There's a place near home that I work a volunteer at a couple of times a week.
There's a small staff - maybe 20 people. The copier room in the main office has all the usual EEOC, OSHA, and other posters hung up. You know the ones - all the applicable government regulations on minimum wage, working conditions, discrimination, hostile workplaces, workplace injuries, and so on. All the rules and regulations that apply to a small organization. No surprise; it's par for the course for every employer I've been at.
It's an educational institution, so there's kids about. That means that the employees and the volunteers all have to get yearly background checks done. Again, no surprise. At this point - having been in the Navy, with three adopted children - I've probably had more background checks done on me than any 10 normal people. Rules are rules, as they say.
The organization is a 501(c)3, so while I'm not involved in the financial side of things at all, I imagine there's quite a bit of paperwork and such involved with the accounting, reporting, and the like. Maintaining non-profit status can be a bit of a bear, from what I understand. Fortunately, they're able to have a full-time accountant to keep the books and file the right paperwork so they can keep their non-profit status.
They also get legal advice from another non-profit on how to avoid the various regulatory pitfalls that might cause them other problems with the government. There are certain things they have to avoid in order to maintain that status, and the government's kind of picky about it.
They were fortunate enough to be able to build a new facility a few years ago. There was quite a bit of wrangling with the municipalities involved... unfortunately, the property they bought spanned a township border, which lead to additional legal complications. Nothing insurmountable, though there were environmental regulations that came into play as well. All told, there were enough obstacles so that actually getting permission from the townships, county and state governments to break ground was something of a minor miracle.
The facility is indeed nice - there's the school, a library, a full gym, a modern cafeteria, and all the offices and meeting rooms you'd expect. I don't know for sure, but imagine that they get regular visits from the local building inspectors, fire chief, state health inspectors, and the like. I'm sure the school has it's own set of inspections and auditing to deal with as well. There are certainly state requirements for students (medical, dental, and attendance records), curriculum minimum standards to meet, national standardized tests they're required to administer and report, and so on. Oh, and reporting requirements as well, for a variety of health and safety issues.
So many rules and regulations to follow, but follow them they do.
So many entities at the local, state, and even federal level that have some form of authority or oversight.
So far, they've managed to keep all their i's dotted and t's crossed, and so keep their doors open.
So far.
I'm quite glad that's the case. It's a really good church.
Now... tell me again about this concept of "separation of church and state"?
No comments:
Post a Comment