Align: Chapter Summary

1. Your workforce needs will change over time – make sure your organizational needs are aligned with worker opportunities.
2. An employer philosophy grounds your practices in your nonprofit’s values while meeting organizational legal obligations as an employer in Washington.
3. A strong workplace culture is vital to every nonprofit, and each new person you hire experiences and shapes your culture.
4. A nonprofit has systems, policies, and tools in place to help operations. You can leverage these tools to strengthen your workplace culture and meet employer compliance requirements.

Capture your responses in a notebook or shared document with your team.

• Do your worker opportunities align with your organizational needs?
• How does your employer philosophy align with your organizational values and help your nonprofit go beyond minimal legal requirements for workers?
• What are two or three words you would use to describe your workplace culture?
• What would your nonprofit’s ideal workplace culture look, feel, and sound like?

• Make a list of all the types of people connected to your organization, including those within the nonprofit and those you serve. Next to each type, note how you think they would describe your nonprofit’s workplace culture.
• Take one of the activities or reflection questions in this chapter and discuss with others the concepts of aligning organizational needs and worker opportunities, employer philosophy, and workplace culture. Plan how these aspects will guide future hiring and team growth.