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Jul 07

Why DC’s nonprofit organizations are targets for hackers

By Feature, Technology

By Chris Bing, staff reporter, DC Inno |

D.C. is home to a conglomeration of high-profile, global nonprofit organizations who have progressively become extremely attractive targets for hackers.

These organizations are especially susceptible to attacks because of the sensitive financial information they store via their donors and the propensity for sharing information between offices that are working in coordination to accomplish a specific mission.

Virtru, a D.C.-based cybersecurity company that specializes in email encryption, now plans to offer up to 50 free seats of its software to eligible, high-risk non-profits, as part of a grassroots marketing strategy.

“It’s no surprise that nonprofits often lack the resources they need to succeed; both from a personnel perspective and, especially now, from a technology perspective. Unfortunately, trying to stretch budgets and gain funding for day-to-day operations can be a job in itself … nonprofits may also struggle to adhere to compliance regulations such as HIPAA, FERPA and Dodd-Frank, depending on the nature of their work,” Virtru CEO and co-founder John Ackerly told DC Inno.

The normal cost of each software subscription for an organization per year would be at least $3,000 without the program (Virtru for Nonprofits). Through this software, users will have another level of control and security behind their email exchanges.

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Jul 07

Nine organizations share their tech success

By Feature, Technology

By Jim Lynch, writer, TechSoup |

Over the past year, TechSoup has been doing impact stories about nonprofits, churches and libraries doing great work with TechSoup’s product donations. Here are nine.

Braided River

Seattle-based nonprofit publishing company Braided River has used a TechSoup donation of Adobe software to astounding effect. It’s undertaken 16 conservation projects to date with just three staff people. Among the wild places Braided River has featured, millions of acres have been moved to a stronger level of protection. The organization’s project on Last Polar Bear reached 26.5 million people through national media outreach, including an appearance on “Good Morning America.”

Braided River’s director of development and communications, Lace Thornberg, told us, “We work really hard with a very little budget to have the highest impact possible. We wouldn’t be able do it without TechSoup donations. I asked some of my colleagues for some examples of how they use TechSoup donations. They said you want an example? You mean everything we do, every day?”

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Jul 02

Focus on mission

By Feature, Governance

By Jane Page-Steiner at JPSNonprofit Strategies |

Don’t let your board get so entangled in day-to-day challenges of your organization that they lose sight of your larger purpose. As your board discusses critical issues, your mission statement can provide perspective and a reminder of your organization’s true purpose. At every board meeting keep your mission statement as a central theme.

Nonprofit leaders can help their boards keep focus on mission by:

  • Reading the mission statement at the start of every meeting
  • Sharing a story of how the organization’s mission impacted someone’s life in the last month
  • Taking 15 minutes at a board meeting to discuss the elements of the mission statement and how it guides your work
  • Asking board members to share how they see the organization living out its mission
  • Discussing how one of your programs reflects and implements your mission

Your mission statement informs your board, constituents and the community of what you do, who you serve and how you provide services. I recommend you regularly review your mission statement and revise it if you have changed direction or if it no longer seems relevant. I can help you create a fun and engaging planning session that reviews, and if needed, revises your mission statement.

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Jun 30

Good intentions or intentionality: Which describes your board of directors?

By Governance, Leadership, Sponsor Insight

By Steve Sauer, senior manager, BKD |

Most historians agree the form and function of today’s board of directors began around the advent of the 20th century. English authorities decided the ultimate authority in a company was vested in the board of directors, and the nature and extent of its authority was to be enumerated in the articles of association (or incorporation).

So after 100 years of practice, these boards have evolved into exceptional governing bodies presiding over their organizations … right? Not exactly.

According to a January 2015 study conducted by BoardSource, boards of not-for-profit organizations are not as close as they think to achieve the pinnacle of effective governance. On the contrary, the study reveals that, on average, not-for-profit leaders give boards a B- in overall performance. It would appear, then, that in our age of constant political, economic, regulatory and demographic changes, significant improvements are necessary — even vital to the health of the not-for-profit sector as a whole.

BoardSource, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing the public good by building exceptional not-for-profit boards and inspiring board service, supports, trains and educates more than 100,000 not-for-profit board leaders from across the country each year.

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Jun 30

Salaried workers could get overtime pay

By Feature, Governance, Leadership

By Katie Johnston, Boston Globe staff |

Millions of American workers who put in extra hours with no extra pay would soon be eligible for overtime under a plan unveiled Monday night by President Obama. The proposed regulations would more than double the current threshold at which many salaried employees stop getting overtime pay, covering those who make up to $50,440 a year.

That is welcome news for workers like Gassan Marzuq. As the manager of a Dunkin’ Donuts in Kingston, Gassan Marzuq sometimes worked 80 or 90 hours a week — spending most of his days serving coffee, running the cash register, and mopping the floors.

Yet because he was a salaried employee who had been deemed ineligible for overtime, his $825 a week in pay sometimes averaged out to roughly the same hourly rate his workers were paid — a reality for many managers when they work more than 40 hours a week.

The Obama administration’s proposal, revealed in an op-ed by the president on the Huffington Post Monday night and set to be officially announced Tuesday, would extend overtime protections to roughly 5 million workers in 2016.

In 1975, about 62 percent of the salaried workforce were eligible for overtime pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates for low-income workers. Today, because of inflation, 8 percent are covered.

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Jun 30

Views

By Feature, Governance, Leadership

By Zac Kester, executive director, Charitable Allies |

After reviewing the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed changes, I believe that this would have a significant adverse effect on the budgets and operations of small nonprofits, especially those who currently pay their executive directors (or an equivalent position) and administrative support staff less than the new thresholds.

The Department of Labor fact sheets 17C, 17B and 17A outline the requirements for the exemption that allows employers to NOT pay executive and administrative employees overtime. Among other things, those requirements are that employees make at least $23,660.

Many small nonprofits pay staff on a salary basis and do not pay overtime. With the new standards, which will move this threshold to somewhere between $42,000 and $52,000, any employee who makes below that threshold would be entitled to overtime, regardless if they otherwise met the test and qualified for the exemption. Many nonprofit organizations employ people in this range ($23,660 to $42,000/$52,000).

If this regulation is adopted, nonprofit managers and boards will have to be careful to monitor their employees’ time and pay them overtime wages to which they will be entitled.

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Jun 23

DIY: Make a bylaws cheat sheet

By Feature, Governance

By Jan Masaoka, director and editor-in-chief, Blue Avocado |

“What does it say in the bylaws?”

“Does anyone have a copy of the by-laws?”

“I know I got one when I started on the board but . . . ”

Here’s a new idea: a bylaws cheat sheet. Even if there is a copy of the by-laws handy, it’s tedious to have to look over all the legalese when you want an answer to a simple question. So a nice 30-minute Do It Yourself (DIY) project is to create one.

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Jun 23

Starting a nonprofit: five tips and a warning

By Feature, Leadership

By editorial staff, Idealist |

The world is in the midst of what one observer has called an “associational revolution.” New nonprofits are being formed for every sort of purpose on every continent at the fastest rate in history. If you are thinking of joining this vast worldwide movement by starting — or helping to start — a nonprofit, here are some crucial things to think about.

Tip #1: All nonprofits are local. Even the globe-spanning, household-name organizations that operate in hundreds or thousands of places must learn about, and live with, complicated rules that differ greatly from place to place. Almost certainly, the second thing you will do when starting a nonprofit is to register with the local government agency that handles new “nongovernmental organizations” in the community where the organization will operate.

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Jun 23

Advice from the pros

By Feature, Leadership

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors |

Been there, done that. In any endeavor, experience goes a long way. In the Indianapolis’ nonprofit world, wisdom is in no short supply, particularly from longtime executives. Many have seen changes in the field over the course of their careers.

Recently, at the request of Charitable Advisors, five retired nonprofit high-profile executives participated in a roundtable discussion about their careers and shared advice for new nonprofit executives. Participants were:

  • Ellen Annala, former Central Indiana United Way president, spent 23 years with the organization and retired in 2013 after 15 years as president. Her career was spent working for Indianapolis nonprofits.
  • Betsy Bikoff spent the first 25 years of her career working for-profits and then was the first employee of the Fairbanks Foundation. She was its chief grantmaking officer and vice president until the end of last year. Early this year, she launched Betsy Bikoff Consulting.
  • Willis Bright spent 25 years at Lilly Endowment as director of youth programming before retiring in 2012. Currently, he is president of Bright Visions.
  • Hoagland Elliott, CEO for Raphael Health Center for the past decade, also served as chair of Indiana Primary Health Care Association.
  • Jim McClelland retired in April after 41 years at the helm of Goodwill.

Habitat for Humanities of Greater Indianapolis hosted the hour-and-a-half roundtable conversation. The executives’ insights will be featured in a series of stories in the next month. This week, we feature these former leaders’ advice for new nonprofit executives. These are the highlights:

WILLIS BRIGHT: I think my advice to an executive director is first of all, know thyself and be passionate about wanting to be an executive director and be clear about the kind of staff you and your board need to achieve the impact that you want in the community.

HOAGLAND ELLIOTT: My advice would be to really believe in your mission and act on it. I think many times it gets left in the drawer. Treat your clients with respect. People who are disadvantaged need more respect than others.

JIM McCLELLAND: I would add understanding your context, understanding where you fit in the communities you’re operating in, where you fit in the fields you’re engaged in and how what you’re doing relates to what others around you are doing. Don’t develop tunnel vision.

ELLEN ANNALA: I’d probably just underscore again the importance of getting it right with your board. Figuring out how to make that work so that’s it’s working for your mission.

Another piece of advice is actually something I learned from watching Goodwill. I remember when I was at Big Sisters thinking when you’re smaller you’re more nimble, and you can turn on a dime. Well, you can’t, because when you’re smaller, it’s real easy to get consumed by survival. I watched you (McClelland) be the nimble one that was able to turn on a dime.

I remember when a contract got pulled, and Goodwill turned right, and part of it was it had the resources to do that.

McCLELLAND: I so agree with you on the nimbleness. If you want to succeed over time, you’ve got to have impact and you have got to know what that impact is. You’ve got to be sustainable; if you’re constantly struggling to keep your head above water, you cannot do a good job of accomplishing your mission. You need a certain level of financial strength if you are going to do the job. The third is the adaptability. You’ve got to be able to adapt quickly and effectively as new needs and opportunities arise, and as the external environment changes. All three of those are absolutely essential over time.

BRIGHT: Jim, you said something earlier that I think is so critical. You talked about your engagement with your colleagues around the country, and finding out what they’re doing, maybe bringing some things back. Part of the tunnel vision that folks get into is just thinking about what they are doing — never even asking folks across town, executives across the street. They especially need those ideas from folks who are doing what you are doing somewhere else. Call somebody else.

BETSY BIKOFF: That’s what my advice was going to be. Go to school on other people, whether it’s next door, across the city. There is always somebody else like your nonprofit somewhere. There are other foundations, other nonprofits, other leaders whom you can ask. Somebody else has probably already invented what you are doing.

McCLELLAND: But not necessarily only in your field. There’s a quote in one of Gary Hamel’s books that says most people in an industry are blind in the same way. They’re all paying attention to the same things, and not paying attention to the same things. You have got to broaden your perspective. Learn, learn, learn, where you can. You’ve got to get outside your own arena, if you’re really going to grow and learn.

BIKOFF: Talk with people outside your age group. If you only talk with people in your own age band, you’re not going to get the other kinds of thinking.

McCLELLAND: And that’s older and younger.

BRIGHT: Borrow freely.

Jun 18

GIVING USA 2015 annual report on philanthropy – analysis

By Feature

Join JGA as we delve into the latest release of Giving USA: The Annual Report on Philanthropy and uncover what the data says about the state of fundraising and donor trends. We’ll be joined by Patrick Rooney, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, who leads the Giving USA research team. Patrick and Angela White, Senior Consultant and CEO of Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates, will help you dig into the trends behind the data in the June 2015 release. You will hear from the experts what these trends mean and how to interpret the numbers and understand their impact on your advancement efforts.

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