A business plan is a roadmap. It shows where your organization is now, where you want to go, and how to get there.

While it may be best to write your own business plan from scratch (see the Resource Library article, "Writing a Nonprofit Business Plan"), this MS Word template provides the essentials, along with prompts to add specific details relating to your own organization. Like all templates, it cannot take into account all the variables that affect a specific organization, but it does allow you to edit so that it reflects your organization more effectively.

Creating a strong board requires many key ingredients, including the existence of a thoughtful and inclusive nominating or governance committee. In some cases, if an organization doesn’t have a nominating committee in place, the executive committee may fill the role of suggesting prospective board members in collaboration with the executive leadership team. It is extremely important that any group charged with identifying, cultivating, and recruiting board members takes the time needed to engage in a thorough selection process.

An employee handbook sets the tone for the employee and allows the employer to outline expectations and provide a framework for proper communication and conflict resolution. Employers typically have employees sign off that they’ve reviewed the handbook and understand the content.

53-page Employee, Volunteer, & Contractor Handbook in MS Word format, from Waco Civic Theatre.

20-page Employee Handbook and Policy Manual from Quincy Community Theatre, in MSD Word format.

28-page, detailed Employee Handbook in MS Word format, from Lyrical Opera Theatre.

Employee Handbook: 17-page template in MS Word format.

Employee Handbook Template: 12-page template in MS Word format.

Every theatre should have a Disaster Plan to help guide you through the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” as Hamlet would say. It’s important to imagine the worst things that could happen and then the resources you need to recover from them.

According to statistics, 40% of small businesses don’t immediately open after a disaster, and of those, 25% close within a year, and 75% fail within three years.

As theatre leaders, we have all “hit the wall,” slamming into an emergency or a crisis so hard that we think to ourselves, “It’s impossible –my theatre will never come back from this.” Certainly COVID-19 was an experience of uncertainty common to all of us as we worked through that astonishing time together.