Project Management guide

Project Management keeps every job that has several steps in one place, so you, your team and your board can see what is left to do, who is doing it, and whether it is on time.

Open Project Management: https://www.allinonenonprofit.com/project-management/

1. Why use it

Most organizations keep their to-do lists in email threads, meeting minutes and people's heads. Things slip when a volunteer gets busy or a board member rotates off, and nobody notices until the deadline has passed.

Project Management fixes that by giving every job one shared list. Each step has a person and a date, and anyone with access can see where things stand.

The payoff: at your next board meeting, nobody has to ask "where are we on this?" The progress report answers it, on your letterhead, in one page.

Use it for anything with several steps and more than one person, for example:

setting up your organization on the platform (the Getting Started project, already there for you)
a reunion, gala, conference or open house
closing the year and filing the Form 990
a grant application
finding and welcoming new board members
launching or refreshing your website

2. Three words to know

Word	What it means
Project	One job with an end, such as "Reunion 2027" or "2026 Form 990".
Task	One step in that job, such as "Book the hotel block". Each task can have a person, a due date and notes.
Progress report	A one-page summary of a project for your Executive Director and board: how much is done, what is late, and who has what.

3. Your first ten minutes

Open Project Management. You will see a project called Getting Started. It is the step-by-step setup checklist for your organization.
Look at what is already ticked. The platform ticks the steps it can see you have done, such as filling in your profile or saving a letterhead. Click a ticked step to see why it was ticked.
Pick three tasks that matter this month. Click each one, choose a person and a due date, and press Save.
Open the Progress report tab. This is what your board will see.

Why start with Getting Started: it is the fastest way to learn the app, and it gets your organization fully set up at the same time.

4. Assign a task and set a date

Open a project and click the name of a task. A panel opens on the right.
Under Assigned to, choose a person. The list includes everyone with a seat, your board and your committees. To assign someone who is not on the list, a volunteer or a relative helping with a reunion, choose Someone else and type their name.
Set a Due date and, if it matters, a Priority.
Set the Status: To do, In progress, Blocked (waiting on something) or Done.
Press Save.

To finish a task, tick the box beside it. To leave a note for the next person, type in Add a comment at the bottom of the panel. Every change is kept under Comments and history, so you can always see who did what and when.

Why a person and a date: a task with nobody's name on it is a task nobody does. A date turns "someday" into a plan, and lets the report warn you when something is late.

The filters above the list help on a long project: search by word, show only what is not done or overdue, or show one person's tasks.

5. My tasks

The My tasks tab shows everything assigned to you across every project, with the soonest due first. Tick a task there to mark it done.

Why it helps: you do not have to open each project to know what you owe. Check it once a week.

6. Start a new project

Press New project, or choose one of the ready-made lists under your projects. Each ready-made list comes with every step already written.

Ready-made list	Use it when	The date you enter
Event planning	A reunion, gala, conference or open house	The event date
Annual financial review and Form 990	Closing the year, the CPA review or audit, and filing	The date your 990 is due
Grant application	Applying to a foundation or a government funder	The application deadline
Board recruitment	Finding, electing and welcoming new directors	The election date
Website launch	Building or refreshing your website	The launch date
Blank project	Anything else with steps	Optional

When you enter the date, every step gets its own due date counted from it. A reunion's venue booking, for example, comes due about eight months before the event. Change any date you like afterward.

On All In One For Profit, the year-end list is Year-end close and taxes, and the grant and board lists do not appear.

Why start from a list: the steps are the ones people most often forget. You start with a complete plan instead of a blank page.

7. Show your board

Open a project and choose the Progress report tab. It shows:

how much is done, overall and by section
who has what, and how much of it is late
what is overdue and what is blocked
what is coming up next and what was finished recently

There are three ways to get it to your board:

Print it or save it as a PDF

Press Print or save as PDF. It prints on your letterhead when one is saved in My Organization.

File it for the board packet

Press File in the Document Library for the board packet. A PDF copy is saved in your Document Library, tagged board-packet, so you can attach it to the meeting along with the agenda and minutes.

Send your board a link

Press Make a board link and copy it into an email. Anyone with the link can read the report without signing in, so it works for board members who do not have a seat. It shows names, never email addresses, and it always shows the latest progress. Press Turn the link off whenever you like; the old link then stops working for good.

Why it matters: the board's job is oversight. A current, honest report lets them see what is late and help, instead of finding out after the deadline.

8. People and names

The People tab lists everyone you can assign. Seat holders sign in with an email address, so they show by email until you give them a name. The owner or an admin can type the name there and press Save. Board and committee members already show by name.

9. Who can do what

Who	What they can do
Owner and admins	Everything, including board links and names on the People tab
Members who can make changes	Create projects, assign tasks, change dates, tick tasks done, comment
Read-only seats (viewer, staff, consultant without the pen)	See every project and report, but change nothing
Board members without a seat	Read a report through a board link

Plans: every plan, including the Launch Plan, includes the Getting Started project. Any number of other projects, blank or from a ready-made list, comes with AIONP Essentials and AIONP Complete.

Email: Project Management does not send email or notifications. People see their tasks under My tasks.

10. Questions people ask

A step was ticked for me, but we have not really finished it.

Untick it. The platform ticks each step only once, so it will not tick it again.

Can I add my own tasks to a ready-made list?

Yes. Press Add a task on any project, and give it a section if you want it grouped with others.

Can I rename a project or change its date?

Yes, on the Project details tab. Changing the project date there does not move the tasks' dates; change those on each task.

We finished. How do I put a project away?

On Project details, set the status to Done, or to Archived to hide it from the list.

Who sees the board link?

Only people you send it to. It cannot be guessed, it shows no email addresses, and turning it off ends it at once.

Questions any time: [email protected]