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2009
GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation
Report
Compared to 12 months of IRS Form
990 information, 100,000 tax-exempt organizations, and
157,000 individual positions, how do you stack up? GuideStar's
compensation report reviews key employee compensation practices
and provides the most comprehensive analysis of that
information, including: trends in gender, budget size, program
area, and geography. |
In This Edition:
News Update:
Tips of the
Week:
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Challenges In Welcoming Pro Bono
Volunteers
By Susan
Ellis
There is nothing inherently new
about volunteers donating professional expertise. During the
past year, a variety of summits and action campaigns have
examined the potential of intentionally and strategically
applying business talents to “strengthen the management
capacity” of nonprofits.
Perhaps the most developed
initiative is A Billion + Change, run through the Corporation
for National and Community Service, which has issued the
challenge to leverage $1 billion in skilled volunteering and pro
bono services from the corporate community.
To read
the complete article click here... |
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Management ...
3 critical elements to
sustaining impact
In their book Forces for
Good, Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant argue
that high-impact nonprofits recognize that there are three
critical elements needed to maintain and deepen their effect
over time.
The authors wrote that these elements
do not constitute a practice, but they are important for
success. The three elements are:
- People -- Develop a people strategy
and invest heavily in top performers. The authors surveyed 12
organizations that they consider successful, and every one cited
staff as a critical success factor. Top-flight organizations
have developed particular capacities for hiring, developing and
retaining top talent.
- Capital -- Find the right sources of
funding. None of the organizations could keep going without
having one or more sustainable funding mechanisms. Their sources
of support might vary, but successful organizations integrate
fundraising with their strategy. And, they find ways to
diversity these sources over time to reduce their financial
risks.
- Infrastructure -- Invest in
overhead, despite the pressure to look lean. All the groups
reached a point in their growth at which they needed to invest
heavily in information technology, buildings or management
systems and build their own organizational capacity. They found
creative ways to raise capital for these
needs.
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Finance ...
9 ideas for preventing
fraud
Despite the best intentions of
nonprofit managers the world over, fraud is an evil that sneaks
in almost anywhere.
At the AICPA Not-for-Profit
Industry Conference, John J. Hall of Hall Consulting offered
advice about preventing fraud.
Hall said that fraud (which is
intentional and not done by error) has three main risk areas:
macro (actions by leaders or abuse, misuse of restricted funds,
lies in financial or program results, Form 900 and other tax
information fraud and actions that damage the organizations
reputation); micro (embezzlement, receipts diversion/lapping,
information technology, misuse of data, equipment and vendor
schemes); and systemic (expense reimbursement, fundraising
assets, gift cards and travelers checks, payroll and benefits,
p-cards and debit cards and shared credit cards).
Hall, a CPA, suggested fraud
skills training because most employees have never been taught
the skills they would need to deal with fraud risks, including
prevention, detection and handling fraud.
He recommended a fraud exposure analysis
that does the following:
Hall also offered nine
suggestions for combating fraud:
- Effective governance and
oversight.
- Strong control procedures and
behaviors.
- A fraud policy.
- Requiring reporting.
- Fraud skills training.
- A hotline, in place and
trusted.
- Fraud exposure analysis.
- Being ready to respond.
- A culture of
“doubting.”
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Advocacy ...
How do you define a
member?
The term "member" has come to have an
expanding range of meanings in the nonprofit sector, depending
on factors such as mission and size, according to Thomas A.
McLaughlin, director of consulting services at the Nonprofit
Finance Fund.
Further, memberships tend to be used by
nonprofits as a significant revenue stream. One category that
includes nonprofit membership is that of advocacy. According to
McLaughlin, that advocacy members help to fight for a cause and
there are several dimensions to the membership
transaction.
Among those dimensions are:
- The overarching cause. This would include
members of groups such as civil rights organizations or those
dedicated to the eradication of a specific illness.
- There is at least the implied possibility
that some day members will be called upon to do something, such
as lobby their legislators or show up for a
demonstration.
- Advocacy members expect their membership
dollars to go toward unspecified steps intended to advance the
cause.
- Members expect the group to have an
established brand name.
- Advocacy associations will tend to have to
change more quickly because elements as diverse as new
technology, new laws and abrupt cultural shifts can change the
strategic environment.
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