Whether a facilities manager for a nonprofit is charged with overseeing a charitable foundation, a museum, library, shelter, clinic or other similar nonprofit organization, the buildings and facilities require the same level of maintenance and management as any similar asset within a for-profit organization.
For a nonprofit, the facilities, buildings, structures and grounds not only stand to represent the organization’s mission and commitment to the community, but they also provide a welcoming space for stakeholders and board members. As with for-profit organizations, responsible facilities management for a nonprofit means an effective management of resources, and a level of proactive maintenance that prevents unexpected equipment (or other asset) failure and any associated costs that come with those eventualities.
The fundamentals of facility management for nonprofits rely as heavily on operational support as they do the experience and sound judgment of the facilities manager. A facilities management team that works in the nonprofit sector should be keenly aware of the basic concepts and principles involved with facility management: areas such as maintenance, resource management, grounds keeping, security, safety and disaster preparedness, and construction planning. While dependence upon the capability of the facilities management team is often essential to an effective nonprofit operation, the overall success of a management program can be dramatically elevated by facilities management software tools.
For-profit institutions lean heavily on costly, complex systems that are specifically designed to fit the needs of their enterprise. A nonprofit organization requires a facilities management software system that is not only well-matched to the needs of the facilities management team but also offers a low cost of ownership and implementation – an application system such as PropertyTrak fits the bill.
Developed by AirMass, PropertyTrak is an integrated suite of desktop applications that was designed to reduce business processes and streamline operations – ideal benefits for large and medium-sized nonprofits (those with 6 to 250 buildings) that may include headquarters, community centers, retail outlets, museums, outreach centers or other related facilities in the communities they serve. PropertyTrak offers facilities managers in nonprofit organizations a number of job-specific tools that mitigate time-consuming tasks related to managing their facilities.
Key PropertyTrak features for the nonprofit facilities manager:
Property Management Tools – An array of tools meant to track information on all properties operated by the organization. This collaborative online program manages property services, lease documents, project planning and quality standards.
Project Management Tools – Allow facilities managers to easily control and manage projects that involve multiple steps or multiple responsible parties (in a standard Gantt chart format). Includes tools that manage tasks with stringent budgets, timeframes and deliverables. Allows managers to easily track the progress of projects, manage budgets for materials and labor expenses, as well as ensure the delivery of resources to the project in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Preventive Maintenance – The PropertyTrak preventive maintenance tools allow the facilities manager to easily create maintenance tasks and schedules and assign tasks to staff or vendors associated with the organization. Tasks can be set up as one-time events or as reoccurring activities over weeks, months or years.
Process Communications – A web-based software communication tool for work notes and comments, project descriptions, and progress updates. Improves communications and assures timely notification of task status updates.
To learn more about leading technology advancements aimed at enhancing the productivity of facilities management, read the monthly blog articles here at PropertyTrak by AirMass.