Standards for Excellence®

Standards for Excellence is a nationally accredited curriculum that teaches best practices for nonprofit management, governance, and legal compliance. The foundation of the Standards for Excellence® program is the published Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. It identifies 6 major areas of nonprofit governance and management which contain 27 different topic areas. Each topic area includes specific benchmarks and measures that provide a structured approach to building capacity, accountability, and sustainability in your organization.

Standards for Excellence

Standards for Excellence is a 16 hour seminar is a comprehensive curriculum on the guiding principles and best practices that nonprofit organizations use to enhance their missions and show greater accountability to the public. Built around 78 benchmarks for high performance, it includes practical tools and policies to build a strong organization and stay legally compliant. Organizations that complete the course have access to hundreds of samples of templates and forms for social media policies, document retention, and outcome based measurements (and much more!). Organizations are also given a certificate of completion which is valid for 5 years and recognized on the OKCNP website. This course is a prerequisite for the Bridge to Excellence and Standards for Excellence Accreditation.

Accreditation and Recognition

This national program promotes the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management and operations and encourages adherence to those standards by all nonprofit organizations. In partnership with the Standards for Excellence Institute, The Center offers accreditation in Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. Accreditation from the Institute is an impressive stamp of approval that instills confidence in your clients, donors, potential funders and job candidates.
 
The first step is to complete the assessment checklist for your nonprofit to determine where change is needed. The second step is to plan how to make those changes. The Standards for Excellence Institute provides comprehensive guides, policies and templates to help prepare for accreditation. Center members have access to all of these materials for free, as well as a discounted accreditation application fee.