting or strengthening a policy, implementation, and roles and responsibilities. Exercises include a risk assessment, a SWOT analysis, a self-assessment against the Keeping Children Safe Standards, designing a reporting procedure and mapping local resources. An appendix gives notes on planning and running a learning event.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 5.3C072
Awareness to Action
A BoardSource guide for boards and chief executives working on racial equity together. It offers 3 starting points to assess where a board stands now, each paired with action steps to move it forward. It notes that the work is nonlinear and needs sustained commitment. It also covers why the guide was written and policies and practices to avoid the glass cliff for new leaders of colour.
EmergingKey manual or guideFree - 5.4C074
Understanding effective safeguarding culture
A discussion tool from Bond, the UK network for international development organisations, for talking about what a positive safeguarding culture looks like. It describes behaviours that show whether a culture follows good safeguarding practice across 6 areas: policies and procedures, safer programming, a survivor-centred approach, awareness raising, safer recruitment and reporting. Staff at all levels use it in workshops, alongside a separate Bond tool for leaders.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 3.1C228
Board Passages: Three Stages in a Nonprofit Board's Lifecycle
Karl Mathiasen's classic short paper on how boards change as an organisation grows. It describes three stages: the founding board, small and close to its leader or doing the work itself; the governing board, which shifts to policy, finances and sharing authority with staff; and the institutional board, larger and focused on major issues and fundraising. It closes with practical steps for moving between stages, such as term limits, regular self-assessment and a board development plan.
ClassicShort readFree
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