Data, data, data! Nonprofits and for-profits alike have more data than ever to track, understand and utilize in carrying out their goals. It’s easy to quickly become overwhelmed.
To help get the process started, consider creating dashboards.
Dashboards are short (normally one page) graphical representations of data that can provide the key measurements to make informed decisions. They can show program results, financial results, or any other data that needs to be communicated to a group, and they can be helpful internally for staff uses as well as higher level use by a board of directors or finance committee.
One way to use a financial dashboard like the one shown above is to include it as the cover page in the financial packet when sending monthly financial statements to your finance committee. Dashboards are relatively quick to update once they are created, and they can accomplish the following:
Easier to understand for those that are not experienced in reading financial statements. Many members of your board of directors and finance committee may not fully understand how to read financial statements. A dashboard provides them the opportunity to see trends and benchmarks that they would otherwise miss.
Quicker to understand than the full financial statements.
Provides a frame of reference for reading the financial statements. Once individuals look at the dashboard, they have a basic understanding of how well the organization is performing. This helps put the financial statements into perspective as they are reviewed in detail.
The benefits of financial dashboards described above can also be achieved through program dashboards. The format of these can vary greatly from one organization to the next, since programs and outcomes vary, but the basic process is the same. Management must first identify what information is relevant to them and will help in running the organization. Next, goals must be set so that management has something to compare with the actual results. After that, the dashboard can be created and updated periodically with the most recent program accomplishments.
In today’s environment, finding efficiencies and cutting out non-critical tasks is key to running effective programs. If utilized properly, dashboards can be very beneficial in helping focus efforts and leading to well-informed decisions. To find out how a dashboard can benefit your company or organization, contact Alerding CPA Group at 317-569-4181 or www.alerdingcpagroup.com.
by Cody Lents, partner and customer steward, COVI, Inc.
As business leaders, we have a lot on our plates to accommodate a new worldview and attract the next generation of talent. Decent pay and a job are no longer enough to lure prospective employees, at least not the ones we want. Businesses must stay informed and honestly care about our people and the issues they face daily. To retain our employees, we must guide them to a better future at home and work.
The future of IT is more than just using technology to automate, streamline, and manage operations as much as possible. It’s aligning it to enhance the employee and customer experience, increasing internal cultural, and external delivery demands. The problem is that the more tech we use, the more tech we must end up managing. This requires expensive skill sets and nuanced management skills. Leaders have been quick to adopt expensive skill sets; however, quality management is lacking.
Few companies are equipped with the technology to accommodate both the older and younger generations. Millennials will make up about 75% of the workforce by 2025. Gen Z has spent most of their lives with fast and efficient internet access, along with smart and portable devices that are constantly connecting each other to the world at large. 91% of Gen Z employees say the company’s technological sophistication impacts their decision to work there. 10% of employees (no matter the generation) have walked away from a job due to technological frustrations. And the complication doesn’t end with office tech. After all, 37% of millennials say working with multiple devices is challenging and stressful, and they don’t want to switch from a computer or phone for work and life activities.
It’s true that the older the generation – the less likely they are to adapt to ever-changing technology. There is a common stereotype that veteran employees resist technology and new workflows because it will require too much stress and a departure from the way they’ve been operating for decades. In reality, many of these people have seen several changes. From typewriters to computers, from mail to fax to email, older generations have continued to adjust their workflows and are much more adaptable to technology changes than many realize.
Simply put, old technology solutions do not allow companies to keep up with many current-day issues, including employee retention. Additionally, poorly implemented new tech won’t deliver solutions to these issues either. Technological choices and implementation can largely impact your company and your employees’ success, culture, productivity, happiness, and of course, loyalty. This directly correlates to what your customer’s experience.
Unfortunately, IT teams often have their hands tied when it comes to keeping up with modern tech because of the amount of time it takes to maintain old technology and security needs. We must make tech training beneficial, entertaining, and easy to keep individuals of all generations engaged. This starts by, fully explaining the company’s values, making the technology and process easy to understand, and investing in a multi-faceted approach to implementing new tech. There also must be a designated place for employees to get answers and present questions for any tech-related concerns. These tactics ensure that IT teams have the time, process, and tools they need to successfully support the company culture. It’s more than just tech. It’s people.
We can eliminate employee turnover issues. We can attract top talent. But to do so, we must evolve.
The most common pain point we’re hearing about from the nonprofit community is how to increase board engagement. Despite good intentions, some board members are struggling to make in-person meetings work with their back-to-the office schedules, others turn off their video and multi-task during board meetings, and yet others have a hard time following-through with assigned tasks. In a world where there is never enough time, and we all have competing priorities, the need to focus on what is essential has never seemed more important.
So, the question isn’t just how do we engage our board, but how do we engage our board in its most essential functions? At Hedges, we have found the key to engaging board members in the ways they’re needed most comes through effective training and setting clear expectations. If board members don’t know their responsibilities or how to execute those responsibilities, then successfully engaging as a board member will be quite the challenge.
When we onboard new staff, we are mindful of making sure that expectations are clearly communicated and that staff are adequately trained to meet those expectations. The same should be true for board members of our organizations. Based on our experience in educating board members through our work with nonprofit organizations and in our Lead with Purpose Board Training Series, we find the following three items to be at the core of successful nonprofit board education:
Prioritize board training and onboarding. Prioritizing board training and onboarding is as important as prioritizing the training and onboarding of your staff members. This prioritization can happen in different ways. The first way to prioritize board training is to instill a culture of learning for the organization, including the board. This culture gives board members permission to seek information, not have all the answers, and know they will have access to the information necessary for them to engage in their key responsibilities. The second way is to allocate appropriate financial resources to provide initial and ongoing education opportunities for board members. Whether those resources are used for individual members to attend different workshops in the community or to bring in a third-party to provide training to the full board, prioritizing financial resources will be important to ensuring access to the best practice knowledge they need. The third way to prioritize board training is to allow realistic time for members to be trained and onboarded. Often board onboarding is done over one short meeting or even a document provided electronically via email. Whether it’s setting aside a full day, a couple of hours, or part of a board meeting, providing time for board members to receive training is key to successfully educating the board.
Create a partnership between the Board and the Executive Director. The misconception that the board should be managing the Executive Director creates a tenacious power dynamic. When the board is trained and onboarded in a way that helps them to understand their valuable and distinct role as a board member, it is much easier to build a productive partnership between the Executive Director and board. This partnership can be built on shared leadership and learning where the Executive Director and the board lead together and learn from each other. In this shared leadership and learning, meaningful conversations and trust build making it easier to operationalize board governance best practices. Additionally, a board that is trained and that doesn’t have to be managed empowers the Executive Director to focus on their unique role in leading the organization to success rather than spending time “managing up.”
Continually assess the board to understand their strengths and needs. Just like professional development for our staff members is ongoing process, learning for our board members should be continuous. Board training is not just a one-time event, but an ongoing component of healthy governance. As a start, it is good practice to train new board members during board orientation as they join your organization. In addition, it is good to provide the opportunity for board members to assess themselves and identify areas for continued learning. This can happen through a formal board self-assessment, a simple board survey, or a conversation between the Executive Director and board members to understand:
How well do they think they are executing their responsibilities as individual board members and as a full board?
What needs or questions do they have about their role as a board member?
Do they feel they have received enough training to engage in an effective way?
Do they find this experience to be meaningful to them and what could make it more meaningful?
By understanding these things, continual education can be provided to the board in the topics where they need the most support. Fundamentally, board members should receive consistent training and “refreshers” on general information about the organization, like your vision and goals; the basic responsibilities of board membership; how to best engage in fundraising; how to recruit, onboard, and offboard members; and the purpose of committees, and what it means to keep committees active and effective. However, having the board assess itself regularly creates time for reflection and gives board members an opportunity to identify where they might need to focus individually and as a board to maximize their efforts for the organization.
In our 20 years of experience in nonprofit advising, our team at Hedges has learned that board engagement is critical to an organization’s success. An engaged board is a trained board, and board training is a constant, ongoing process. If you’re spinning your wheels wondering: “Why is my board struggling to engage in its essential functions?” consider implementing the three steps we’ve outlined above.
Want additional support? Encourage your Board members to join our next Lead with Purpose Series, offered from August through November 2022. For more information visit: https://www.hellohedges.com/training/.
Jodi Snell is Senior Consultant at Hedges and a BoardSource Certified Consultant who loves to empower board members on how to be most effective in their roles. With a passion for educating and training, Jodi works closely with organizations to lend her expertise related to board governance, fundraising, and strategic planning.
by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News
With tuition averaging $40,000 for private colleges and up to $28,000 at public colleges, the prospect of having student loan debt forgiven under federal government programs can be enticing. And with the pandemic moratorium for repaying federal student loan debt set to expire on May 1, questions on how to get some relief are steadily emerging.
You may be wondering, Am I eligible for student loan forgiveness? Is it worth the trouble of applying if I’ve been turned down before? Should I pursue a degree and work in public service — especially if I have a chance of my loans being canceled in the future?
And for those who are considering a degree at the undergraduate or graduate level, the rising costs of tuition — which is outpacing inflation by 28 percent in some cases, according to the National Center for Education Statistics — may act as a deterrent to starting the college application process.
These are the types of questions and situation that recently have been fielded by INvestEd, a nonprofit that helps Indiana residents discover avenues to pay for the expenses of a higher education, especially in the wake of the recent overhaul of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program which erased an additional $6.2 billion in student loan debt, according to William Wozniak, vice president of marketing for the organization.
Wozniak said now is a good time for Indiana residents to be hopeful about qualifying for student loan forgiveness under the revised PSLF program, as well as the affordability of college — despite statistics that seem to indicate otherwise.
INvestEd, which has been providing students and their families with solutions for a college education for more than 40 years, said that people who may have been turned down for student loan forgiveness under PSLF for various reasons, including missed payments on loans or an employer being determined ineligible, Wozniak said.
Because of previous restrictions, the PSLF, which was introduced in 2007, only a small percentage of students had their loans forgiven, he added. The program was designed to incentivize more students to pursue careers in public service instead of positions in the more lucrative private sector. However, until recently, there hadn’t been any significant dent in the number of students who had loans forgiven under the program.
“Even if you were told you’re not eligible, now is the time to go back,” Wozniak said. “We can’t say in every case, you’re going to be in the clear and everything’s going to be OK but you can get advice on what you can do to still be on track to get your loan forgiven. The answer may have changed even if you were told a year ago that you were ineligible.”
Wozniak also said that many prospective students and their families often mistakenly assume that they don’t qualify for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) because of their household income. And despite the headlines that point out that college tuition rates are soaring, the overall cost of attending college is declining because of an increase in the amount of grant assistance students can qualify for, he added.
Highlights of the revised PSLF
Under the PSLF, a person may be able to have their federal student loan debt canceled if they:
Work full-time for an eligible public service or non-profit employer
Enroll in an income-driven repayment plan
Make at least 120 monthly student loan payments. Some participants may have had their payments deemed ineligible. If this is the case, they can apply for a limited waiver for student loan forgiveness through the U.S. Department of Education. The deadline to apply for the waiver is Oct. 31. It’s important to submit an Employer Certification to the U.S. Department of Education each year, and with each change of employer.
For those who have FFEL, Perkins, or other federal student loans, consolidate your loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan to qualify for PSLF both in general and under the waiver. Before consolidating, confirm if the employer qualifies for the program.
Past periods of repayment will now count regardless of whether a person made a payment, made that payment on time, for the full amount due, on a qualifying repayment plan.
Periods of deferment or forbearance, and periods of default, continue to not qualify.
For more information about PSLF, go to the federal government site.
You can also contact INvestEd for a free consultation. INvestED consultants also can be reached at (317) 715-9007.
Common challenges facing students, loans and college tuition
In consulting with students and families, INvestED has come across numerous challenges they have faced in handling student loan debt, according to Wozniak. They include:
Using private loans with high interest rates. In some cases, families are paying interest rates of 10 percent or more for years, Wozniak pointed out. “There are some people who might have $40,000 or $50,000 debt on the federal side, but they might have as much as that or more in private loans,” he said. “And even if the federal government were to wipe away all the federal loans, if they didn’t do the private loans as well, people are still paying 10, 11 or 12 percent on loans, waiting for federal forgiveness that may or may not come.”
Unexpected changes in the PSLF eligibility rules. In some cases, even with adherence to the rules, students have encountered unexpected changes that made them ineligible for federal debt forgiveness.“ For years, we would talk to students and their families about making sure you’re current with your payments, and that your job is acceptable for the program so that you’re in position (for loan forgiveness),” Wozniak said. “Some people may have been working at an employer, and then in the seventh or eighth year of their employment, the employer was then deemed not acceptable. It wasn’t their fault. For whatever reason the department made that ruling.” If this has happened to you in the past, Wozniak said, recent revisions to PSLF could make you eligible for the program once again.
Missed loan payments. Under PSLF restrictions, students were considered ineligible for the program if they missed loan payments. Those rules have been relaxed, according to Wozniak. “When we get to the pandemic, there was a realization that almost nobody was getting anything forgiven,” he said. “At that point, adjustments started to be made to the program.” Wozniak said they have advised students to return to the program even if they had been told they were not eligible because of missed loan payments.
Overall cost of attending college
INvestED also has a mission to educate students and their families about the overall cost of attending college and the grant assistance that may be available to them, according to Wozniak.
He said it’s important to distinguish between the sticker price and the net cost. Media outlets often will highlight the cost of attending college but will less likely feature articles about the net cost of attending college — after grant funds have been applied.
INvestED counselors advise students to apply to different colleges to determine that net cost. In some cases, the institution with the highest tuition may actually have the lowest overall cost after grant dollars have been added into the equation, he said.
“When we work with families, they’re pleasantly surprised when they find out that Mary or Johnny can go to school for $15,000 net. We look at the actual net cost for that student,” Wozniak added. “With the proper advanced research, students can save a lot of money, which often means a lot less in student loans.”
by Leslie Wells, assistant director of communications, Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI
Nonprofits across the nation are rebuilding, working to recover from the job losses that swept through the sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dozens of them are now preparing to connect with college students at the 2022 IUPUI Nonprofit Expo in hopes of recruiting new talent for their organizations.
Updated reports released earlier this year found that — as of the end of 2021 — nearly 72 percent of the estimated 1.64 million nonprofit jobs lost during the pandemic had been recovered. But that still leaves hundreds of thousands of positions unfilled across the country.
IUPUI’s Nonprofit Expo will help organizations fill some of those vacancies by serving as a bridge between nonprofit, government, and community organizations and local college students.
“This isn’t a standard career fair,” explains Kerry Lay, a career advisor with the O’Neill School at IUPUI. “It allows nonprofits to connect with large numbers of students in one place and specifically targets those who are interested in working in the nonprofit sector.”
The pandemic canceled the 2020 Expo and forced the 2021 event to be virtual. But students and organizations will meet again in person on March 23 from 1- 4 p.m. in the IUPUI Campus Center. Employers can register for the event until March 21.
The Jewish Community Center is returning to the Nonprofit Expo this year. The JCC provides inclusive experiences that aim to help people grow and build communities through preschool, after-school, fitness, and arts programming.
“The Expo is specific to nonprofit employers and attracts students who want to do meaningful, mission-based work,” says JCC Director of Human Resources Nancy Riddle-Mills. “These are qualities we look for in all our employees, whether they’re full-time, part-time, or seasonal staff.”
The Expo allows organizations to see what’s coming down the talent pipeline and gives smaller nonprofits the chance to build name recognition and recruit new volunteers, interns, and employees. The trade-off for students is invaluable hands-on experience for those who want to work in the nonprofit sector.
Quinlin Malloy, a Sustainable Management and Policy major at O’Neill, attended the 2021 virtual Nonprofit Expo. She met with three organizations and was offered an internship at Camptown, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit focused on connecting kids with nature through educational learning experiences.
“Going to these types of fairs allows you to actually talk with a potential employer in a field you’re interested in before agreeing to an internship or a job,” Malloy says. “That’s a much better approach than trying to search around and hopefully find someone.”
Prior to the Expo, Malloy had never heard of Camptown. But after meeting with the organization, she was selected for an internship in late spring of 2021. And she’s been there ever since. In January, they offered her the opportunity to join their team as a full-fledged staff member.
“Without the Nonprofit Expo, I probably would have ended up in an internship that wasn’t nearly as interesting as what I was doing and it may not have turned into a job,” she says.
Thanks to the Expo, Malloy has a guaranteed job when she graduates in the fall, and Camptown has filled a position that will help them advance their organization’s mission and help education and empower more young people around Indianapolis.
The Nonprofit Expo is a collaboration between the O’Neill School, the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, IU School of Social Work, the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the School of Health and Human Services, the Center for Transfer and Adult Students, IUPUI’s Center for Service and Learning, and the IUPUI Office of Student Employment. Employers can register for the event until March 21.
United Way of Central Indiana will host its second Go All IN Day June 24 across the region
By Margaret Matray, communications manager, United Way of Central Indiana
In the September sun, volunteers armed with flyers and trash grabbers fanned out across the 900 block of North Delaware Street in Indianapolis.
They passed out snacks to neighbors and told them about the services offered at Recovery Café Indy. They spread the word about the cafe’s upcoming anniversary barbecue. And they plucked garbage from bushes, curbs and fences.
Recovery Café Indy was one of several dozen organizations that participated last year in United Way of Central Indiana’s first Go All IN Day, an organized day of volunteering and community service across the region. More than 500 volunteers tackled over 70 projects, including assembling care kits for seniors, mulching playgrounds, planting community gardens and stocking food pantries.
As a result of the event, Recovery Café recruited a handful of new long-term volunteers, and nearly 80 people attend its anniversary celebration, said Aubre Jean, the cafe’s program manager. Go All IN Day also helped the cafe’s members connect with new people and feel supported, she said.
“It felt like we were coming together as a community to do something important, to help maintain the neighborhood and to share the word,” Jean said. “It was awesome because it was not just our organization doing this – the whole entire Indianapolis community was doing something to give back.”
United Way will host this year’s Go All IN Day on June 24 and hopes to grow the event in its second year – with more volunteers and more projects across Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan and Putnam counties. The nonprofit is currently recruiting interested volunteers, nonprofits, community groups and grassroots organizations at uwci.org/go-all-in-day.
In the coming months, organizations with an annual operating budget of $1 million or less will be able to apply for small grants to fund their projects. And United Way will help connect volunteers to projects leading up to the event.
For last year project, Recovery Café received a $500 micro-grant that went toward supplies for the neighborhood clean-up and refreshments for volunteers to enjoy while networking after.
Jean saw Go All IN Day as a way to bring together different organizations that share a common goal of helping others. The event also built on the cafe’s efforts to get members walking outside and keep the block clean, as Recovery Café had “adopted” its street through Keep Indianapolis Beautiful.
Recovery Café operates under the nonprofit We Bloom and is part of a network of cafes across the country. It launched out of a space at Horizon House several years ago and is now located inside the Unity of Indianapolis building.
The cafe serves people in recovery – not solely from substance use but also from domestic violence, trauma, mental health struggles, homelessness and other challenges. It offers programs, connects people to services and hosts recovery circles facilitated by trained peer recovery coaches.
Jean said the cafe provides a loving environment. Many members attend daily because it’s their community — a place to belong. There, they can share a cup of coffee or a meal from the nonprofit Second Helpings.
For Go All IN Day, Jean set a goal of recruiting 25 volunteers but exceeded that with nearly 40. Top leaders from United Way and volunteers from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and First Financial Bank, which helps fund the cafe, all participated – along with cafe members and staff.
Peter Hanscom, United Way’s vice president of marketing and digital engagement, had often driven by the cafe but didn’t know what it did. Hanscom and his family have places where they normally volunteer and give back, but Go All IN Day gave him an opportunity to get out of that comfortable pattern and meet new people and organizations.
After handing out flyers about the cafe that day, Hanscom and the other volunteers toured the facility, learned about its mission and talked with members about their recovery stories.
“The sacrifice of just one day gave me an appetite to stay involved outside of the ways I normally would have,” Hanscom said.
Jean said Recovery Café is still working on its plans for this year’s Go All IN Day. But she’s already reserved a spot online.
The event gives organizations a chance to connect, be creative and recruit more volunteers than they normally would to finish a project.
“It felt amazing to have people from these organizations come and support,” Jean said. “And what it showed is that we are supported and we are seen for the work that we do.
“For any organization who wants to feel connected to that bigger picture and give back in any way – it’s an opportunity to do so.” To learn more about Recovery Café Indy, go to www.recoverycafeindy.org.
Volunteers and organizations interested in participating in this year’s Go All IN Day can learn more and sign up at uwci.org/go-all-in-day.
By any definition, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana faced a nightmarish situation during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. While demand for food surged to unprecedented numbers, the organization’s typical sources of donations — particularly those from grocery stores — plunged to zero, recalled President and CEO John Elliott, who recently announced his retirement. At the same time, the food bank’s volunteer force dwindled in the face of lockdown orders and the uncertainty around the deadly disease.
Faced with similar daunting circumstances, many food banks temporarily or permanently closed their doors. In New York City, for instance, 39 percent of food banks were closed during the height of the pandemic.
An ambitious strategic plan that had been developed years prior to the pandemic allowed Gleaners to not only keep its doors open but serve 103 million nutritious meals in 2020 — up from 20 million in 2016, said Elliott, who plans to hand over the leadership reins to his successor in September.
“Strategy is absolutely our roadmap,” Elliott said. “We started our strategic plan in February 2019. At that time, we began a lot of change and growth planning, and set a goal of closing the meal gap and keeping it closed. That meant, after 2019, we would need to do 2 ½ that year’s food distribution, sustain it and do it in the right way.” Along the way, the team also focused on significantly increasing efficiency.
“We did not expect to get 2 ½ times the donations that people have historically given us so we did dozens of things to improve our efficiency,” Elliott said. “We went from 41 cents a meal when I got here to 12 cents a meal last year. There wasn’t one magic thing that led to that, but dozens of dozens of things across the entire organization.
“After about nine months of the pandemic, we didn’t update that strategic plan,” he added. We found ourselves, in a sort of an intriguing way, checking off 2023 strategic plan goals early.”
With the implementation and acceleration of the strategic plan, Elliott said the food bank has undergone a permanent transformation.
“You cannot quintuple your distribution, while simultaneously have dramatically improved the nutritional quality and unprecedented variety of foods,” he said. “We have absolutely left behind the old food banking model of passively waiting to see what loose cans and boxes people choose to donate and then that’s what we distribute. We’ve proactively even maybe aggressively gone after financial resources to shop for food at the lowest cost and at the best nutritional variety we can try to create for the families we’re privileged to serve.”
A renewed focus on employees
Human resources was another key focus of Gleaner’s strategic plan — which also significantly paid off when faced with the challenges of the past two years, Elliott noted.
“We invested in our people,” he said. “We redefined every job, every role in the organization and some of the more impactful ones when the pandemic came along.”
As part of that plan, program staff members served as local service managers of assigned geographies, Elliott said.
“They were out in the field, interacting and working with our partners, understanding the neighborhoods, understanding the counties, and knowing exactly what they needed from us to succeed — not confined by historically what we had done for them or with them. But what did they actually need to do their part of closing the meal gap in their area, providing wraparound interconnected solutions.”
Since that work started in 2019, the team was better prepared to meet the needs of the community. “By the time the pandemic hit in early 2020, we already were equipped with that information. Also, if we had not moved to this current location with this facility in 2010, we absolutely could not have handled the pandemic response. We might very well have done what happened at some food banks and many food pantries around the country, which was temporary shutdowns, limiting our response, and running out of food distributions. But that didn’t happen. We were able to handle it because we were already on a growth and change trajectory.”
As part of the strategic plan, employees were evaluated to ensure they were in the right positions. The organization also hired new employees who would be equipped to handle demands well into the future — not simply fulfill the duties of the previous employees, Elliott said.
“In many ways, we started from an organization that was financially at risk in 2016 to one that is very stable and solid now. It was a financial journey. That financial journey began with my doubling the fundraising team when I got here and, much like corporations will use a dramatic increase in sales to turn the company around, we used a dramatic increase in fundraising to give us the resources to do all of the other things.”
Lilly Endowment, Inc., and other organizations provided the funds needed to expand its team, Elliott noted. “But, from there, we had to earn our own way.”
Looking to the future
Elliott noted that some nonprofits could be shortchanging themselves by focusing on challenges instead of future-setting goals.
“If you have a mindset as a nonprofit that, ‘Well, we’re short-staffed,’ or ‘We don’t have enough funding,’ you can diminish what you get versus if you’re more optimistic and project a vision your stakeholders see, hear and respond to.”
By establishing a vision that Gleaners needed to run at 2 ½ to 3 times the distribution it had in 2019, the food bank was equipped to handle even more under pressure, he said. “Now, we know we can do it in normal times.”
Passed as part of the CARES Act at the onset of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) Program, in very simple terms, is a credit for continuing to pay employees during the pandemic if certain tests are met.
While the name suggests it’s related to tax, it’s an actual cash refund if you qualify. The credit is driven off of headcount and can add up to a significant sum depending on your total headcount and payroll. It can add up quickly, even for small organizations, as the credit could be up to $5,000 per employee in calendar year 2020 and up to $21,000 per employee in calendar year 2021. If your organization experienced either a gross receipts decline or more than a nominal portion of your business was suspended in 2020 or 2021 because of a government order, you may qualify.
The ERTC did not garner the media attention the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) did when the CARES Act first went into effect because, at that time, businesses and organizations were only allowed to pursue one program – and the vast majority chose the PPP route. However, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) passed in late 2020 reversed course and allowed taxpayers to pursue ERTC even if they took a PPP loan. Overnight, the number of organizations that could qualify exploded and has resulted in significant cash refunds for thousands of organizations.
The ERTC program is in place for wages paid between March 13, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021. President Biden signed the Infrastructure Innovation and Jobs Act back in November 2021, sunsetting the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) program one quarter early (with some exceptions for recovery startups). This early “cut-off” eliminated the 4th quarter of 2021 as a qualifying quarter for the credit – but it doesn’t preclude taxpayers from still claiming the credit for prior eligible quarters.
Qualification: Gross receipts method
To qualify under the gross receipts method, your organization must have experienced a 50% decline in gross receipts during a calendar quarter in 2020 as compared to the same calendar quarter in 2019. To quality in 2021, the threshold is lowered to only a 20% decline in gross receipts as compared to the same calendar quarter in 2019. PPP loan proceeds (when received or when forgiven) are not included as a gross receipt for purposes of this test. While the 50% decline to qualify in 2020 is a steep mark to hit, the reduction to 20% in 2021 results in many more organizations qualifying for the credit. Having said that, the gross receipts method is not the only way to qualify for the credit.
Qualification: Government suspension of operations/partial suspension
Didn’t meet the gross receipts decline test or have a full business shutdown as a result of a government order? There’s still a chance organizations that operated as essential businesses could qualify for the Employee Retention Tax Credit. To qualify under a partial government shutdown, a business unit or program that comprised at least 10% of the gross receipts in the same quarter in 2019 and was suspended from operations (as a result of a COVID-19 government shutdown order), would qualify the entire organization.
For example, if Business Unit A (or Program A) was shut down for a period of time at the onset of COVID-19, and the unit generated 15% of 2nd Quarter revenue in 2019, that could potentially qualify the overall business for the ERTC during the 2020 shutdown period.
Furthermore, in this example, it’s not only Business Unit A that has qualifying wages for the credit: all wages of all business units of the company would qualify during this period of time. Thus, as long as a nominal portion (10%) of the business was suspended, it could be enough to qualify the whole business for the credit.
Eligible wages
Wages that are eligible to be utilized for the credit include W-2 gross wages, pre-tax employee paid health insurance premiums and employer-side paid health insurance premiums. One caveat to keep in mind – wages utilized for PPP forgiveness, or any other credit, cannot also be utilized as qualifying wages for the Employee Retention Tax Credit. Having said that, organizations that received PPP proceeds are still seeing sizeable refunds on the ERTC side, so taking a PPP loan isn’t a reason to not consider the ERTC.
Other considerations
The Employee Retention Tax Credit is a taxable credit. The funding is taxable in the year the wages were paid and could require an amended tax return for taxable legal entities. However, non-profits will not have tax burden related to the credit and may not need to amend their 990s for this.
The ERTC is claimed on an amended quarterly payroll tax return (Form 941X). Once the IRS processes Form 941X, a check is issued to the taxpayer for the credit amount, plus interest. The statute of limitations for filing amended payroll tax returns is three years from the due date of the return, meaning to apply for the Employee Retention Tax Credit for the 2nd quarter of 2020, the amended return needs to be submitted by July 2023. Therefore, there’s still time to apply for the credit.
Find out if you qualify
The Employee Retention Tax Credit can be a massive opportunity if your organization qualifies. With the potential credit up to $5,000 per employee in calendar year 2020 and up to $21,000 per employee in calendar year 2021, organizations both big and small could greatly benefit from applying for the credit.
by Laura N. Haffner, CPA, senior managing consultant
The current economic environment has significantly changed the way organizations look at their talent pool internally or externally. More than ever, organizations have had to become more creative in their efforts to retain their employees. If they are hiring, the desired compensation likely has increased as well.
In this climate, organizations also are faced with a business decision on whether they should hire staff or outsource various functions of their organization. One of the most common areas that could be outsourced is the accounting function.
Here are four reasons to outsource your accounting function
You benefit from working with a team of seasoned professionals.
Services are scalable and flexible.
It can increase automation and efficiencies.
You can realize cost savings. Over the long run, outsourcing your accounting function to a trusted provider can provide for a greater return on investment as compared to hiring, training, and updating in-house personnel.
BKD serves approximately 1,720 nonprofits across the country, ranging from small private foundations to large international organizations, giving us a solid understanding of the issues nonprofit organizations face. Working with an experienced, professional team of nonprofit advisors can help save you time and money while increasing your peace of mind. BKD can help with the following, and more:
Monthly close process
Nonprofit financial reporting
Grants management and compliance
Audit preparation, including Single Audit
Grants management and compliance
Audit preparation, including Single Audit
Budget development, process, and execution
Implementation of new accounting standards
Financial operational assessments
Policies and procedures
Executive and nonexecutive compensation consulting
Other projects on your CFO to-do list
Contact Laura and Dan to learn more or submit a proposal request.
Laura N. Haffner, CPA, senior managing consultant Haffner is a member of BKD’s Nonprofit Advisory Services team and has more than eight years of assurance and advisory experience in public accounting. Her expertise includes not-for-profit financial reporting, audit preparation, outsourced accounting functions, technology solutions and implementation, and advisory services. She has experience working in several accounting systems including Sage Intacct, Quickbooks Online, MIP Abila, ACS Realm, and others. Haffner also has experience performing audits and attest engagements for for-profit entities and employee benefit plans. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Indiana CPA Society and is a Certified Quickbooks Proadvisor.
Daniel J. Waninger, CPA, director Waninger has served the nonprofit, higher education and governmental sectors for more than 15 years. His experience includes working with higher education institutions, membership organizations, museums, religious organizations, foundations and social service agencies. He has provided audit services in accordance with Government Auditing Standards and Single Audit standards, managed numerous audits and completed a six-month apprenticeship in BKD’s quality control department. He also serves as a presenter on technical topics, such as FASB new standards and best practices for nonprofit organizations. Waninger also is a member of the BKD Nonprofit Center of Excellence, the American Institute of CPAs and Indiana CPA Society.
Earth Charter’s Jim Poyser, Shannon Anderson and Tatjana Rebelle all are directors
by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News
Pictured: Tatjana Rebelle, Shannon Anderson and Jim Poyser
Within the first year or two into his role as the first paid executive director of Earth Charter Indiana (ECI), Jim Poyser, the former managing editor for NUVO, felt a sense of uneasiness as he looked around the room during a board meeting.
“I remember thinking, ‘We are all white and old.,” recalled Poyser, sharing some of the history that led him to seek a replacement for his role as executive director of the 21-year-old nonprofit organization.
The homogeneous nature of the ECI’s board in 2013 hadn’t gone unnoticed by ECI board president Rosemary Glass Spalding, a long-time board member for the local nonprofit organization. “When I joined the board a few years before that, it was so glaring and obvious,” Glass Spalding recalled. “And John Gibson, who was the one of the founders of Earth Charter Indiana, had a mantra that we will be an intergenerational organization.”
Although ECI has since made significant developments in recruiting and maintaining a diverse board, Poyser also wanted to explore options for a new face of the organization.
Earlier this year, after a series of brainstorming and organizational meetings with ECI’s staff and board members, Poyser accomplished his vision by abandoning his executive title and becoming the director of advancement. At the same time, co-workers Shannon Anderson became director of advocacy and Tatjana Rebelle became director of youth programming.
“We know that climate change is going to be most impactful to frontline communities, including low-income communities, communities of color and females,” Poyser said. “I was doing a lot of presentations in schools and community centers. And I started to recognize that an older white male coming into a community to speak to people was never effective.”
The path to a shared leadership model
Early on in his tenure, Poyser started the process of bringing more diverse voices to the forefront by asking others, including females and people of color, to represent ECI at speaking engagements. “I felt it was the right thing to do. I had my time to speak. I had my opportunities. And I’m not seeing things move quickly enough in Indiana regarding climate.”
Years later, as part of the organization’s strategic plan, the team was able to significantly increase its budget. That was when the organization was able to hire Anderson as a full-time assistant director, and more recently, Rebelle to oversee youth programming.
And in 2020, in the wake of increased demonstrations from white supremacists and civil rights activists protesting the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, Poyser felt the time had come for the change in executive leadership he had been contemplating.
“It seemed like the right direction,” Poyser recalled. “It was an instinct with the way things were unfolding around us.”
Dismantling a hierarchy
When Poyser first approached ECI co-workers Anderson and Rebelle about his decision to hand over the reins of executive director to another person, they both paused at the prospect of disrupting a strong working relationship.
Anderson, who excelled in advocacy work, had no desire to take on the top leadership role. Rebelle had the same response. And neither of them was highly interested in the possibility of a new person taking over the leadership position because they all worked so well together.
So, after that initial conversation, Anderson and Rebelle, who had personally experienced the benefits of a shared leadership model while working at The Kheprw Institute, explored the possibilities of a shared leadership or distributive leadership model for ECI. While many researchers and thought leaders have long touted the benefits of this type of leadership, it hasn’t become mainstream.
“All three of us have these strengths that all balanced themselves out,” Rebelle said. “The areas that I’m really interested in are the ones that Jim and Shannon might not want to do. We asked each other, ‘What do you love about your job?’ and ‘What are some of the things you don’t really love about your job?’”
That questioning led to a more formal work discussion in which all three team members hashed out answers to those questions in a Google document, listing the things they wanted to continue to do and those they would prefer to hand off to someone else, Anderson recalled. “There was a fluidity to it when we started moving things around,” she said. “It was a three-person collaboration.”
Anderson also said the pre-planning was critical for further adoption of the proposal.
“If Jim hadn’t been part of this three-person collaboration, I think it would have been very hard to sell to our board,” Anderson said. “But because all three of us were totally in sync on this almost from the moment it was brought up, everyone was really comfortable with it. It feels very organic and authentic.”
Gaining board approval
Once they had a detailed plan on how the shared leadership model would work — with workflow charts and pie charts, the team had numerous meetings with the board to move forward with acceptance and implementation.
“There were some concerns and questions when we actually took this to the board to get feedback. And the obvious one is, ‘Well, who’s in charge?”,” she said. “‘Who’s responsible, ultimately, to the board for achieving the strategic goals of the strategic plan?’ And the answer is, ‘They all are.’”’
During those meetings, they addressed how they would be accountable with each other and resolve conflicts.
“We’ve made a commitment to each other to be honest,” Rebelle said. “We also decided to bring in the executive committee if there’s something that the three of us can’t figure out as a unit.”
Based on her history of working at the organization, Anderson said, she anticipates that there won’t be conflict per se. “It’s good to be prepared for disagreements, but I think it will be more along the lines of ‘We have two paths before us. And we’re excited about both, but we can only do one.’”
The team’s plan was convincing. Within a fiscal quarter, the board had adopted the new leadership plan.
A new way forward
Under the shared leadership model, the board will be more integral in the personnel aspects of the organization, Glass Spalding said.
“In the past, I and the executive committee did Jim’s personnel evaluation and Jim did Shannon and Tatiana’s. They’re now going to do each other’s in addition to their own self-evaluations,” she said. “But the board will have to be more involved.”
Along the way, other concerns were addressed, including the following:
What will supporters think? Poyser had been at the helm of ECI for more than eight years and is well known throughout the community and among funders. “The board was really concerned,” Glass Spalding said. “Jim has been the face of Earth Charter Indiana for a number of years. He’s a very dynamic person and there was concern that a perceived demotion or change could be detrimental to the organization. They didn’t want to have any ramifications from that.” Poyser addressed those concerns by pointing out that all three of the staff leaders can be considered the face of the organization. “Shannon Anderson is the leader of Earth Charter Indiana at places like the Statehouse,” he said. “Tatjana is the leader in other sectors. From a biodiversity standpoint, it really makes sense for the strength of the organization to have a team of leaders who are all on the same plane. In a way, this is just formalizing what I felt to be happening already.
Would the executive director be OK with losing his title? Poyser said that he wasn’t attached to his ED title and, as a result, didn’t have qualms about losing the “executive” in front of his name. “My transition to director of advancement is a natural fit for a transition from executive director,” he said. “The director of advancement and an executive director are very similar positions in the realm of grants and contracts.”
The team members all acknowledged that they will continue to refine the new leadership model as they navigate changes in the coming months.
Glass Spalding said she doesn’t anticipate any major challenges with the transition.
“In observing them, they’re all very highly driven people. The personnel issues are very nuanced in terms of more of an approach to achieving the goals of the strategic plan,” she said. “The question will be, ‘How do we meaningfully evaluate whether they’re achieving what we hope and expect?’ As the year progresses, we want to make sure we’re still on the same page, and that our expectations and their expectations and work match.”
And the benefits of a shared leadership model far outweigh any difficulties in making a transition, Glass Spalding said.
“I do think, especially with a small organization, this is a really a very exciting possibility for organizations to look at,” she said. “The upside is you have the ability to achieve a lot more with a lot less red tape or bureaucracy. It’s very symbiotic and synergistic, words that are sometimes overused, but they really do fit this situation.”
Anderson said it also is a significant step toward inclusion.
“People may be scared to take on a change like this because they can’t imagine not being in control,” Anderson said. “I don’t think they realize that there’s a better version of everything when we elevate different voices. Jim’s not quitting. He’s not retiring. He’s going to be keeping us healthy going forward, but he’s also letting other voices come forward. A lot of organizations could benefit from deciding to doing something different. It puts you on a path toward a better future where there is more inclusion and there are more people of color at the forefront of movements.”
