Guidelines and Principles

What is the Guidelines & Principles Assessment?

The Guidelines & Principles assessment is designed to help you identify organizational strengths and challenges to effectively action plan for the future. This assessment is regularly updated to reflect legal requirements and current best practices across the sector, including practices that are required to receive external funding and critical to demonstrate professional accountability to the public, your stakeholders, and prospective donors. We hope these results help support you and your organization to become stronger and more efficient.

How are assessment results used?

We encourage you to be completely honest with your responses; these results belong to you and your organization. NAM will never share your results with other organizations or funders. Any reporting on Guidelines & Principles compliance will only be in aggregate, will not identify you or your organization, and will only be used to understand the nonprofit sector and improve NAM’s offerings. Finally, this assessment has been made available for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, financial, accounting, or tax advice and should not be relied upon in that manner. Additionally, this tool does not include an exhaustive list of all applicable laws for your organization; further, federal, state, and local laws continually change.

What does the assessment measure?

The assessment is structured around twelve guiding principles for nonprofits. Each of the twelve sections lists legal, essential, and recommended practices, followed by an overview of best practices. We recommend answering each of the twelve sections to the best of your knowledge now, knowing that you can always update your results later. At the end of each section, an overview of best practices provides additional details, guidelines, and considerations for each of the twelve areas. Our [Wiki] contains detailed information to help guide you through the language in each section.

Assess Your Organization

The Guidelines & Principles offer two assessments to help you evaluate your nonprofit’s performance and compliance. Any nonprofit interested in becoming stronger and more efficient may utilize these free assessments – you do not have to be a NAM member to access them.

_{Important Note: You're encouraged to be completely honest with your responses. The results belong to your organization and will not be shared with funders, grantmakers, donors, or other organizations. Annual reporting on the Guidelines & Principles usage and progress is done in aggregate, ensuring your organization’s identity is protected.} 

Be Recognized for Best Practices

When your organization is fully compliant with the legal items in the Guidelines & Principles, you may be awarded the Best Practices Partnership distinction. This highlights your commitment to legal compliance and operational excellence.

• Showcase the Best Practices Partner badge, demonstrating your dedication to nonprofit excellence.

• Demonstrate to the public, funders, and partners your adherence to the highest standards of compliance.

• Gain visibility among other nonprofits committed to best practices in Nebraska and Iowa.

More about Guidelines & Principles