OH NO!
Not someone banging on about quality standards. Don't we have enough grief in our lives without having to take time out of our vital work to complete a shedload of forms?
Well, you probably do have enough grief. And if you can't prove to outsiders (funders, supporters etc) that you are a class act, then you're unlikely to keep your funders and supporters and then how will you help your clients/members/whatever?
There is a place for a quality standard, and fortunately over the last few years, some have been developed that allow for the fact that you may be a small partly voluntary organisation who really doesn't need a gold-plated quality system. But you do need something that tells your own people how to work, protects your people (risk assessment, fire procedures, trustee understanding etc etc), protects your clients (POVA for example), demonstrates financial good practice, and so on.
With funding being cut right, left and centre, only those organisations that can show they are a class act will survive. This link will take you to a Charity Commission page that talks about the quality systems that it has acredited. Have a look at what they have to say.
I have worked with one of the systems they mention (no names at this stage) and it's straightforward to implement, and the very process of thinking about it brought up some interesting issues. It actually helped us make the organisation better.
So go on – have a look. You'll be glad you did
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