Defining internal roles and relationships
The tasks and responsibilities of different committees, working groups and their heads, volunteers, board members and staff must be clearly defined.

Whatever the structure of the organization, the role of the board must be clearly defined from the beginning. The initiators of the group, or more likely the new board itself, will need to determine who is responsible for what: organizational plans, preparing agendas for meetings, fundraising, public relations, international relations, trainings, etc.

Here is list of tasks that helps determine the matrix of responsibilities: whose task it is

1. to set overall organizational goals, policies and priorities
2. to establish operating procedures for the organization
3. to evaluate activities and services
4. to hire staff
5. to raise funds
6. to develop project budgets
7. to develop the overall annual budget
8. to provide fiscal oversight
9. to carry out projects or services
10. to provide administrative support
11. to coordinate organizational activities
12. to recruit and coordinate volunteers and members
13. to devise media and public outreach strategies
14. to orient and train staff.

By clearly defining tasks and responsibilities you can make the work and procedures of the organization more efficient.

Most human rights groups begin as volunteer efforts. In the very beginning, it is usually the initiators themselves who do the work. Groups subsist for varying degrees of time in this state; if a new group has been able to recruit competent and committed volunteers outside of the initiators who can devote substantial time to the organization's activities, then the group may be able to survive for some time without a paid staff. Most groups, however, especially when they run several programs, feel strongly that a full-time staff is essential to cope with the demands of work and to operate professionally and efficiently. Few people are able to volunteer on a full-time basis for a very long time.

Whether and when to hire staff is a financial issue for most groups. Many groups start with only one paid staff member who coordinates volunteers and does much of the work him or herself. At this stage, board members may also be willing to take on some of the activities normally reserved for staff. This, however, should be regarded as a temporary situation, as it is crucial that once a staff and board are in place, their roles be distinct.

When the group managed to create paid positions and get the necessary funds for it, the transition from a largely voluntary effort to a staffed organization can cause difficulties if it is not handled carefully. As an organization's role becomes more defined and its work more structured, it may lose some of its egalitarian feeling. Volunteers may now feel that they are at the bottom of the hierarchy despite their dedicated service which they may have been working on for years. It is critical, therefore, that the board and the group's initiators consider the impact of hiring staff on whatever structure already exists, and take care that necessarily changing roles do not alienate volunteers who, despite their unpaid status, are vital to the organization's functioning. The board or initiators of the group can minimize such tensions by:

1. Organizing a strategic planning session, and meetings to discuss the necessary changes in the work and perhaps the statutes of the organization.
2. Ensuring that the staff persons chosen will be sensitive to volunteers' feelings and opinions.
3. Creating a democratic internal structure which minimizes hierarchy and maximizes volunteer participation.
4. Holding regular meetings where volunteers and staff exchange information and brainstorm together.
5. Appointing a staff member to serve as the long-term contact person for volunteers: recruiting, orienting, training and integrating volunteers into the office, and coordinating volunteer efforts.
6. Finding ways to recognize and reward volunteers.

However an organization may structure itself, groups with unclear lines of staff and board responsibility and ad hoc or arbitrary decision-making procedures tend to generate frustration and low morale among members and staff, leading to slower work, high turn-over and sometimes even a poor public image. If insufficient attention is paid to effectively structuring a group early in its existence and every time change is needed, changing patterns later may be difficult due to the inter-personal dynamics and agendas already firmly in place.
 

Establishing methodical procedures
Methodical procedures are important because they have a direct impact on an organization's ability to be efficient, trustworthy and credible - prerequisites for its effective functioning. Being organized generates trust in members, possible volunteers, other organizations, the press and funders as well.

At an early stage, it may seem unnecessary to develop formal procedures. Because the group is so small, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and there is so little physical information (documents, letters) yet that it seems a waste of time to worry about where or how it should be stored.

As the organization grows and accumulates data, however, the absence of specified procedures can lead to disorganization, as time is wasted looking for documents, duplicating the work of people, etc. Although it may seem fine for the few initiators of a group without an office to carry out their work according to their own individual systems, multiple systems make communication and access to each other's work difficult, and set a precedent which may be hard to reverse as the organization grows. Although it takes a little time to create such procedures, in the long run, efficiency is enhanced and conflicts over how things are to be done minimized.

It is good to establish the methods of dealing with:
· incoming materials: who deals with (responds to, stores) what;
· outgoing materials: what outgoing materials need to be approved beforehand, and where are copies of outgoing materials filed;
· storage and retrieval of information: where are press clippings, case files, etc. filed and by whom; where will the files be located and who will have access to them;· financial procedures: who is authorized to sign checks; how will the budget be monitored and by whom;
· under what conditions can a member of the board or staff be removed;· how will a prolonged absence from the organization be dealt with.

A rational filing system to keep track of records and other materials should be organized from the start, even if your materials are stored in cardboard boxes: they will expand rapidly, and it enhances efficiency if you always know where to find necessary documents.

Regular board and (if there is paid staff) staff meetings are also crucial, in order to secure the flow of information and the best distribution of tasks.