I had never written policies before. I didn’t even know what policies we needed. One of the tools Tanya talked about in the bootcamp was the use of AI. I already used ChatGPT (Vera, as I call mine) for brainstorming for my Monday Minute scripts and base podcast scripts, so I was very familiar with how it mostly worked. But, ChatGPT, I discovered, was more than just a thing you could use for brainstorming. It was also a search engine. By explaining and refining what I was doing, I was able to pull up a (very long) list of required policies for nonprofit governance—Including things like Bylaws, Whistleblower Policy, Anti-Harrassment & Discrimination—all the things the government looks for when they are looking to grant nonprofit status.
And our clock was ticking.
I began furiously pulling up policy documents and generating text, and working in fury. We needed to get this done! But I remembered dealing with the contractor back in PA. I remembered thinking the policies needed to be solid. But…I’m also a Xennial, if you believe in generations and micro-generations (I do not, but that is a whole other can of fish), and I am of the mind that corporations need to treat employees as people first. So every policy draft I did, I had it revised with person-centered language. I wanted it to be inclusive—after all, our mission is to help those who are marginalized, disenfranchised, and even under attack by the U.S. government. We needed to imbue every document with our values: Dignity, belonging, inclusivity, etc. It helped a lot that not only do I hold a Ph.D. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, but I am also DEI Certified. All of that worked together, and I developed The Bylaws of the Asylum Project. I quickly sent it to Jon, Becky, and Nick for review, explaining that we had to have them for tax-exempt status, and we needed to have a Board of Directors. Who could not be us.
But we were brand new. How were we supposed to get a Board of Directors when we didn’t know what we didn’t know?! Further research and speaking to trusted business leaders revealed that the founding executives could be the founding Board for the first year. So, we scheduled a Board Meeting, assigned roles (Jon as Chairman, Becky as Treasurer, me as Secretary, and Nick as Director), and voted our Bylaws into practice. We got our Public Access folder set up, and the August meeting minutes, Bylaws, and Articles of Incorporation went into that folder. We adopted other stand-alone policies we were required to have by various government bodies. And then… I found even more policies. Best practices policies, policies that auditors and funders like to see, and even more compliance documents.
There was so much. It took me all of July to get the Bylaws and the Whistleblower and Anti-Harassment policies written! And now, there were almost 40 documents, plus handbooks, that needed to come into existence.
In for a penny, though, in for a pound.
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