Faithful Catholics comprise the bulk of Catholic Radio’s listenership. These ‘faithful’ are the Catholics in the pews at parishes, and who populate Catholic organizations. The Parish Liaison Program leverages this existing listenership to build new relationships and draw in new listeners.

Who are your listeners and what do they have to say? Conducting a survey of your listeners can be an effective tool for building listener relations and understanding your listener demographics as well as gaining insight into what type of programming is resonating , or missing the mark, in your area.

The Catholic faith is in and of itself a policy of non-discrimination. And, regular practice of corporal and spiritual works of mercy predispose us to want to help and accommodate those in need. Both of these items are matters of Federal legislation and therefore mutable only if challenges are made in federal courts. All the Catholic apostolate needs to do is make sure they comply and then state in the employee manual that they are aware of the legislation and do comply. Examples of how to word these are made available.

Your Hired! Now what? It is important that employees understand the nature of the relationship between the employer and employee at the time of hire. This will greatly mitigate potential misunderstandings during the course of employment.

Yes and no. Although the virtues prescribed by the Catholic Faith must certainly be the cornerstone of the Ethics Statement, providing a clear statement in writing will communicate the apostolate’s and the leadership’s commitment to clear and effective Catholic values and their application in the workplace. 

Will this be on the test? Actually, yes. Not only are policies regarding conflicts of interest and their disclosure good for the apostolate, the existence of the conflict of interest policy and the management of any conflicts are disclosed in the IRS form 990. The IRS has the ability to sanction organizations which do not manage their conflicts properly along with the party who benefits from the conflict.

A gift acceptance policy is a very important aspect of Best Practices. It is even considered so by the IRS who will want to know if such a policy is in place at the organization. The IRS will also want to know about things like non-cash, non-standard, and in-kind gifts. All of this is reported on the Schedule M (form 990). Therefore, it is important to decide, as an organization, what will be worth the time and effort to receive, manage, allocate and subsequently report.

Drug-Free Workplace Statements are not a required element of Policies for non-government organizations. There are, however, good reasons to include this policy in your Employee Handbook. Drug abuse, alcoholism, and prescription drug addiction are all too common in our society. Additionally, these afflictions may present in any gender, age, race, religion or income stratum.

Although not required by tax law, the IRS increasingly views such policies and good governance practices as a means to establishing transparency and ensuring compliance.  Specifically, Part VI of the revised Form 990 includes several questions regarding corporate governance, including questions about board structure and organizational policies.

It is not required to establish a whistleblower policy in order to operate as a non-profit. However, this is another one of those Best Practices queries on the IRS form 990. Therefore, it is a good idea to understand what a whistleblower policy is, and to have such a policy in place.

Do I need a Doctor’s excuse? A Leave of Absence is essentially any employee absence from work not covered by other benefits such as paid time off, paid holidays, etc. These absences may be either paid or unpaid depending on the type of absence. Jury duty, for example, would be a paid leave of absence. Furthermore, the employee’s benefits may or may not be continued during the time of the Leave of Absence.

“The EEOC’S Guidelines encourage employers to: …take all steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring, such as affirmatively raising the subject, expressing strong disapproval, developing appropriate sanctions, informing employees of their right to raise and how to raise the issue of harassment under Title VII, and developing methods to sensitize all concerned.”

Also commonly known as a confidentiality agreement, a policy of non-disclosure should be applied, at the very least, to board members with regard to board meetings, and to all trustees, staff and volunteers regarding donor information. An effective Non-Disclosure policy should have a surprisingly counter-intuitive effect.

Arguably the most important sentence or two in your policy manual, on your website, and in your communications, is the Mission Statement.  You will want this statement to be clear and concise enough that it can be readily viewed and understood by your constituents. The mission statement should follow basic journalism rubrics (who, what, where, why), while remaining compact.

Browse the resources in our Employee Handbook section to make sure you have everything you need for your organization. The most critical of elements are included here and each apostolate will be able to determine how to best apply them in each case.

The Executive Director functions as the Chief Executive Officer of the organization. This position assumes overall responsibility for the organization’s day-to day operations including management of staff, administration, marketing and community engagement, fundraising, and events.

The Station Manager is responsible for day-to-day operations and management of the Catholic radio station and network, including coordination of staff and volunteers.

The Program Engineer’s primary responsibility is to carry out the tasks assigned by the General Manager and to make recommendations for improvements. The PE manages the day-to-day operation of on-air program through means of editing audio recordings and maintaining the automation system.

The Program Manager is responsible for the management of programming that is broadcast over the air, streaming, podcasts, and any other audio media that is produced and/or promoted by  your apostolate. The person in this role should be up-to-date on current program options, media trends, delivery systems and technology.  Additionally, the program manager should have a clear understanding of the station’s mission and target audience.

These resources are designed with the typical non-profit radio apostolate in mind. The employee evaluation template is specifically geared toward someone in a development role.