Anyone who has ever had to write a bio will likely agree: writing about yourself can be hard. The same is true for nonprofit organizations. And yet an organizational history is very useful for writing grants, for onboarding new staff and board members, and for educating volunteers about your company. So how do you get started?

Creation in Common Project Associate Lindsey Burdick has created a new tool to guide non-profits through the process of creating their own organizational histories. It was originally developed for an artist colony as part of an orientation process for their board members. She has since expanded the tool to become more flexible to meet the differing needs of a variety of organizations. 

One challenge of creating a nonprofit history is knowing what to include and what to leave out. The tool is intentionally simple. It guides the user through a series of questions designed to help structure the history and streamline the writing process. It touches on founding, milestones, and organizational direction — past, present, and future.

Nonprofits exist because there is important work to be done. Time spent on tasks like writing an organizational history is time not allocated toward something vital to the mission. We hope this tool will save your company time and reduce stress.