Where does the time go without templates?
When there is no shared template, every person starts from somewhere different. One copies last year’s agreement, which has an old clause. Another builds a new form from scratch. A third emails around asking “does anyone have the format?” Each step costs minutes, and the results are uneven. Over a year, across a team, those minutes add up, and the mistakes add risk.
A shared library removes the search and the guesswork.
What belongs in the library?
Look for documents your teams produce again and again. Common groups:
| Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| Finance | Payment request, petty cash form, expense claim, budget format |
| Procurement | Request form, quotation comparison, goods received note, vendor evaluation |
| People | Job description, interview scoring sheet, contract model, leave form |
| Programs | Concept note format, activity report, monitoring visit form, after action review |
| Governance | Meeting agenda, minutes format, conflict of interest declaration, decision log |
| Partnerships | Partner assessment, sub-grant agreement, MoU (memorandum of understanding) |
Do not try to cover everything at the start. Start with the top ten.
How to build it, step by step
- Audit what exists. Ask each team for the documents they reuse most. Collect the current versions.
- Pick the best version of each. Combine strengths and remove old clauses.
- Assign an owner. Each template has one named owner who approves changes.
- Add guidance. Put a short note on how to fill it in, and which parts must not change.
- Version and date it. Add a version number, an effective date and a next review date.
- Review before release. Have a second person check each template, especially contracts, before it goes live.
- Publish in one place. Tell everyone where the library lives and when to use it.
- Retire old copies. Remove old forms from shared drives and inboxes where you can.
How do you keep templates current?
An out-of-date template does more harm than none, since staff trust it.
- Review yearly. Check each template once a year, and when a law, a donor rule or a policy changes.
- Collect feedback. Give staff a simple way to say what does not work.
- Track changes. Keep a short change note on each template: what changed, when and why.
- Archive, do not delete. Keep old versions so you can show which one was in use at a given time. Check how long an NGO should keep its documents for retention.
How do you get people to use it?
People use what is easy. If the library is hard to find, they go back to old copies. To encourage use:
- Link to the library from the induction pack and the staff handbook.
- Name templates in plain words that match what people search for.
- Remove the old copies, and when someone sends an outdated form, point them to the library and do not accept the old one.
- Ask managers to model the habit.
For wider advice on structure, see how to organize NGO documents so people can find them.
A short example
A program officer needs a monitoring visit form. Without a library she asks around, receives three versions, and picks one at random. With a library she opens the Programs space and downloads the current form, which has a version number, a review date and a note on how to fill it in. Her form matches those of her colleagues, so the data can be compared across sites.
The same logic applies to a contract. When legal updates a clause, one template changes, and every new contract starts from the right text. Without a library, the old clause would sit in dozens of copies for years.
Keep the library small and trusted. Ten good templates that people use are worth more than a hundred that nobody can find. Check use once a year, and remove any template that nobody has opened.
Where EMPOBase fits
EMPOBase has a Templates Library in its Documents area, alongside spaces for Finance, People & HR, Operations and Programs & MEAL, plus Global Search and a Pending Review workflow. Read more on the platform page or contact us. The library gives you a shared home. Your team still decides which templates to create, who owns each and how often to review them.