[TULSA] Standards in Focus: Your Governing Documents Actually Matter

You know the Standards for Excellence. Now let's get specific.

Standards in Focus is a new series of focused, three-hour trainings built directly from the Standards for Excellence educational resource packets, the same nationally recognized framework your organization may already be working toward, examined one topic at a time. Where the two-day Standards for Excellence course gives you the full picture, these sessions are designed to zero in on particular areas of nonprofit ethics, governance, and operations so you can walk away with actionable tools and clarity on the issues your organization is actively navigating.

Each training is its own complete learning experience. You don't need to have completed the two-day course to participate, these trainings stand on their own and are open to nonprofit staff, board members, and leaders at any stage of their standards journey. 

Course Description

Your bylaws aren’t just a formality, they’re the operating manual for how your organization governs itself. Yet for many nonprofits, those documents sit in a drawer, drifting out of alignment with how things actually work. Grounded in the Standards for Excellence educational packet on Bylaws and Board Governance, this training examines the full hierarchy of nonprofit governance documents, from articles of incorporation to corporate resolutions, covering board composition, term limits, meeting requirements, officer roles, and the Standards for Excellence provisions that should be reflected throughout. Whether your documents need a full overhaul or just a tune-up, this session helps you know the difference.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the key governing documents every nonprofit should maintain and describe the distinct role each plays in organizational governance.
2. Evaluate bylaws against a best-practice checklist, identifying gaps in alignment with IRS requirements, state law, and the Standards for Excellence framework.
3. Explain the Standards for Excellence requirements for board governance and identify where they belong in governing documents and organizational practice.
4. Describe the purpose of corporate resolutions and outline the process for formally amending articles of incorporation and bylaws.
5. Apply a systematic review process that keeps governing documents current, accessible, and reflective of how the organization actually operates.