If you are not familiar with our Resource Library, have a look. We developed this section as a way to assist you in connecting with others, reaching a greater audience and keeping current on the newest tends. We also encourage you to check back often as new links are added on a regular basis. Some recent additions: IRS Tax-Exempt Status Newly revised, the process for dealing with the IRS to obtain tax-exempt status (October 2010) Finding the Right Transparency Today, more than ever, the public and government agencies are demanding nonprofits to be transparent. But concerns about having a realistic picture of internal operations, where money is going, and the effectiveness of the programs are countered by concerns of overburdened staff, increased administrative costs, and an invitation to … Continue Reading
Key Lay Leaders of American Friends of Magen David Adom Resign over Fiduciary Duties
Letter to AFMDA Board of Directors and All Staff January 19, 2011 Dear Colleagues and Friends, It is with tremendous sadness that we inform you that the undersigned hereby resign from our positions as officers, members of the Executive Committee and members of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA). We take this step with heavy hearts because we are troubled that the leadership of Magen David Adom (MDA), and some of the members of AFMDA’s Board of Directors, do not appear to share our commitment to our roles as responsible and independent fiduciaries, exercising sound judgment in full compliance with the letter and spirit of American laws and donor expectations. AFMDA has had an enviable and extraordinary 70-year history of continuous support for … Continue Reading
How’re We Doing? PresenTense Year in Preview 5771
Community enterprises are interesting creatures. Driven by the collective efforts of individuals who rely on one another, sometimes without even knowing one another, community enterprises often are in a state of flux, and rarely take the time to plan and develop a coherent vision for the future. Not-for-profit organizations add to this confusion by employing staff who take upon themselves the responsibility for representing their communities - but often forget to go back to the community on a regular basis to renew the mandate they were given. PresenTense has tried to keep our mandate fresh by publishing quarterly reports on our operations, and last year we began what we hope to be an annual tradition of the Year in Preview - a transparency initiative whose goal is to reconnect, on a regular … Continue Reading
Fundraising Association Introduces Wise Giving Website
The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) has unveiled its new wise giving website, Change the World With a Giving-and Wise-Heart. The site is designed to help donors think proactively about philanthropy and how they want to improve their communities through giving and volunteering. The website contains a variety of information on how donors can make smart choices in their philanthropy, including guidance such as The Five P's of Wise Giving and 25 Ways to Make Your Gifts Go Further. Donors can learn about different ways they can support charities, such as through matching gifts, payroll giving, giving circles, online games and click-a-day websites, credit card points and even regifting. Another important focus of the site is wise giving and being able to spot legitimate organizations. … Continue Reading
Transparency in Salaries
Our Money, Their Salaries an editorial from the Jewish Daily Forward The Forward created its annual survey of executive compensation in Jewish nonprofits to enable our readers to make informed choices about their own philanthropic giving and to hold leaders accountable for their pay and performance. That’s what we do in America. If the salary of the occupant of the Oval Office is public information, surely we ought to know the take-home pay of the head of the local federation or university. Purely religious organizations are exempt from these reporting requirements, as they are exempt from other strictures that govern life in the nonprofit world. As for the rest of us - and that includes the Forward Association - transparency is part of that public contract. What’s disheartening is to … Continue Reading
The Newest Buzzword: Results
Charity Navigator - love them or hate them - it generally depends on how many stars they award your nonprofit. And for those organizations with the top rating? You can be certain they let you know it - all the time. Press releases, big logos on their websites and the like. But Charity Navigator, and they are not alone, places way to much emphasis on overhead expense ratio and downplays results. That's right - what you pay your CEO is more important to Charity Navigator that the impact your organization creates! Well, even Charity Navigator is waking up and "getting with the program" by making significant changes to their current system. Currently under development, the new system will move the needle from considering overhead and other financial metrics as the only input to counting towards … Continue Reading
A New Year, a New Budget
Over the past few years, PresenTense has worked hard to provide full information on its operations for two main reasons: first, we are a community organization that grew from the grassroots up. For the first three years of our operations, from the founding of the magazine through the first round of the Institute, we were all volunteers - and it is only thanks to the energy and passion of our volunteers that we've been able to grow to where we are now. These volunteers deserve our full transparency - and we hope they'll trust us as custodians of their vision. Second, because we think it is just good practice. PresenTense is a nonprofit organization, and as such it exists solely to further the public's greater good. We believe that part of what we can provide the public is a model for operations, … Continue Reading
Picking a Needle out of a Haystack: Selecting for Social Entrepreneurs
Transparency. One simple word, yet it is amazing how many organizations still reject the concept; still do not realize our world has changed. Fortunately, some not only 'get it' but continually demonstrate they do. Take for example the AVI CHAI Foundation, a significant funder to the Jewish world who is currently in sunset. They certainly get it. In order to help others learn from their experiences, they've hired an outside team to track their spend-down process and make the findings publicly available. AVI CHAI's North American Executive Director, Yossi Prager, recently spoke about the Foundation's plans and shortly there-after made his presentation available for publication. An example more should follow. Then we have the Jewish Agency for Israel. Love them, or hate them, their … Continue Reading
Communicating Your Financial Story
by Shilpi Shah Nonprofits are not alone in their struggles through the recent recession and its aftermath. Their funders - including foundations, corporations, individual donors and the government - have had challenges as well, facing increased demand from grantees, with a declining pool of funds. As a result, it becomes even more critical for nonprofits to make the case for funding. Nonprofits need to effectively tell their story, connecting mission, capacity and capital. Not only should they communicate programmatic outcomes, but also specific financial challenges, needs and opportunities that are linked to both individual programs and the organization as a whole. Nonprofits are adept at telling only half the "story" - what they do (mission), how they do it (programs) and what is … Continue Reading
Can You Handle the Difficult Questions
from The New York Times comes a helpful primer of communication “do’s” and “don’ts” as seen by a range of crisis managers in the professional PR priesthood. Of course, there’s anything but universal agreement on how best to handle a crisis, but one thing is universal and certain: Some plan is better than no plan. In Case of Emergency: What Not to Do Whoever suggested that all publicity is good publicity clearly never envisioned the wave of catastrophe engulfing high-profile corporations over the last year, laying waste to some of the most meticulously tailored reputations on earth. ... As conventional wisdom has it, the three companies at the center of these fiascos worsened their problems by failing to heed established protocol: When the story is bad, disclose it … Continue Reading
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