Administration is defined in the Random House Dictionary (Ballantine, 1978) as the management of an office, agency or organization. Therefore, policies in this section are concerned with the management, conduct and functioning of the agency itself, rather than the delivery of literacy services. Different organizations may wish to include the following policies with other titles or under different categories.

Some of the broader statements of beliefs, values and philosophies outlined in the last section on Organizational Policies will be emphasized here as they are translated into functional policies. These are what govern how to run the agency on a daily basis. This is the stage where you take a position such as your stated “commitment to equity” and draft the corresponding policies specifying how you will manage and implement it.

There are some general administrative policies which will apply to everyone involved with the agency, however administrative policies tend to focus on the three distinct groups that with carry out the functions of the agency. The staff, board members and volunteers loosely comprise “the administration.” Each respective group has such a unique set of roles and responsibilities so this section of the Guide has been divided to emphasize the policies appropriate to each group which apply in each case. Note that learners are not included as a group because they are not considered part of the administration of the organization, although some may also serve as board members or volunteers.

Without volunteers there would be no community-based literacy services. Indeed, volunteers form the very heart of literacy delivery to over 12,000 ^{Footnote 1} learners across Ontario. Therefore, it is understandable that the emphasis in community-based literacy administration is the management of the volunteer programs.While many of the policies which cover paid staff may also apply to volunteers, other policies must be designed for the distinct realities of volunteer administration.