The challenges faced by property managers who work in nonprofit environments are no different than those who work in the private sector. Nonprofits may exist as a charitable organization, a museum, or a medical clinic. These types of facilities and buildings often have a markedly different physical environment than those of the for-profit sector. Regardless, the buildings, equipment, and facilities require the same amount of maintenance and upkeep as any in a commercial office park, a bank, or a residential care facility.
Equipment must be maintained on a routine basis. Walkways cleared of snow during the winter. Air-handling units for the building may require service before the heat of summer begins. These are just a small number of routine efforts made by nonprofit facilities managers every day that demonstrate their commitment to continuing to serve their cause and community.
Any seasoned facilities manager knows that the life and peak operating efficiency of premise equipment in any building in any sector relies heavily on routinely-scheduled maintenance. For the facilities manager, the task is made all the easier when it can be planned, scheduled, and assigned labor with the least amount of paperwork.
In the for-profit sector, some facilities managers are afforded leading-edge project scheduling and tracking software that takes a good bit of the property management effort off their hands. Through software-assisted task and labor management, these applications help to ensure effective management of company resources, as well as keep proactive maintenance on schedule to prevent unexpected breakdowns of company assets. This kind of assisted facilities management process allows the organization to operate without unexpected bouts of downtime due to equipment failure or poorly-timed construction that negatively impacts the flow of work and people.
In the nonprofit environment, the facilities (and grounds that surround it) are just as important to board members, visitors, patrons, and staff as the physical locations owned and managed by a typical corporation. The well-maintained state of your buildings and facilities puts customers or donors in a welcoming environment. Given this knowledge, it is important for the facilities manager at a nonprofit to leverage the kinds of tools needed to expertly schedule and manage maintenance on the structures within the nonprofit, as well as the equipment. In addition, grounds keeping, security, safety and disaster preparedness, and construction planning are all areas of facilities management that can benefit from facilities management software such as the desktop application suite from PropertyTRAK.
Types of Nonprofits that may Benefit from PropertyTRAK Facilities Management Software
- Museums and Art Galleries
- Foundations and Charities
- Religious Organizations and Institutions
- Health Clinics and Hospitals
- Schools and Universities
- Zoos and Aquariums
- Libraries
As with their facilities management counterparts in a for-profit organization, the facilities managers in a nonprofit organization are relying more and more on computerized maintenance management systems to manage the construction, maintenance, and equipment servicing in their organizations. PropertyTRAK is an integrated suite of desktop applications that was developed to help facilities managers in mid-sized to large companies or nonprofits reduce business processes and streamline operations. As an added benefit to a nonprofit, the PropertyTRAK facilities management application also offers a low cost of ownership and implementation.