Tag Archives: Board of Directors

Nonprofit News and Updates

This is a great way to start of a blog post, and awesome Infographic from “America’s Nonprofit Sector: A Primer” from the Foundation Center. Please click on the image to enlarge.

Elections and Nonprofits

Many elections this year around the country have issues that will directly affect nonprofit organizations. The National Council of Nonprofits has a nice rundown here of more than 140, check it out to see what is happening in your state.

Washington Nonprofits will be having upcoming events around elections and what nonprofits can do, click through to see all that they are doing this election season.

Nonprofit HR

Do you know about Seattle’s new paid sick/safe leave ordinance that takes effect September 1? Washington Employers has good information on the program and, if you are affected by this, what to do.

Finance and Regulations

The Nonprofit Times has a good piece via their Exempt e-newsletter about new and proposed state regulations will make things harder for some nonprofits. It’s good to know what is happening in other states so you can have a ready response in case legislation like these come to yours.

Two articles from the Chronicle of Philanthropy detail the pitfalls in spending, fundraising and especially outsourced fundraising. The articles feature two veterans charities – why do these types of organizations seem so ripe for potential scams – and one animal related group, but there are lots of similarities, red flags and warnings in them for both donors and nonprofits. The first is here, the second is here.

This may be the most interesting piece, to me at least, that came out recently. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has released a draft of a proposed not-for-profit guide. It is primarily designed for CPAs performing work for not-for-profits, but it offers insight to all as to what issues the field thinks is important. I’ll be looking them over and probably letting them know my two cents in the comment period.

Management and Money

Both of these articles from the Nonprofit Quarterly stood out to me recently. Is managing a complex organization a game? This article makes the case that it is not. And do you know what the right mix of resources is for your organization? If so have you achieved that mix of income? This article is helpful for identifying so areas of thought you might not have considered before.

Thanks so much.

Nonprofit News Roundup

It has once again been too long since this site had an update so let’s start off with some interesting things that have come across my desk of late. But I first want to take a moment to say goodbye to a colleague and mentor who passed away last month, Flo Green. I started working for her at the California Association of Nonprofits at the end of 1999. In 2005 she worked with me to develop CAN’s first day long nonprofit accounting training workshop. Since then I’ve presented variation of that workshop to hundreds of nonprofit professionals and it is to her that I owe a great deal of thanks for setting me on the path I am on today. She will be deeply missed.

 Communicating Your Finances

This can be a tricky topic. How can nonprofit mangers communicate what is in their organization’s financials to the Board? How can a Board get the best information from staff? Is anybody sure they are asking the right questions? I consider it an integral part of my work to help explain the financial picture that the reports I put together tell, and to teach clients and others how to read their financials.

There are other resources out there like this article from Guidestar about 3 questions Board members should be asking themselves. This article from the great Nonprofit Assistance Fund talks about red flags board members may miss and how to prevent that.

Not directly related to finances but still good for board to think about, questions related to ongoing mission and relevancy for your nonprofit.

Sharing Resources

I’ve written about IdeaEncore before and I wanted to share two recent collections of resources; Financial Reporting and Documentation and some 990 preparation and understanding resources. Both have some nice resources that could save a lot of work over recreating the same thing at your organization.

Want to know where your taxes go and, perhaps more importantly, how much your tax bill this year will be? Check out the AICPA’s Total Tax Insights website. It includes a helpful calculator:

The Total Tax Insights calculator is the first comprehensive tax calculator that estimates your tax obligation based on place of residence and breadth of taxes paid. It’s customized for each state and for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 20 taxes, such as federal, state, local, Social Security and Medicare, sales, property and gasoline.

Elections

What can nonprofits do during election time? The Alliance for Justice is my go to resource for those questions. Check out their Advocacy Digest for election time resources. There is still a lot of misinformation out there about how nonprofits can or cannot lobby, AFJ has all the information you’ll need to do any type of advocacy activities.

Other News

Another Washington State Management Support Organization is shutting its doors. The Nonprofit Center in Tacoma closed last Fall and now the Alliance FOR Nonprofits is winding down. Washington Nonprofits and 501Commons will continue to provide support for the areas both organizations served.

Thanks so much.

Continuing to Serve Nonprofits

Many of you in the South Sound region may have heard that my recent employer, The Nonprofit Center, is winding down. Myself and former staff member Christine Garst (cbgarst@gmail.com) will continue to provide the accounting and bookkeeping services that we did at The Nonprofit Center. One of our main goals is to provide continuity of services for former Center clients. If you have any questions please feel free to contact myself or Christine and we will be happy to answer them. I look forward to being able to provide the services I enjoy doing to the South Sound nonprofit community.