Well, now we know. Yesterday, the IRS announced that 275,000 US nonprofits have lost their tax exempt status. These nonprofits did not file the legally required paperwork for three consecutive years, and are now considered defunct in the IRS's eyes.
Certainly there has been enough notice, with repeated announcements from the IRS, state nonprofit associations and the nonprofit press and blogosphere, including here. But up until yesterday, we really didn't know how many nonprofits were non-operational, and it was surprising, at least to me, that it was this many. 275,000 represents over 14% of registered nonprofits, a huge number.
Agencies can apply for reinstatement, but few will, I suspect.
Here's the full article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Remote board participation
Let me start and the end and work back: Should board members be allowed/enabled to attend board meetings remotely by conference phone, conference video and/or Skype?
There's a confluence of events that's pushing us in this direction: A reduction in people's willingness to serve on boards resulting in a lessening of nonprofits dunning (or canning) board members who don't attend in person; the improvement of technology; the expansion of many nonprofits to multiple locations and, as a result, having board representation from those often disparate sites; top flight board members traveling for work less and being used to attending meetings electronically.
So, the next time you revise the part of your bylaws that deal with board attendance and quorums, should your nonprofit allow remote attendance? What's the impact on board cohesion and discussion? What's the policy impact? Is this simply inevitable?
I have a good friend who runs a large nonprofit in Virginia, one that recently merged with a nonprofit in another part of the state. Board members representing both service areas come to meetings with a video hook-up that's hosted at the agency location nearest to them. My friend notes that anyone doing this kind of thing needs a dedicated tech person at each site so that the staff or board members won't be distracted. My friend also feels the technology works well, dialogue is easy since everyone can see everyone else, and that it has increased attendance at meetings.
My question to him was, "..and what about the board member who is on the road and wants to attend via Skype?" He stopped and said, "We can accommodate that, but only to the point that our video screen fills up too much. We'll probably have to set a limit on that."
There you go. You don't want a future where board members never meet in groups, but at the same time, the trade off, if well done can benefit the organization tremendously by increasing board participation.
This will be interesting to watch unfold.
There's a confluence of events that's pushing us in this direction: A reduction in people's willingness to serve on boards resulting in a lessening of nonprofits dunning (or canning) board members who don't attend in person; the improvement of technology; the expansion of many nonprofits to multiple locations and, as a result, having board representation from those often disparate sites; top flight board members traveling for work less and being used to attending meetings electronically.
So, the next time you revise the part of your bylaws that deal with board attendance and quorums, should your nonprofit allow remote attendance? What's the impact on board cohesion and discussion? What's the policy impact? Is this simply inevitable?
I have a good friend who runs a large nonprofit in Virginia, one that recently merged with a nonprofit in another part of the state. Board members representing both service areas come to meetings with a video hook-up that's hosted at the agency location nearest to them. My friend notes that anyone doing this kind of thing needs a dedicated tech person at each site so that the staff or board members won't be distracted. My friend also feels the technology works well, dialogue is easy since everyone can see everyone else, and that it has increased attendance at meetings.
My question to him was, "..and what about the board member who is on the road and wants to attend via Skype?" He stopped and said, "We can accommodate that, but only to the point that our video screen fills up too much. We'll probably have to set a limit on that."
There you go. You don't want a future where board members never meet in groups, but at the same time, the trade off, if well done can benefit the organization tremendously by increasing board participation.
This will be interesting to watch unfold.
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Social Media for Nonprofits--sign up today.
This is going to be awesome. Darien is amazing and his work is top flight.''
Check out the release...and if you're in or near one of these cities, it's a must go:
Social Media for Nonprofits
Facebook’s monthly audience recently surpassed 500 million, making it the third largest
country on the planet. The world is changing under our feet and the interactive,
community-driven information revolution is here to stay. What are the tools, tricks, and
triumphs of social media that serve as an integral and essential component of any
nonprofit’s mission in the 21st century?
Social Media for Nonprofits is a nationwide conference series produced by industry experts. Our
goal is equipping nonprofit professionals with the strategies, tools, and tactics needed for
success in today’s digital age. Panelists, presenters, partners, and sponsors will offer
actionable lessons from the frontlines of social change, and connect thousands of attendees
to the resources and relationships needed to implement, monitor, and grow peer-to-peer
campaigns online. Seminars and case studies will provide attendees with concrete insights
and takeaways, showcasing best practices on a wide array of relevant topics, including:
• Insight Into the Latest, High Profile Viral Marketing Campaigns
• Resource Review of Low-Cost and Free Social Media Tools
• Monitoring and Optimizing the Impact of your Campaigns
• Social Email Campaigns: What Works and What Doesn’t
• Tweets that Travel: The Essential Skill of Viral Writing
• Using Social Media for Lobbying and Advocacy
• Selling Social Media to your Executive Director
• Identifying and Connecting with Influencers
• Maximizing your Facebook Presence
• Fundraising with Social Media
Curated and MCed by Darian Rodriguez Heyman, the former Executive Director of
Craigslist Foundation and Editor of Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide
for Leaders and Professionals, these events will help attendees better grasp the challenges and
opportunities this new landscape presents for nonprofits and causes.
Registration for the full-day conferences will be $95, and will include admission to the book
release party that follows. Coffee, tea, and lunch will be provided during the day, and drinks
and hors d’oeuvres will be served at the party. We expect an audience of 250-350 nonprofit
professionals for each conference and 250-500 for the evening programs.
NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network (www.nten.org) is providing fiscal sponsorship
of the program and will receive a portion of the proceeds. The series will be promoted by a
variety of partner organizations and media sponsors, as well as through social media and
nonprofit blogs. To date we have confirmed The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Idealist.org,
YNPN, Taproot Foundation, Network for Good, Humanity in Action, RSF Social Finance,
Echoing Green, WiserEarth, and Ashoka’s YouthVenture.
Social Media for Nonprofits is currently planning eight dates across six cities along the following
2011 timeline:
• San Francisco, CA: May 3
• New York City, NY: May 10/11
• Washington, DC: June 7/8
• Chicago, IL: June 21/22
• Atlanta, GA: July 12/13
• Los Angeles, CA: July 19/20
• San Francisco, CA: Oct. 4/5
• New York City, NY: Nov. 8/9
If you are interested in learning more or supporting Social Media for Nonprofits, please contact
Darian Rodriguez Heyman at (415) 637-5062 or darian@darianheyman.com.
Check out the release...and if you're in or near one of these cities, it's a must go:
Social Media for Nonprofits
Facebook’s monthly audience recently surpassed 500 million, making it the third largest
country on the planet. The world is changing under our feet and the interactive,
community-driven information revolution is here to stay. What are the tools, tricks, and
triumphs of social media that serve as an integral and essential component of any
nonprofit’s mission in the 21st century?
Social Media for Nonprofits is a nationwide conference series produced by industry experts. Our
goal is equipping nonprofit professionals with the strategies, tools, and tactics needed for
success in today’s digital age. Panelists, presenters, partners, and sponsors will offer
actionable lessons from the frontlines of social change, and connect thousands of attendees
to the resources and relationships needed to implement, monitor, and grow peer-to-peer
campaigns online. Seminars and case studies will provide attendees with concrete insights
and takeaways, showcasing best practices on a wide array of relevant topics, including:
• Insight Into the Latest, High Profile Viral Marketing Campaigns
• Resource Review of Low-Cost and Free Social Media Tools
• Monitoring and Optimizing the Impact of your Campaigns
• Social Email Campaigns: What Works and What Doesn’t
• Tweets that Travel: The Essential Skill of Viral Writing
• Using Social Media for Lobbying and Advocacy
• Selling Social Media to your Executive Director
• Identifying and Connecting with Influencers
• Maximizing your Facebook Presence
• Fundraising with Social Media
Curated and MCed by Darian Rodriguez Heyman, the former Executive Director of
Craigslist Foundation and Editor of Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide
for Leaders and Professionals, these events will help attendees better grasp the challenges and
opportunities this new landscape presents for nonprofits and causes.
Registration for the full-day conferences will be $95, and will include admission to the book
release party that follows. Coffee, tea, and lunch will be provided during the day, and drinks
and hors d’oeuvres will be served at the party. We expect an audience of 250-350 nonprofit
professionals for each conference and 250-500 for the evening programs.
NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network (www.nten.org) is providing fiscal sponsorship
of the program and will receive a portion of the proceeds. The series will be promoted by a
variety of partner organizations and media sponsors, as well as through social media and
nonprofit blogs. To date we have confirmed The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Idealist.org,
YNPN, Taproot Foundation, Network for Good, Humanity in Action, RSF Social Finance,
Echoing Green, WiserEarth, and Ashoka’s YouthVenture.
Social Media for Nonprofits is currently planning eight dates across six cities along the following
2011 timeline:
• San Francisco, CA: May 3
• New York City, NY: May 10/11
• Washington, DC: June 7/8
• Chicago, IL: June 21/22
• Atlanta, GA: July 12/13
• Los Angeles, CA: July 19/20
• San Francisco, CA: Oct. 4/5
• New York City, NY: Nov. 8/9
If you are interested in learning more or supporting Social Media for Nonprofits, please contact
Darian Rodriguez Heyman at (415) 637-5062 or darian@darianheyman.com.
Friday, February 04, 2011
Pushback on Going to Scale
We're all so trendy. We follow the leader and often let someone else decide what we should do; what color tie/dress/shoes/suit we should wear, what jargon/slang we should use. What's in is SO important to us.
And I'm as guilty as anyone in following the trends-well, except in fashion, where my daughter and wife will tell you I'm hopeless.
That aside, the trend I want to push back on today is the far too common one from funders (foundations, corporations and governments) about funding only ideas that can be "taken to scale".
On the surface, and from the funders point of view, this makes eminent sense: if I fund one project in one city and it can be replicated elsewhere, I get more bang for the buck. The problem with this, as with so many ideas generated at the 30,000 foot level, comes on the ground. Nonprofits seeking funding are forced (implicitly or explicitly) to favor ideas that can work broadly. This causes them turn away from going after more customized solutions to local (and often unique) problems that can help their community.
Moreover, in seeking "models" that can be duplicated elsewhere, the 30,000 foot view forgets that no model is replicable without exactly the right people. What causes a program or solution to work in one place is a potpourri of the location, the issue, the people, the timing, the politics, even the geography. To assume you can just replicate the model elsewhere is...naive, and not borne out by experience. It takes a ton of work (and money)--and adjustment to the local situation on the ground.
Further, by taking funding that urges them to go to scale with their idea, nonprofits (and the funders) often forget the truth on the ground: In rapid growth situations, the two things that an organization most easily runs out of are quality and cash. If growth is the priority, what do you do, take your worst manager to open your new expanded facility or location? No, you take your best person--and in doing so remove that best person from what she's doing now--awesome, high quality mission.
And, in many organizations that have been beaten down by funders' focus on low administrative costs, there aren't more managers to just plug into program that your best manager just left. So the funder may well have first left the nonprofit under-administered and now wants it to grow. Hmmm.
Speaking of under-administered, let's get under-funding in terms of the cash cost of growth. This is huge, and, again, mostly under-appreciated by funders. The funding options I often see in the nonprofit world are for a one time grant, with the desired outcome of a scalable, replicable idea. If the idea "fails", no more funding.
What happens in the for-profit, venture capital world? A great idea gets an initial round of funding with several more rounds of financing as the business grows. Why? Because growth sucks up cash like a giant vacuum cleaner. And, venture capitalists know the idea will morph and change over time as implementation experience is added to the mix. There's no model, just the current situation on the ground. Nonprofit funders could learn a lot from embedding themselves in a VC firm for a year.
The bottom line for me is to be very, very careful when someone tells you to go to scale. Look at all the costs of taking the money: the stress on your current program, the potential loss of focus, the cash cost of growth, and look at it all before you obligate your organization.
And I'm as guilty as anyone in following the trends-well, except in fashion, where my daughter and wife will tell you I'm hopeless.
That aside, the trend I want to push back on today is the far too common one from funders (foundations, corporations and governments) about funding only ideas that can be "taken to scale".
On the surface, and from the funders point of view, this makes eminent sense: if I fund one project in one city and it can be replicated elsewhere, I get more bang for the buck. The problem with this, as with so many ideas generated at the 30,000 foot level, comes on the ground. Nonprofits seeking funding are forced (implicitly or explicitly) to favor ideas that can work broadly. This causes them turn away from going after more customized solutions to local (and often unique) problems that can help their community.
Moreover, in seeking "models" that can be duplicated elsewhere, the 30,000 foot view forgets that no model is replicable without exactly the right people. What causes a program or solution to work in one place is a potpourri of the location, the issue, the people, the timing, the politics, even the geography. To assume you can just replicate the model elsewhere is...naive, and not borne out by experience. It takes a ton of work (and money)--and adjustment to the local situation on the ground.
Further, by taking funding that urges them to go to scale with their idea, nonprofits (and the funders) often forget the truth on the ground: In rapid growth situations, the two things that an organization most easily runs out of are quality and cash. If growth is the priority, what do you do, take your worst manager to open your new expanded facility or location? No, you take your best person--and in doing so remove that best person from what she's doing now--awesome, high quality mission.
And, in many organizations that have been beaten down by funders' focus on low administrative costs, there aren't more managers to just plug into program that your best manager just left. So the funder may well have first left the nonprofit under-administered and now wants it to grow. Hmmm.
Speaking of under-administered, let's get under-funding in terms of the cash cost of growth. This is huge, and, again, mostly under-appreciated by funders. The funding options I often see in the nonprofit world are for a one time grant, with the desired outcome of a scalable, replicable idea. If the idea "fails", no more funding.
What happens in the for-profit, venture capital world? A great idea gets an initial round of funding with several more rounds of financing as the business grows. Why? Because growth sucks up cash like a giant vacuum cleaner. And, venture capitalists know the idea will morph and change over time as implementation experience is added to the mix. There's no model, just the current situation on the ground. Nonprofit funders could learn a lot from embedding themselves in a VC firm for a year.
The bottom line for me is to be very, very careful when someone tells you to go to scale. Look at all the costs of taking the money: the stress on your current program, the potential loss of focus, the cash cost of growth, and look at it all before you obligate your organization.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Webinar listing for February 2011
As regular readers know, having a culture of life-long learning is a key component of success for any nonprofit.
Leading that culture by example is the job of senior management.
"But I just can't get away right now" is the early foreshadowing of failure in this crucial area.
So, stay at your desk and choose one (or more) of over 30 webinars for nonprofits listed on the Wild Apricot Blog yesterday. A shout out to them for gathering all this information.
Go. Learn. Be brilliant......and show your staff that they should do the same.
Leading that culture by example is the job of senior management.
"But I just can't get away right now" is the early foreshadowing of failure in this crucial area.
So, stay at your desk and choose one (or more) of over 30 webinars for nonprofits listed on the Wild Apricot Blog yesterday. A shout out to them for gathering all this information.
Go. Learn. Be brilliant......and show your staff that they should do the same.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Keys to Smart Stewardship
I'm working on a new book tentatively titled: Smart Stewardship: Making the Best Decisions for Your Nonprofit. The book will contain some new ideas on innovation, growth, going to scale and a decision tree for both board and staff to use.
This month's Mission-Based Management Newsletter contains the first of two part series on the key elements of Smart Stewardship. In the next issue, I'll lay out my decision tree.
Take a look and feedback is welcome!
This month's Mission-Based Management Newsletter contains the first of two part series on the key elements of Smart Stewardship. In the next issue, I'll lay out my decision tree.
Take a look and feedback is welcome!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Junk food or no food?
Tough times always equal tough choices. For families, for businesses, for governments and for nonprofits. And therein lies today's discussion:
Trust me, I know every reader out there works or volunteers for a nonprofit that has a great and valuable mission. That said, I challenge any of you to say your mission is MORE mission rich (not equal, but MORE) than those organizations among us that feed the hungry.
Thus, there is extra poignancy in the piece posted January 13 on the NPR website entitled "Overburdened Foodbanks Can't Say No to Junk".
I'm sure you can guess the tradeoffs reported in the story. Junk food or no food. Or less food.
And, you can see in the interviews that the staff of the foodbanks are really working the problem, not simply accepting a downgrade in the nutrition level of the food they are handing out.
Good for them, and there is NO criticism implied here.
That said, this kind of dilemma faces nonprofit staff and boards everywhere in a recession. How much less quality can/should we do? When should we stop a service rather than do it less optimally than we would prefer? These are hard strategic and mission questions, and ones I wouldn't be surprised if most readers have faced. I can't tell you what the right level of service/quality is for your organization; only you and your board can make that decision.
But I do have a couple of suggestions on process.
First, well before you have to make very hard decisions, develop a decision tree/format/sequence that everyone has input into and then agrees on. Rely heavily on your mission and values in developing this decision tree. Next, practice using the decision tree with a couple of real world cases to see how it works. Finally, apply it to staff meetings, board sessions and larger strategy meetings.
If everyone is both aware of as well as on the same page regarding HOW decisions are made, they'll be more comfortable with all the outcomes. This is not to say they'll love the decisions: Sometimes the best decision is simply the least worst.
I'd put junk food in that category.
Trust me, I know every reader out there works or volunteers for a nonprofit that has a great and valuable mission. That said, I challenge any of you to say your mission is MORE mission rich (not equal, but MORE) than those organizations among us that feed the hungry.
Thus, there is extra poignancy in the piece posted January 13 on the NPR website entitled "Overburdened Foodbanks Can't Say No to Junk".
I'm sure you can guess the tradeoffs reported in the story. Junk food or no food. Or less food.
And, you can see in the interviews that the staff of the foodbanks are really working the problem, not simply accepting a downgrade in the nutrition level of the food they are handing out.
Good for them, and there is NO criticism implied here.
That said, this kind of dilemma faces nonprofit staff and boards everywhere in a recession. How much less quality can/should we do? When should we stop a service rather than do it less optimally than we would prefer? These are hard strategic and mission questions, and ones I wouldn't be surprised if most readers have faced. I can't tell you what the right level of service/quality is for your organization; only you and your board can make that decision.
But I do have a couple of suggestions on process.
First, well before you have to make very hard decisions, develop a decision tree/format/sequence that everyone has input into and then agrees on. Rely heavily on your mission and values in developing this decision tree. Next, practice using the decision tree with a couple of real world cases to see how it works. Finally, apply it to staff meetings, board sessions and larger strategy meetings.
If everyone is both aware of as well as on the same page regarding HOW decisions are made, they'll be more comfortable with all the outcomes. This is not to say they'll love the decisions: Sometimes the best decision is simply the least worst.
I'd put junk food in that category.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Updates and reflections
I've had a week, no, ten days now sitting most of the day with my laptop in my, well, lap. I had surgery on January 4 (new hip) and am doing really well, thank you very much.
The reason I'm telling you that is that I've had LOTS of time to do two long delayed jobs: updating my website links and content, and starting a new book on nonprofit decision-making. The updating has allowed me to reflect and be yet again awed by how many thousands of resources are available online for nonprofits. To any of you under forty, this statement probably results in a "Yeah, so?" But to anyone over 50 who can still remember the 80's or early 90's, you are probably saying "Yeah!" because of how much improvement there has been.
And this spills over into the new book. When my first book, Mission-Based Management, was being researched in 1992-3, I did a quick (well, nothing was quick then) search on Compuserve (remember Compuserve?) for "nonprofit management" and found three (3), THREE titles, one of which was an early edition of Bruce Hopkins' terrific books on nonprofit law. There was nothing for nonprofit marketers (some stuff on fund-raising, but not on marketing) nothing on technology, nothing (NOTHING!) on nonprofit boards.
And to access the few books or papers that were there, anyone interested had to find a Foundation Center outpost at a regional or University library. If you didn't live in a town with one of these collections, you were screwed. Oh, these Foundation Center collections were also where you went if you wanted any information on the funding interests of a particular Foundation. Think how hard it had to be just to startup a nonprofit. Go google the search string "How do I start a nonprofit" and see what happens? I could darn near start a nonprofit from my house while recovering from surgery.
But back to books: If you go to Amazon.com right now and just look at the first page of results from a search for books in the area of "nonprofit management" you'll see twelve (of the 4,265 total hits) books that are ALL awesome. How wonderful for the sector.
My point is not how hard we old folks had it in the past. Rather, it's to celebrate how far we've come. If there are people who feel that nonprofits should be better managed (and trust me, that's a huge improvement in itself from 1985) and publishers who think that material will sell, it's because there's a demand for that message from board, staff and funders.
That said, with all this excellent information out there in print and online, we're confronted with the sad fact that there are still only 24 hours in the day. We can't just sit at our computers and read, or in our offices and read, or go to webinars, or look at HowCast videos. We have organizations to run.
We have all this amazing information at our fingertips that can improve our nonprofit's mission-capability and not enough time to use it all.
So what to do? My suggestion for nonprofit leaders is to set an example as a life-long learning and tell your staff that you expect them to do the same thing. Delegate the search for good ideas online and in print to all your staff (yes, all) and have regular discussions about what's been learned. You can have a book club, sure; they're great. But you can also have "website" clubs, or online magazine clubs, or .pdf article clubs, or webinar clubs where you all experience (read, listen, watch) the same thing and then discuss how to utilize what you've learned to the benefit of the people your organization serves.
Happy learning!
The reason I'm telling you that is that I've had LOTS of time to do two long delayed jobs: updating my website links and content, and starting a new book on nonprofit decision-making. The updating has allowed me to reflect and be yet again awed by how many thousands of resources are available online for nonprofits. To any of you under forty, this statement probably results in a "Yeah, so?" But to anyone over 50 who can still remember the 80's or early 90's, you are probably saying "Yeah!" because of how much improvement there has been.
And this spills over into the new book. When my first book, Mission-Based Management, was being researched in 1992-3, I did a quick (well, nothing was quick then) search on Compuserve (remember Compuserve?) for "nonprofit management" and found three (3), THREE titles, one of which was an early edition of Bruce Hopkins' terrific books on nonprofit law. There was nothing for nonprofit marketers (some stuff on fund-raising, but not on marketing) nothing on technology, nothing (NOTHING!) on nonprofit boards.
And to access the few books or papers that were there, anyone interested had to find a Foundation Center outpost at a regional or University library. If you didn't live in a town with one of these collections, you were screwed. Oh, these Foundation Center collections were also where you went if you wanted any information on the funding interests of a particular Foundation. Think how hard it had to be just to startup a nonprofit. Go google the search string "How do I start a nonprofit" and see what happens? I could darn near start a nonprofit from my house while recovering from surgery.
But back to books: If you go to Amazon.com right now and just look at the first page of results from a search for books in the area of "nonprofit management" you'll see twelve (of the 4,265 total hits) books that are ALL awesome. How wonderful for the sector.
My point is not how hard we old folks had it in the past. Rather, it's to celebrate how far we've come. If there are people who feel that nonprofits should be better managed (and trust me, that's a huge improvement in itself from 1985) and publishers who think that material will sell, it's because there's a demand for that message from board, staff and funders.
That said, with all this excellent information out there in print and online, we're confronted with the sad fact that there are still only 24 hours in the day. We can't just sit at our computers and read, or in our offices and read, or go to webinars, or look at HowCast videos. We have organizations to run.
We have all this amazing information at our fingertips that can improve our nonprofit's mission-capability and not enough time to use it all.
So what to do? My suggestion for nonprofit leaders is to set an example as a life-long learning and tell your staff that you expect them to do the same thing. Delegate the search for good ideas online and in print to all your staff (yes, all) and have regular discussions about what's been learned. You can have a book club, sure; they're great. But you can also have "website" clubs, or online magazine clubs, or .pdf article clubs, or webinar clubs where you all experience (read, listen, watch) the same thing and then discuss how to utilize what you've learned to the benefit of the people your organization serves.
Happy learning!
Monday, January 03, 2011
Your tax cuts to charity?
Interesting idea in an article today in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. A new site called Give It Back For Jobs is designed to help anyone who wants to to give their tax cut back. There's a method of calculating your tax benefits, and links to four charities as well as the option to name your own and do the donation right on the site.
As I say, interesting idea, and I hope it works!
As I say, interesting idea, and I hope it works!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
A good resource listing
Got a note a few days back from Shawn Fisher at Online Schools about a listing of resources for students in nonprofit management at various online schools.
This blog is included (if mis-named) along with a ton of great places for you to check out.
In addition, Online Schools offers you a search option to find online educational opportunities in nonprofit management--but only at the Master's level. Since I know of a number on online schools, none of which weren't listed as "recommended, it's hard to tell what drives the recommendations, but still the resource list is good.
This blog is included (if mis-named) along with a ton of great places for you to check out.
In addition, Online Schools offers you a search option to find online educational opportunities in nonprofit management--but only at the Master's level. Since I know of a number on online schools, none of which weren't listed as "recommended, it's hard to tell what drives the recommendations, but still the resource list is good.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Just in time for the holidays
The IRS has announced that they are going to be scrutinizing nonprofits even more in the coming year. Good idea, but poor timing, to say the least.
That said, better oversight is important, and I fully support it, within the context of the new 990, and focusing on both educating nonprofits in how to best report and then going after people who abuse the system.
I read earlier some blogs that decried this "new attack on charities" but really, with so many nonprofits and so much abuse, we need some help in policing the sector. The IRS audits went up 30% from 2008-2009 and another 12% in 2010.
This article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy does a good job of laying out what's coming and what you should be paying attention to. Payroll taxes and loans to executives and trustees (which always falls into the category of what were you thinking?) are high on the list.
Check out the article and be prepared.
That said, better oversight is important, and I fully support it, within the context of the new 990, and focusing on both educating nonprofits in how to best report and then going after people who abuse the system.
I read earlier some blogs that decried this "new attack on charities" but really, with so many nonprofits and so much abuse, we need some help in policing the sector. The IRS audits went up 30% from 2008-2009 and another 12% in 2010.
This article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy does a good job of laying out what's coming and what you should be paying attention to. Payroll taxes and loans to executives and trustees (which always falls into the category of what were you thinking?) are high on the list.
Check out the article and be prepared.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Is there an app for common sense?
Got an iPhone? Want to make a donation to a worthy nonprofit via an app that the charity provides? No can do.
What? We're in an era where just about everything except using the toilet is migrating to smart phones and you can't donate from your phone? What's that about?
Well, ONLY if your smart phone is an iPhone, according to this article from the New York Times posted yesterday. An Android phone is fine. Hmmmm, and I thought Apple was always on the cutting edge of awesome.
This is ridiculous, and good for Beth Kanter for spearheading a movement to get it changed.
What? We're in an era where just about everything except using the toilet is migrating to smart phones and you can't donate from your phone? What's that about?
Well, ONLY if your smart phone is an iPhone, according to this article from the New York Times posted yesterday. An Android phone is fine. Hmmmm, and I thought Apple was always on the cutting edge of awesome.
This is ridiculous, and good for Beth Kanter for spearheading a movement to get it changed.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Nonprofit Culture--a decoding
Just got my copy of a great new book on nonprofit culture. It's called The Nonprofit Organizational Culture Guide: Revealing the Hidden Truths that Impact Performance, by Paige Hull Teegarden, Denise Rothman Hinden, and Paul Sturm.
This book has a ton of good usable information for your nonprofit. Check it out!
This book has a ton of good usable information for your nonprofit. Check it out!
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Cautionary Tale
Regular readers will remember me discussing the very sad case of Family Connections, the terrific Austin, TX nonprofit that had to close down after its ED stole hundreds of thousands of dollars not only from that nonprofit, but also from her church and the state association of nonprofits like Family Connections. She vanished after an audit, but was arrested last week after returning from Venezuela.
Why discuss this now? Well, millions of people in the US are being besieged now for year-end tax deductible donations from charities far and wide. Stories like this make it harder for nonprofits of all types and sizes to convince people to part from their money.
So, if your organization is out and about asking for donations, one thing not to do is hesitate when someone wants information on your nonprofit's finances, outcomes and impact. And that means you have to have your data and positive stories ready in advance.
Why discuss this now? Well, millions of people in the US are being besieged now for year-end tax deductible donations from charities far and wide. Stories like this make it harder for nonprofits of all types and sizes to convince people to part from their money.
So, if your organization is out and about asking for donations, one thing not to do is hesitate when someone wants information on your nonprofit's finances, outcomes and impact. And that means you have to have your data and positive stories ready in advance.
Monday, November 29, 2010
A good place to start on Cyber Monday
For many years, our family has exchanged gifts of donations to nonprofits. My wife and kids will make a donation to a charity that they like, and give me a note, or card to open on Christmas day that lets me know about the donation. I love this, and my kids ask for the same thing--sometimes even suggesting the charity.
We also do this for birthdays and other big events, and I know many other families are similarly-minded.
All of which leads me on this Cyber Monday to point you to TisBest Philanthropy. At this nonprofit site, you can purchase a gift card for the holidays, birthdays, anniversary, weddings, whatever. You can get a plastic card to give, or a note, or just have an email sent. Then, the recipient goes back to the website and chooses from one of hundreds of legitimate nonprofits from all parts of the nonprofit sector.
This is a good idea, and one I hope succeeds. In fact, I'm giving my wife a card from TisBest this Christmas...shhh, don't tell her!
We also do this for birthdays and other big events, and I know many other families are similarly-minded.
All of which leads me on this Cyber Monday to point you to TisBest Philanthropy. At this nonprofit site, you can purchase a gift card for the holidays, birthdays, anniversary, weddings, whatever. You can get a plastic card to give, or a note, or just have an email sent. Then, the recipient goes back to the website and chooses from one of hundreds of legitimate nonprofits from all parts of the nonprofit sector.
This is a good idea, and one I hope succeeds. In fact, I'm giving my wife a card from TisBest this Christmas...shhh, don't tell her!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Many hands, light work
Most of us donate some of our time, talent and/or treasure to nonprofits.
In the treasure department, I'm all about aggregators for charity donations. Whether loans through Kiva, or direct donations through groups like DonorsChoose, or GlobalGiving, a group of us can help an individual or small group by each pitching in a few dollars. There are dozens of other sites like these, some that get a worthy social enterprise going, or a highly creative idea, like KickStarter.
So, we have a way to micro target our donations of money, but what about our time and talent? I can volunteer on a ton of websites, but that usually means the standard volunteer positions that take up a lot of time and require a longer commitment. What if I just have a little bit of time, or am interested in solving a vexing problem for a nonprofit?
Enter Sparked, a cool and growing solution for just this problem. Not only can your nonprofit post needs, or individuals (or small groups) provide help, but Sparked also encourages and facilitates small business and large corporations to facilitate volunteering through the site.
Very cool...check it out.
In the treasure department, I'm all about aggregators for charity donations. Whether loans through Kiva, or direct donations through groups like DonorsChoose, or GlobalGiving, a group of us can help an individual or small group by each pitching in a few dollars. There are dozens of other sites like these, some that get a worthy social enterprise going, or a highly creative idea, like KickStarter.
So, we have a way to micro target our donations of money, but what about our time and talent? I can volunteer on a ton of websites, but that usually means the standard volunteer positions that take up a lot of time and require a longer commitment. What if I just have a little bit of time, or am interested in solving a vexing problem for a nonprofit?
Enter Sparked, a cool and growing solution for just this problem. Not only can your nonprofit post needs, or individuals (or small groups) provide help, but Sparked also encourages and facilitates small business and large corporations to facilitate volunteering through the site.
Very cool...check it out.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Looking at Nonprofits in a better way
Charity Navigator has gotten a lot of press lately for a laudable revamp of its system of grading nonprofits, focusing more on outcomes and less on the totally useless metric of administrative percentage. Good for them, and I hope other online watchdogs as well as foundations and government funders pay attention to Guidestar's process and what they decide to look at.
Here's a New York Times story from yesterday on the subject.
Measuring true outcomes is often very, very difficult; something more funders need to both recognize and fund. Fewer and fewer charities are playing the old game of "we're doing good, so give us money and trust us". Some are still trying to sell their activity levels "we saw 300 people this month as opposed to last month", but more are concerned with outcomes, as in "we got 23 people living wage jobs this month that will help them become more self sufficient."
This is an issue all of us need to keep up on.
Here's a New York Times story from yesterday on the subject.
Measuring true outcomes is often very, very difficult; something more funders need to both recognize and fund. Fewer and fewer charities are playing the old game of "we're doing good, so give us money and trust us". Some are still trying to sell their activity levels "we saw 300 people this month as opposed to last month", but more are concerned with outcomes, as in "we got 23 people living wage jobs this month that will help them become more self sufficient."
This is an issue all of us need to keep up on.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Here we go again...to what end?
The entire issue of congress/state legislatures looking and overseeing nonprofit management salaries drives me a bit nuts.
Here is just the latest example from today's New York Times.
I'm mildly torn: some nonprofit CEO salaries do seem high to me in my tax bracket, but so do pretty much all for-profit CEO salaries. I frankly don't believe any business person is worth multiple millions a year. If I were a shareholder of a corporation that pays that much to top management, I'd be rightly upset.
So, should donors be upset about "high" management salaries for hospitals, universities or national charities? Well, they can be, and they can withhold their donations. That's free enterprise. States and the feds can as well, but for congress (with it's free health care for life, I might add) to decide what's "high", or for a state legislature to limit CEO compensation (for for-profits as well, to be fair, at least in New Jersey) bothers me greatly.
Large nonprofits are, well, large, complex organizations, with thousands of employees and huge assets at risk. The people who run them should be paid according to market scale, with the understanding that the market is somewhat ameliorated by the mission satisfaction of what the organization is doing.
The tragedy of all this discussion is that these legislators are only looking at how to cut cost in a high profile way to get a little PR shelter. Most legislatures have been politically cowardly about balancing their budgets (i.e.raising taxes) for decades and their prior acts are now biting them on the butt. They prefer to distract us all by saying "Look at her! She's paid too much! She works for a charity! Take out your angst on her, not us!"
What about the fact that for hundreds of thousands of staff at smaller nonprofits, salaries (even at the top of the organization) have never been close to even adequate, since the same state and federal officials who now pine over .01% of nonprofit salaries have never considered paying a reasonable rate for the very, very needed services these nonprofits provide so that their employees could live reasonably?
In a society that delegates so many of its toughest problems to the nonprofit sector, shouldn't some consideration be made for the people that work there?
Here is just the latest example from today's New York Times.
I'm mildly torn: some nonprofit CEO salaries do seem high to me in my tax bracket, but so do pretty much all for-profit CEO salaries. I frankly don't believe any business person is worth multiple millions a year. If I were a shareholder of a corporation that pays that much to top management, I'd be rightly upset.
So, should donors be upset about "high" management salaries for hospitals, universities or national charities? Well, they can be, and they can withhold their donations. That's free enterprise. States and the feds can as well, but for congress (with it's free health care for life, I might add) to decide what's "high", or for a state legislature to limit CEO compensation (for for-profits as well, to be fair, at least in New Jersey) bothers me greatly.
Large nonprofits are, well, large, complex organizations, with thousands of employees and huge assets at risk. The people who run them should be paid according to market scale, with the understanding that the market is somewhat ameliorated by the mission satisfaction of what the organization is doing.
The tragedy of all this discussion is that these legislators are only looking at how to cut cost in a high profile way to get a little PR shelter. Most legislatures have been politically cowardly about balancing their budgets (i.e.raising taxes) for decades and their prior acts are now biting them on the butt. They prefer to distract us all by saying "Look at her! She's paid too much! She works for a charity! Take out your angst on her, not us!"
What about the fact that for hundreds of thousands of staff at smaller nonprofits, salaries (even at the top of the organization) have never been close to even adequate, since the same state and federal officials who now pine over .01% of nonprofit salaries have never considered paying a reasonable rate for the very, very needed services these nonprofits provide so that their employees could live reasonably?
In a society that delegates so many of its toughest problems to the nonprofit sector, shouldn't some consideration be made for the people that work there?
Thursday, July 08, 2010
The more things change....
Yesterday, I had a great day working with the annual learning event for Ronald McDonald House Charities, a session I've had the good fortune to speak to three or four years running. The staff and board of local Ronald McDonald Chapters from the US and Canada are here, and they are a terrific and fun group of people.
I talked a bit about being a mission-based manager in the morning and then about innovation in the afternoon, and the group was responsive and attentive, even when they were tired in the afternoon.
What intrigued me were the one on one questions during the break. Here's the breakout:
"My board president is too controlling" (3 CEOs)
"My CEO doesn't give the board enough to do." (2 Board Presidents--and no, I don't know if they were the same agencies as the CEO's above!)
"My CEO doesn't ask for enough staff input (2 younger staff)
"My 20 something staff just want to have input on everything!" (4 boomer CEOs)
This is a pretty standard breakout these days of questions from a large group. The first set-regarding board-staff balance--hasn't changed in the 30 years I've been consulting, and I suspect never really will. The second set is coming to a head as more young staff enter the workforce and demand/expect a seat at the decision table.
Today, I go talk to the board representatives. Should be interesting to see what they ask....
I talked a bit about being a mission-based manager in the morning and then about innovation in the afternoon, and the group was responsive and attentive, even when they were tired in the afternoon.
What intrigued me were the one on one questions during the break. Here's the breakout:
"My board president is too controlling" (3 CEOs)
"My CEO doesn't give the board enough to do." (2 Board Presidents--and no, I don't know if they were the same agencies as the CEO's above!)
"My CEO doesn't ask for enough staff input (2 younger staff)
"My 20 something staff just want to have input on everything!" (4 boomer CEOs)
This is a pretty standard breakout these days of questions from a large group. The first set-regarding board-staff balance--hasn't changed in the 30 years I've been consulting, and I suspect never really will. The second set is coming to a head as more young staff enter the workforce and demand/expect a seat at the decision table.
Today, I go talk to the board representatives. Should be interesting to see what they ask....
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
For Your Online Viewing....
Two places you can find me online today:
First, the July issue of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter is up. This issue's topic is "Evaluating Volunteers". You can also scroll down and see past single-topic issues. Subscription is free, if you like what you see.
This summer, I'm also doing a bit of blogging for Serenic Software on nonprofit issues. You can see my first couple of posts here.
If you're in the Eastern US, stay cool!
First, the July issue of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter is up. This issue's topic is "Evaluating Volunteers". You can also scroll down and see past single-topic issues. Subscription is free, if you like what you see.
This summer, I'm also doing a bit of blogging for Serenic Software on nonprofit issues. You can see my first couple of posts here.
If you're in the Eastern US, stay cool!
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