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Monthly Archives

November 2015

Nov 24

Prepare for and manage the unexpected

By Sponsor Insight

By BKD staff |

Businesses face numerous pressures that can threaten the organization’s viability and sustainability if a disaster occurs. Potential threats include:

  • Natural (tornado, earthquake, hurricane, flood, etc.)
  • Environmental (fire, network failure, power outage, etc.)
  • Business market (legal/regulatory issues, competitive pressures, reputational risks, etc.)
  • Social (terrorism, pandemic, social media, network intrusions/attacks, etc.)
  • Human (strikes, work stoppages, etc.)
  • Financial/operational (cost of capital, inherent process risks, calendar-based risk, etc.)

This list certainly isn’t all-inclusive. Many other threats could interrupt normal business operations. It’s imperative that specific threats to a particular organization be identified and prioritized by developing a Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis (RA/BIA). Upon completion of an RA/BIA, a Business Continuity Plan can be created.

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Nov 24

Texas orders local nonprofits not to serve Syrian refugees

By Feature

By Ruth McCambridge, editor in chief, The Nonprofit Quarterly |

As was reported by Rick Cohen last Monday, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, joined other Republican governors in declaring that Syrian refuges were not welcome to be resettled in that state. “As the governor of the state of Texas,” he said, “I will not roll the dice and take the risk on letting a few refugees in simply to expose Texans to that danger.”

In Cohen’s newswire last week, he wrote:

This is yet another of those issues that nonprofits might hope to dodge as “not their issue,” someone else’s concern and priority, but it’s not. If the U.S. slams the door on desperate Syrian refugees, the nonprofit sector that claims to represent openness, inclusion, and democracy will find its credibility seriously damaged should it fail to do whatever it can to confront the politicians using fear and hatred as a tool for political advancement.

Now, that representation is being tested, and the sector’s reaction has been mixed.

Though governors have no right to exclude refugees, they do have other ways to make resettlement difficult. In a letter sent to several local nonprofits from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, nonprofits involved in resettlement were asked to stop serving Syrian refugees by Friday—and according to this report, several complied. (Of the 7,200 refugees that resettled in Texas last year, 213 were Syrian.)

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Nov 24

Business models: Understanding the “new power”

By Feature

By Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms, Harvard Business Review |

We all sense that power is shifting in the world. We see increasing political protest, a crisis in representation and governance, and upstart businesses upending traditional industries. But the nature of this shift tends to be either wildly romanticized or dangerously underestimated.

There are those who cherish giddy visions of a new techno-utopia in which increased connectivity yields instant democratization and prosperity. The corporate and bureaucratic giants will be felled and the crowds coronated, each of us wearing our own 3D-printed crown. There are also those who have seen this all before. Things aren’t really changing that much, they say. Twitter supposedly toppled a dictator in Egypt, but another simply popped up in his place. We gush over the latest sharing-economy start-up, but the most powerful companies and people seem only to get more powerful.

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Nov 17

The challenges posed by aging global population

By Feature, Programming

By Scott Simon and Ina Jaffe, NPR |

One-fifth of the U.S. population will be 65 or older in 15 years. NPR’s Ina Jaffe talks with NPR’s Scott Simon about the aging of the population worldwide and the challenges it presents.

SIMON: The U.S. population is aging, but it’s not just the U.S., is it?

JAFFE: Oh, no, not at all. In fact, some other countries are ahead of us. Japan, for example, a quarter of the population there is already 65 years of age or more, and the populations of some Western European countries are already at that 1-in-5 level that the U.S. is headed for.

SIMON: Whatever else happens in this discussion, should we remind ourselves it’s the result of some good news – that people are living longer?

JAFFE: Well, it is a result of people living longer, but only in part. In North America and Western Europe, people are living longer. But there’s a bigger reason for the aging of populations and that’s that people are having fewer children. That’s what you see in Eastern Europe and Russia and Turkey. And sub-Saharan Africa is not aging as quickly as other places because reproduction rates are higher there.

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Nov 17

Lessons from the tank

By Sponsor Insight

By Chris Mennel, audit manager, Alerding CPA Group |

Millions of people have tuned into ABC’s “Shark Tank” to see whether amateur and experienced entrepreneurs can land a deal with one of the millionaire or billionaire sharks. We may watch for the entertainment value; but after seven seasons, there are real-life lessons to be learned.

In fact, selling ownership in a company isn’t much different than pitching an idea to a new program partner, potential donor or board of directors. To be effective, you have to know your numbers, be direct and exude passion.

Here are six important lessons that Shark Tank negotiations have taught:

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Nov 10

What Singapore’s plan for an aging population can teach the United States

By Feature, Programming

By Tara Bahrampour, reporter, Washington Post |

Singapore, one of the world’s fastest-aging countries, has announced a massive, multipronged plan to help its citizens age successfully — one that advocates say leaves the United States in the dust.

The $2.1 billion plan announced by the Ministry of Health, “A Nation for All Ages,” comprises initiatives on topics such as health and wellness, education, volunteerism, housing, transportation and social inclusion. A new “National Silver Academy” will offer post-secondary education to older people, and up to $142 million will go toward innovations in research to transform the experience of aging. The initiative also includes housing (with) elder-care and child-care centers in the same facilities to promote intergenerational bonding and piloting therapeutic gardens for dementia and stroke patients.

Singapore, an island city-state of 5.5 million, is one of the fastest aging populations in the world, with the number of residents aged 65 and over projected to hit 19 percent in 2030, up from 9.3 percent in 2011. Its plan is striking in that it focuses heavily on empowerment rather than just tending to the frail.

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Nov 10

The liberation of growing old

By Feature, Programming

By Anne Karpf, op-ed, The New York Times |

LONDON — WHY do we have such punitive attitudes toward old people? Granted, the ancients did hideous things to elders who were unable to work but still needed food and care, but in more recent times, that had changed: In 18th-century New England, it was common for people to make themselves seem older by adding years to their real age, rather than subtracting them.

Yet today, the language used to describe the changing age composition of the population is little short of apocalyptic. We’re told that the “graying of America” is an “agequake” or a “demographic time bomb.”

In 2050, Americans age 65 and over are predicted to almost double in number to 83.7 million, one-fifth of the population. An aging population does pose real challenges, but increasing numbers of people of working age (as traditionally defined) are unemployed today, while growing numbers continue to work beyond pensionable age.

In reality, age can no longer be neatly correlated with economic activity. In particular, old people are themselves significant providers of care, notably the childcare provided by grandparents.

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Nov 10

World report on aging and health

By Feature, Programming

By John Beard, Alana Officer and Andrew Cassels for the World Health Organization |

Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in how we think about ageing itself.

The World report on ageing and health outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. Making these investments will have valuable social and economic returns, both in terms of health and wellbeing of older people and in enabling their on-going participation in society.

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Nov 03

Reliable online auction platforms geared toward nonprofit needs

By Feature, Fundraising

Laura S. Quinn, executive director Idealware for Tech Soup |

What tools can help you raise money and rally support for your cause through an online auction? We take a look at the software tools that are widely used in the nonprofit sector.

An online charity auction can be a good way to raise money, rally support for your cause, and hopefully, to have some fun. Like any special event, an online auction requires solid planning and a fair amount of staff time. What it won’t require, however, is substantial technical expertise. Several good online platforms will host and help you manage your online auction.

What should you be thinking about as you consider an online auction? What tools might work well? We asked a number of nonprofit professionals with experience in auctions for their software recommendations and condensed their advice here.

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