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By Kevin Lawrie
Since 1992, Sport Law has worked with hundreds of sport organizations to improve their operational effectiveness and enhance their governance practices. An important part of any organizational improvement includes reviewing governance and operational documents and processes to ensure they align with both expected legal standards and with leading practices in the sport sector. Our approach normally involves a review of relevant documents and conversations with a leadership team — which we capture in a comprehensive report containing suggested recommendations for improvement. These projects are not intended to be a ‘scorecard’ or an ‘analysis’ – but rather a ‘check-up’ to see if and where improvements can be made that can boost the organization’s operational effectiveness.
After having reviewed hundreds of policies and documentation over the years, we thought it might be helpful to share some of our leading practices.
Forming a Policy Review Committee
The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for overseeing a policy review, and this process should be led by the Board, but we recommend empowering a smaller group to do the work. In many organizations, a Governance Committee may have ‘policy review’ as part of their terms of reference. But consider striking an even smaller committee specifically for this purpose. For example, an ad-hoc committee could be formed that has a clear and narrow mandate and a sunset timeline of three or four months.
The committee's composition should be lean. Ideally, include one staff person and one director. For governance-related policies (like those covering Board matters or strategic oversight), the director should take the lead. For operational policies (such as day-to-day procedures for events or finances), the staff member can guide the process.
Involve subject matter experts as needed. For instance, if you're reviewing a selection policy, actively consult with your high-performance director—and go through the document line by line to gather their insights. This collaborative approach ensures the review is thorough and grounded in real-world application – but you do not need these experts reviewing every single policy and acting as members of the committee.
Establishing Timing for Reviews
Policy reviews should occur every two to three years to keep your documents current and responsive to changes in the sport sector. Make a habit of including a date at the bottom of each policy indicating when it was last reviewed.
If an issue arises during a Board meeting that highlights a potential policy gap but is not urgent, note it in the minutes and address it more thoroughly during the next scheduled review. This prevents reactive fixes and integrates improvements into a structured cycle.
Defining the Scope of the Review
Start by collecting all your policies in one place—internal ones like human resources and finances, as well as external-facing documents such as codes of conduct or conflict of interest policies. Also include operational policies like bingo event guidelines or sponsorship procedures. Aim to review everything at once.
Locate editable .doc versions of each policy—if something is only in .pdf format, convert it and fix any formatting issues. Some policies might be publicly available on your website, while others could be only used internally. Use the policy review process as an opportunity to organize your "policy suite". When the review is complete and updates are approved, the committee should be able to present a comprehensive package, saying, "Here are all our policies, ready for the next review in two years," with both editable and PDF versions available.
Making Updates
Get input from both the Board (for governance policies) and staff (for operational policies). This is also a chance to open the floor wider—solicit feedback from directors, staff, or even members by announcing the initiative. For example, you could distribute the following paragraph in a newsletter: "[Organization] has struck an ad-hoc policy review committee. If you have any comments or questions about current policies—or noticed anything missing or inaccurate—or if you believe [organization] needs a new policy to address a specific gap—please contact [director] who is leading the initiative. The policy review process is expected to take three (3) months."
Conduct a thorough audit of each policy document. Scan for outdated dates, references, or processes. For instance, your Concussion Policy might refer to the 5th International Consensus Statement on Concussions in Sport, but the 6th statement was released in 2023, so you will need to incorporate changes into an updated Concussion Policy. Similarly, the Canadian Anti-Doping Program was updated in 2021, requiring adjustments to any related anti-doping policies that were last updated before 2021. Other legislative updates, such as changes to criminal record check processes in certain provinces, might necessitate updates to your Screening Policy.
Check for inconsistencies or irrelevancies, like a complaint process that you never use or a document that references a non-existent position. Identify policy gaps as well – like a recent incident that caused confusion that a new policy could solve or the passage of a new law that has created a compliance need.
As a point of reference, our blogpost What Policies Does My Sport Organization Need? gives an overview of some of the more common policies for national, provincial and local sport organizations.
Not everything will require changes. Some policies, like a basic confidentiality policy template we drafted in 2011, remains largely unchanged even in 2025. Finally, update all documents for content and add a footer noting "Last reviewed and updated in [insert month, year]" to signal the document is active and current.
Securing Approval
Unless your bylaws explicitly require it, policies do not need member approval. Members should not delve into operational decisions and governance matters should always fall to the Board. New policies proposed by the committee might need extra vetting, such as review by external counsel, which could extend beyond the three-month timeline for the policy review.
Once recommendations are ready, the committee should present them to the Board for approval at the next meeting. Your organization should announce to the members that a policy review has taken place and the organization’s policies are updated. Any new policies could be attached to an email and all the links on your website should be updated. If other documents (such as a registration form) reference a policy, it is also important to alert members that your policies may not be the same as when the member last reviewed them. Finally, after approval and distribution, the ad-hoc committee's role is complete – and the committee can be dissolved until a new one is appointed in two or three years.
For a policy review, it may be difficult for the ad-hoc committee members to know which legislation has changed, how sector leading practices are evolving, and when a policy is outdated or inaccurate. This is where Sport Law can help your organization.
After reading this post, if you have any questions about your policies, the scope and timing of a policy review, how to get started (or how Sport Law can do the entire review for you!), or anything else that we’ve mentioned above – please feel free to contact Kevin Lawrie at klawrie@sportlaw.ca
