Not for profits can’t operate without a number of key roles, and one of the most important roles is that of Treasurer. They are necessary for keeping your budget, funding, and finances in check, as well as ensuring compliance to laws and regulations around financials are adhered to.

It goes without saying, therefore, that ensuring you have the right person for the role is equally important. It’s never ideal to accept whoever puts their hand up to join the committee, and in the case of volunteer Treasurer, it’s highly discouraged.

So how do you get the right person for the role?

Screen

Most volunteer roles will require such checks as Working With Children (WWC) and Police checks, so make sure this is part of your recruitment process, generally.

With the Treasurers role, it’s also a good idea to conduct a 100-point identity check or similar. Be vigilant and pedantic about this, as neglecting it can not only leave you in a terrible financial situation, you can also put yourself, your board, your staff, and volunteers in serious legal trouble.

Establish a Recruitment Process

Even though they’re not being paid, having a recruitment process for volunteers is still a good idea. The above screening points can be a part of it, and this process can also include screening. Start with the role description, and be clear about what the role entails, and what qualifications are required.

Look for candidates that have relevant qualifications, and either have clear understanding of the rules, regulations and legal requirements, or at the very least, the means to access and understand this information. Review the experiences and skills each candidate has, and ensure character checks and references are conducted with vigilance.

When interviewing and checking you can use the role description like a checklist to see how well they meet the necessary criteria.

Risk Management

Risk management is the identification of possible risk to your organisation, or any part of it. Being clear on the risks in the financial department, and in someone fulfilling the role of volunteer Treasurer, will help you to conduct both screening and recruitment.

Although it’s not nice to think about, you need to mitigate for risks like fraud and deliberate mismanagement of funds, as well as those around human error, data loss or systems crashes, and knowledge and correct use of relevant software.

Having a well thought out risk management plan will aid in creating the role description, and processes and procedures for the successful candidate, and help to determine the necessary screening and checks.

In short, as nice as it is, and relieving to have someone put their hand up for the role, the repercussions of having the wrong person in it are far reaching and severe. The process to get the right person may seem frustrating, and time and energy consuming, however, once you get past finding them, things will be much easier, relieving, and far less stressful.