{"id":389,"date":"2017-11-06T08:22:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T08:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/2020\/12\/23\/five-little-known-secrets-organising-nonprofit-site-visit\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T09:24:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T03:54:25","slug":"five-little-known-secrets-organising-nonprofit-site-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/five-little-known-secrets-organising-nonprofit-site-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Five little-known secrets to organising an awesome nonprofit site visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working for a nonprofit means that you’ll probably have to deal with a lot of people wanting to visit you on the ‘field’<\/i>, from funding agency officials looking to escape their paperwork-ed lives to corporate ‘volunteers’<\/i> and school kids who’d rather be at an amusement park.<\/p>

Working at a nonprofit can seem like the reception line at an Indian wedding where your face becomes permanently frozen from smiling and nodding vaguely at an endless stream of visitors.<\/p>

People on site visits can often feel like the Roman army—they come, they see and they conquer all your resources. So, it’s really important that they are successful. Yet, some of the things most critical to successful site visits are unknown to most people. Don’t worry though; here are the most well kept secrets to organising an awesome site visit.<\/p>

\"What<\/a><\/div>

Secret 1: Have a fat binder<\/h3>

Most people just send a two column agenda and a website link as pre-reads to the site visit. Big mistake! No matter who you are, everybody is impressed by thick binders with multi-colour tabs and a fancy index.<\/p>

But what will I put in this binder you wonder? Ahhh that’s the beauty of it, it really doesn’t matter because no one will read it anyway. The trick is to overload people with information that seems relevant but too boring to really read—a map, the weather forecast, the Constitution of India, your CV, a theory of change—you get the idea.<\/p>

\"nonprofit<\/h3>

Secret 2: Act poor enough<\/h3>

People want their money to go to empowering others, not towards frivolous things like decent working conditions or a liveable salary. And so nonprofit offices and teams that appear too ‘rich<\/em>‘ are a big no-no.<\/p>

I know, I know you’re probably thinking that the only thing rich<\/em> about your office is the smell coming from the adjacent garbage dump\/sewer\/alcoholic guy who never showers. But here are some of the things you can do to be absolutely sure that you don’t fall into this trap.<\/p>