NonprofitEye

“SHP-CPD-LOCCS-HMIS-APR-SRO-HUD-LAHSA” the man in the front of the room intoned.   "_#*@!#$ _” I muttered. This is going to be a very long day. We are sitting in a room on the second floor of a building at 453 S. Spring Street. Here in yet another government building for yet another government workshop. This time it is the Los Angeles Housing Services Agency or LAHSA. Yes, THE LAHSA of LA Times headlines notoriety. Smack in the middle of City politics, this organization performed so poorly that the Feds have been summoned. And if there’s anyone who can improve a process, it’s the Federal government. LAHSA was formed like our land masses, by something akin to continental drift. The plates of local government, the city plate and the county plate, clashing together, sliding across the lava of city politics. Once set in motion so definitively that even the terrifying Laura Chick, former City Controller could not put them together again. More and more the workshops are led...

Technorati Tags: NPTech , Nonprofit , Web 2.0 , NPTech Series

Nonprofit Audit Toolkit: How sweet it is When's the last time I wrote about the AICPA's Nonprofit Audit Toolkit? I came across it again this week, and it's awesome! The whole pack can be downloaded as a zip file here . It's really too good for words. You have to check it out. Among some of it's jewels are: • Audit Committee Charter Matrix • Tracking Report (Whistleblowers) • Financial Expertise • Conducting an Exec. Session • Sample RFP for CPA Services • Issues Report from Management • Independence and Related Issues • Discussions with Indp. Auditors • Peer Review of CPA Firms • Evaluating Indp. Auditors • Fraud and the Audit Committee • Evaluating Internal Audit Team • Hiring the Chief Aud...

Civil Society, Government, Church - What role do we play? Ever wonder what the role of nonprofits should be in the mix of government agencies, the business community, churches and other "faith-based" orgs? I have, since April, 2005 , ever since I heard Bruce Sievers speak on the topic. It is great grist for the mill. And so the quest for knowledge continues. Recently, a friend sent me a job opening for an innocuous position for the County of Orange called "Performance Auditor". The job paid well (approx. $90 to $150K) and the job description read like so many others: This position will report to the Performance Audit Director and be assigned activities such as: management audits, process improvement studies, reorganization studies, cost effectiveness assessments, cost-benefit analysis, best practice analysis, program performance evaluations... etc. etc. All read normally until...I got to the the requirements section. It read: The candidate must also ...

Job Hunting II A good list of job search sites needs regular maintenance, here are three additions since our earlier post . From here on we'll post the whole updated list (with new items first) bi-monthly. Bridgestar's mission is to support and strengthen nonprofit organizations by enhancing the flow and Effectiveness of passionate and highly skilled leaders into and within the nonprofit sector. Commongood Careers - a nonprofit search firm that connects highly skilled, passionate individuals to organizations that are dedicated to creating positive social change. Founded by nonprofit professionals. Offers personalized, engaged support to job seekers and organizations throughout the hiring process, as well as access to a wealth of knowledge about nonprofit careers. California Only: Nonprofit Directions is a job listing service for the nonprofit sector, available both in print and on the web. Nonprofit Directions is a service of the Center for N...

NONPROFIT JOBS CORNER THE SAD: A recent job search turned up this position advertisement: Litigation Attorney Disability Rights Legal Center http://www.idealist.org/match/851494920-305 Los Angeles, CA Salary: $48,510 per year depending on experience plus excellent benefits Imagine graduating from Law School to find this salary! How will the Disability Rights Center recruit good talent with this offer??? THE FUNNY Add it to my "new favorite job title": 1) I just had to read the job announcement for this one: Chief People Officer Seems this is what they're calling a Human Resources Manager today. I remember when I thought calling People "Human" resources (as opposed to natural resources like petroleum I suppose) was egregious. What exactly was wrong with "Personnel Manager" again? 2) This is almost as good as (yes it is real!): Dream Coordinator - I've always wanted to coordinate dreams but I keep getting sleepy... Dream...

The Best of 2007 and one new-comer Forgive me if I sing the praises (one more time) of my three favorite bloggers, but I simply must. These three blogs have enough material to keep me reading all winter (and real I will!). But before I begin, let me introduce a new nonprofit blog on the block. I don't know how I missed it, but it looks like it launched with a bang last September. UnCivilized Society is quite the entertaining blog. Admittedly I'm partial to the "Un's", ever since the Un-Cola, I've been into un. White Courtesy Telephone - Last time I checked this was Albert Ruesga's baby, but on a recent visit (shows how long I am on the uptake), I see a community of bloggers. I am here to sing the praises of them all. If I had to pick one word, I'd say "entranced". I'm still hoping to craft a post title so clever as this: Nonprofits, Virtual Worlds, and the Triumph of Ironic Distance GiftHub - What kind of being could blen...

This in from the AP: A Bangor, Maine woman is in jail on a felony theft charge for embezzling $60,000 (maybe more) from a nonprofit that assists families with foster and adopted children. Police arrested Katherine Ratliff, 39, after workers at Adoptive & Foster Families of Maine discovered discrepancies in the organizations accounts. From a post on Deal W. Hudson's blog : 85 percent of Roman Catholic dioceses that responded had discovered embezzlement of church money in the last five years, with 11 percent reporting that more than $500,000 had been stolen. Related Nonprofit Eye post: 2006 Nonprofit Hall of Shame Technorati Tags: Charity , Fraud , Fraud Detection , Hall of Shame , Nonprofit

Well would you? No, I'm not talking about volunteering. I mean do what you do every day at your nonprofit, but for free. Yes you have said "I love my job so much that I'd do it even if they didn't pay me". But what if they didn't? A friend of mine recently said that she didn't know people who worked for nonprofits got paid! It bothered her that any of her donation went to someone doing accounting, she had given it to the kids! So here we are worrying about excessive compensation, and she's worrying about compensation period. The fix is in folks. Now that the new 990 is a reality, anyone paid more than $150,000/yr will be highlighted. Yes, this means you. While the average household income in the US still hovers around $36,000, try living in Manhattan or San Francisco (or LA for that matter) on under $100,000. A recent cost-of-living comparison showed a $116,000 salary in LA to be the equivalent of $212,000 in Manhattan. Given numbers ...

Nonprofit Eye - Backstage Pass - New Feature A Letter from the Editor It's a new year and in lieu of resolutions, we have turned our "Eye" inward. The result? An examination of focus of the Nonprofit Eye. Looking out to the audience, two posts continue to grab a huge share of our readership (one on (of all the arcane topics: revenue recognition) and the other on Job Hunting). Readership takes a dive when I turn to self-exploration, technical topics, philosophical musings on nonprofit identity. I have to admit that even my own interest was waning as I've swum thru the waters of all things related to the Nonprofit World. So get ready for a new spin in 2008, and very soon...a new website and domain name. Such a move means a new start, appropriate for the beginning of a new year. And such a start demands a new theme. Time for audience participation here dear readers. Two themes call strongly to me and I'd love to hear your comments on them (both as to mark...

New Feature! Nonprofit Trend of the Week Nonprofit Innovations disclaimer: this is NOT a plug - please read to end of article for pro's and con's! A friend introduced me to a for-profit product that dovetails well with nonprofit values. Produced by GiveWell.com , the product itself is called the "Healthcare Gift Card". There are pros and cons (discussed below), but first, what is it? Givewell bills itself as: ...a new way to help employees cover health and wellness costs. It is designed to encourage healthy living and staying well. Employees can use it to cover a variety of healthcare costs including co-pays at doctor’s offices and pharmacies or for vision care, dental care, health club memberships and elective procedures at businesses that accept Visa debit cards. Pros Giftwell tells us that Because the Healthcare Gift Card is targeted to work only with health and wellness providers, you can be assured your gift card will be used as a “gift of health.” Better t...

You've been waiting for it (dreading it?) and now it's here. Get ready, the IRS has announced the release of the revised Form 990 (complete with schedules A - R)! How many years have we been hearing the rumblings about excessive compensation? about professional fundraisers? about risk management? about enhanced transparency? Well, the pavement has met the road folks. Read the IRS announcement here . Effective for the 2008 tax year (returns filed in 2009), the revised form will be phased in over a three year period for smaller organizations. The revision reflects many changes since the draft was released (the IRS received more than 650 public comments!!!) For the 2008 tax year (returns filed in 2009), organizations with gross receipts over $1.0 million or total assets over $2.5 million will be required to file the Form 990. For the 2009 tax year (returns filed in 2010), organizations with gross receipts over $500,000 or total assets over $1.25 million will be required ...

I came across this item in OMB's comments to the IRS (in response to the revised 990): Federal agencies provide over $450 billion in government grants annually; a substantial portion of which goes to nonprofit organizations. No deep thoughts today, just this: That's BILLIONS not millions. That's a lot of change. Let's use it to make a difference! Technorati Tags: Government Grants , Federal Funding , Nonprofit Funding , Nonprofit

Leave it to a nonprofit accountant to write about tax-time instead of Christmas Cheer and Silver Bells! Seems like only yesterday I was writing about holiday fundraising appeals, but it turns out another year has flown by! Here's a re-cap on tax-exempt giving: The Nonprofit Eye on IRS Regs, Tis The Season to Be Giving sixtyPercent on the great Tax Advantages of Giving Gifts of Stock Beth Kanter's posts on Fundraising Widgets and on Donor Documentation and let's not forget the IRS's own roundup of Tax-Exempt Giving Technorati Tags: Charitable Giving , Donations , Nonprofit , Tax Exempt Donation

Following the old adage "write about what you know", today's focus is job hunting! One great part of working in the nonprofit sector is how many industry specific job rags there are to choose from. If you asked me where to look I'd say (in no particular order): "Opportunity Nocs, Nonprofit Oyster, Idealist, Chronicle of Philanthropy". But there is so much more: Idealist.org A project of Action Without Borders, global clearinghouse of nonprofit resources, including jobs, internships, mailing lists, and nonprofit resources by state & country. Opportunity NOCS A resource for nonprofit jobs and employment opportunities. Nonprofit Oyster Offers job postings for meaningful career opportunities, and the ability for job seekers to post their profiles online for employers to access. They donate 5% of their profits to support nonprofits whose missions are particularly close to their hearts. Craig's List, Nonprofit Jobs Bay Area based community bul...

One thing that's great about my recent unemployment? Time to read. And reading means exposure to new ideas. And new ideas mean inspiration. Hurray. Take two articles, the first David Brook's article "The Organization Kid", from way back in April, 2001 (remember when that was the science fiction future?) and another, Andrew Keen's article " Web 2.0 The second generation of the Internet has arrived. It's worse than you think. " from February, 2006. Isn't it great when information converges over time? First, credit where credit's due. These came to my attention from two blogs I read regularly (thanks to RSS!), the penny for your thoughts blog " 1cent talk on nptech " and " Urban Community ". They are two great reasons to keep browsing the blogosphere! "The Organization Kid" paints a frightening picture of a new generation so conformist and content that they have become complacent, obedient even bland. Compare...

R eprint: originally titled "The Dearth of Nonprofit Thought" posted on NetSquared It's time to strike up a conversation backed by sound research, philosophy and experience. How is it we don't have our own "Wall Street Journal" by now? So much of the real estate space in nonprofit rags is devoted to a) our own salaries; b) how to raise money; or c) what nifty new accounting software we should buy. I launched the Nonprofit Eye to do my part - kickoff some discussion on real stuff, like revenue recognition , the meaning of charity , the hazards of promising too much, the oxymoron of performance outcomes , etc. etc. Join in, viva la revolution! Technorati Tags: Nonprofit Philosophy , Charity

The short answer? Yes (now you don't have to read the rest of the article!). In search of the holy grail of blogging (search engine optimization), I employed techniques suggested by the experts and, voila! I: Decreased my bounce rate Increased my stickiness Increased my unique page visits Achieved a better goal conversation rate (more on that later since I'm not converting anything to sales) Got more subscribers Got a higher Google Page ranking moved up in the Google search results In essence, everyone who's questing after SEO's dream. So what's the problem? Sigh. I killed my joy of writing, I left my own goals (not Googles) in the dust. First, I narrowed my focus. My analysis showed most visitors were coming to read technical articles on accounting and compliance. I added more paths: from these frequently visited pages to other similar articles from the home page to a directory of similar articles from the home page to specific follow-up pi...

Working in the nonprofit sector it's easy to forget about the resources in the for-profit world. So today, I'm going to recommend poking our heads out into the sun once in a while. I sat down to read a copy of CFO magazine. I figured it wouldn't have a lot to relate to, but was I wrong. Keep in mind no endorsement received, I love this rag! One article in particular, Finance in History: Here's to the Bean Counters: A slur to finance folks and accountants, the term has a noble past by R.G. Voorhee s captured my imagination. I won't quote it away, but just give you the opening paragraph (emphasis mine): "Bean counting" has long been an insulting term for what finance professionals and accountants do. Often, it's been used to tar CFOs as transaction processors—a role largely relegated to the back office . What's more, people like to use the phrase to ratchet up the pedestrian aspects of finance by tagging practitioners as "mere"...

Last week, in MISSION WITHOUT I.T. IS LIKE A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE I set out to write  ROI, but before I'd finished my first paragraph, I had revealed my own flawed organizational paradigm. Allan Benamer contributed a critically important comment: IT is actually responsible for all the other departments you mentioned (accounting, marketing, etc.) in the best nonprofits? You really can't do accounting, marketing or fundraising without IT. ...you could try but you'd have a heck of a hard time scaling. Think of IT as an umbrella that keeps all the other departments from getting wet. In the best nonprofits, it should be integrated into every department and not be a standalone. The only way to effectively address complaints about ineffective organization? Offer a solution. How about this: replace our world of the three overlapping sets: communications/ operations/accounting--with a new world---mission/community/investment. The catches? If your giving is an investme...