Skip to main content
Category

Sponsor Insight

Nov 30

Stakeholder feedback takes the guess work out of decision making

By Sponsor Insight

by Hannah Gooding, Consultant, Hedges

In our everyday lives, we constantly ask questions and use data to help us make better, smarter decisions. Can we say the same about decision making at our nonprofits? Think about your last staff or board meeting. What information did you have to inform your decisions? Maybe you were considering what expenses to cut due to COVID. What data did you have at your disposal? Budgets alone can’t tell you what programs are the most impactful to those you serve, why your donor retention is going down, or what inefficiencies are causing bottlenecks for your team. To get that information, you need real-time feedback.

Why feedback is a game changer.

According to a survey conducted by Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2019, 88 percent of nonprofit leaders prioritize gathering client feedback while only 13 percent use it as a “top source of insight for continuous improvement.” Two-thirds of organizations not collecting client feedback said their greatest barrier was limited staff time and/or resources, and 20 percent said collecting feedback was “too complicated” or “too expensive.” If these statements resonate with you, consider the following:

  1. Collecting feedback will make your organization more efficient in the long run. Gathering feedback from the people you serve will not only make your programs more impactful, but make your service-delivery more efficient. You might learn families don’t need or want something you’ve been providing for years or would rather participate in your program virtually so you could cut food and transportation expenses while boosting engagement rates. Feedback data might help you recognize how different programs can be combined, pared down, or supported by volunteers. In addition, having satisfaction data direct from your participants will make your grant proposals more appealing and your impact reports more compelling. That’s right, collecting feedback can both lower your administrative expenses and increase your fundability. Win, win.
  • How should you collect participant feedback? To collect in-depth, qualitative feedback about your services, organize a focus group with the individuals who participate in your programs or receive your services. Use a time and space with minimal barriers such as a community center (with social distancing) or video conferencing. Alternatively, if you want to collect high-level, quantitative data, consider surveying your participants. The survey should be brief and easy to access. For both focus group and survey options, consider offering incentives for participation and using third-party facilitator to ensure participants can be fully transparent.
  • What should you ask participants? Ask program participants if and how your services are making a difference for them; what about your services is most meaningful to them; what, if any, barriers complicate receiving your services; and what could improve their overall experience with your organization.
  1. Collecting feedback is great donor stewardship. By the end of the year, your donors are tired of being asked for money. The majority of American donors give to three or more organizations, so their inboxes are inundated with #GivingTuesday emails and asks for support. But remember the saying—”Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money twice?” December and January are great months for collecting feedback from your donors. Asking your donors to share their input makes them feel valued and engaged in your work. Plus, their feedback should help you determine what information is meaningful to them, why they support you, and how they feel connected to your mission. All of this data will help you build relationships with your donors, keep them engaged, and prepare for larger asks in the future.
  • How should you collect donor feedback? Digital surveys are excellent tools for collecting feedback from your donors. Send out a survey to your general donor list and consider posting the survey on your social media. For your major donors, gathering their feedback should be more personal. Enlist Board members to share the survey with one or two donors using a personalized email or set up a Zoom meeting to go through the questions in an interview style.
  • What should you ask donors? Ask donors if they feel well-connected to your organization, if they can see the impact of their giving, why they choose to give, whether they would recommend your organization to others, and how they prefer to be recognized. If the survey may reach lapsed donors, ask why they don’t currently give and what might inspire them to give in the future. Sound scary? Remember, if lapsed donors take the step to even open your survey (and many do), odds are they’re still interested in supporting you. Asking for their feedback can be the perfect way to reach out without making it awkward.
  1. Collecting feedback could solve your turnover problem. We hear a lot of nonprofits talking about their staff turnover rate and setting aggressive goals to curb turnover. However, not all turnover is bad turnover. What really matters is why staff members feel the need to move on. Is it a culture issue? A salary issue? Perhaps some teams are constantly overwhelmed while others are bored. Collecting staff feedback is an important and effective way to monitor your organizational health and assess what is working and what is not. These insights give you the “why” behind a turnover rate and help you get to solution faster. Feedback can help you get ahead of an issue before it becomes worse, identify blind spots, and even give you statistics to strengthen your staff recruitment.
  • How should you collect staff feedback? Whereas you might collect feedback from your participants and your donors once or maybe twice per year, you should collect staff feedback at least once per quarter. Many organizations use a “pulse survey” to collect essential, real-time feedback on a handful of key indicators. Pulse surveys allow you to identify issues as they occur and take more immediate action. It’s important to use the same questions in each survey so that data can be compared over time. If you don’t have a designated Human Resources professional on staff, consider using a third-party to ensure staff members can be fully transparent.
  • What should you ask staff members? Using the Net Promotor Score is a great place to start. You should also ask staff about their satisfaction with workplace culture, if they can maintain appropriate work/life balance, whether they feel connected with other employees, whether they feel appropriately valued, and if they see opportunities for professional growth. Consider asking about pain points as well — for example, how does your team feel about remote work or coming back to the office?
  1. Collecting feedback can breathe life into your Board. Halloween is behind us, but maybe your Board meetings still feel like a scene out of a zombie movie. You ask a basic question and get a sea of blank stares. It’s painful, we know. But often times, Boards become disengaged and zombie-like when members either don’t understand their role, or there is no clear structure of accountability to ensure everyone is doing their part. Many Board members feel embarrassed to admit what they don’t know so they don’t ask, and then the cycle of uncertainty continues. Gathering Board feedback can be a great way to break that cycle and get an honest sense of what Board members are thinking in real-time. Feedback data might tell you some members are ready to roll off while others are ready to step up into leadership roles. You might learn simple solutions — for example, maybe members would be more engaged if Board meetings were scheduled in the mornings instead of the evenings. Feedback results can give you an objective base to start from so that no one has to feel singled-out and you can address the elephant in the room with a positive, solutions-focused attitude.
  • How should you collect Board feedback? Ideally, the Executive or Governance Committee is accountable for collecting and analyzing feedback. However, the Board Chair may also lead or outsource a confidential feedback collection process. Similar to staff feedback, Board feedback is most effective when it is captured regularly. Consider using the pulse survey format to gather feedback quarterly. At a minimum, all Boards should complete an annual engagement survey.
  • What should you ask Board members? Ask Board members about their satisfaction with the Board’s culture, communication, and effectiveness; what they perceive to be the role of the Board; what they need to be an effective and engaged Board member; whether they feel valued; and what they would change about Board meetings. You can also ask about committee involvement, leadership goals, and satisfaction with their personal giving.

So many organizations have had to completely reimagine their work this year. Many have had to pause or cut programs, cancel fundraising events, and toss out their strategic plans. Maybe your organization is approaching 2021 with nothing but question marks. No survey or focus group will tell you what the future holds, but feedback can help you make informed decisions. Meet your stakeholders where they are and ask for their input. With their feedback, you can assess where organization is strong and what you need prioritize so that your decisions are made with greater reliability, clarity, and certainty.

Hannah Gooding has been a Consultant with Hedges since 2017. With a background in nonprofit program management, her expertise in research and strategic thinking has supported dozens of nonprofit organizations in Central Indiana.

Nov 23

Expressing Gratitude for Those Who Have Invested in Others

By Sponsor Insight

by Kevin Kidwell, vice president, tax-exempt sales, OneAmerica®

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity… it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow’s future.” ─ Melody Beattie

I recently participated on a virtual panel on behalf of retirement plan advisors across the country. It was largely a nuts-and-bolts conversation, discussing the disruptive past eight months and talking about how to best serve employers and employees with tax-exempt plans in an environment where there’s so much up in the air. What was most impressive was how my colleagues opened the session with gratitude. They began by thanking all the financial professionals on the call who had gone above and beyond, despite the societal upheaval and its impact to their businesses. In short, they reacted by simply being there for one another.

Because it’s Thanksgiving week, and your family table likely will look a lot different than it has in years past, I wanted to focus on expressing gratitude to the community for all you have done, including even the smallest gestures. It’s also important to be grateful — acknowledging all that we have going for us.

Here are some of those reasons to be thankful:

Gratitude for your innovation
Think about all those organizations that rely upon outsiders to thrive. That might be the youngsters who come to nursing homes to read to seniors. Or Girl Scouts who stack shelves at a food pantry. Or parishioners who used to sing in the Sunday church choir. The pandemic has made the mixing of old and young populations impractical due to social distancing requirements. Volunteers and visitors comprise much of the ‘free labor’ that is so vital to a tax-exempt organization’s operations running smoothly — labor that is now curtailed or upended for the foreseeable future. Yet, you have managed to do more with less, bringing in creative solutions to deliver on your mission.

You also stayed sharp. The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) recommends that leaders hone their coaching skills and re-establish discussions with employees about achievements, areas for professional development, educational opportunities and the like. You lived out that recommendation. Despite being apart and shorthanded, employers encouraged empowerment of their staff and challenged themselves to do something differently or more efficiently, entering new territory to help raise the bar for the organization and expand their skill sets and capabilities. (OneAmerica’s Retirement Service division upped the ante ourselves after the pandemic by going beyond traditional retirement plan guidance and providing a holistic overview to our clients).

Gratitude for continuing to prioritize your employees’ financial security
Thank you to the employers who provided (and keep providing) their employees with a way to save for the future by maintaining a retirement plan, which has proved invaluable as a fallback. And kudos to those of you who bought into the idea of regular education to motivate workers. We’ve been astounded at those who continued to prioritize savings. In a world where many people live paycheck to paycheck, that’s really saying something.

Retirement plans provided a short-term crutch during the recent economic downturn. We’re grateful that the public and private sectors worked together in a bipartisan way to allow those accounts to be accessed with few or no penalties for those who needed the money most. We’re also grateful for employers who educated their employees about trimming household spending or modifying their budgets. Of course, we’re looking forward, in the near future, to when employees can get back to thinking long term regarding savings.

Gratitude for leaders who collaborated, connected and listened
According to a recent report from Upwork, production increased during the past eight months, despite team members having to collaborate from non-office locations.

Additionally, engagement scores went through the roof in many corporations as workers used technology to remain connected. This increased productivity occurred even though workers were simultaneously juggling homeschooling, caretaking and other stressors. Why was that? Great leaders who communicated, collaborated and connected with the workforce. They led by listening, understanding their employees’ unique needs and perspectives through a global pandemic and economic uncertainty. These leaders engaged with them on important dialogues about racial injustice and the need for positive change.

Gratitude for running a tight ship and being good stewards
Recognition should be given to employers who were consistent in their commitment to being good stewards of the organization’s resources and mission during an incredibly challenging time. We know that many of our clients have been with us for over 50 years and have experienced ups and downs that are part of the retirement journey.

Gratitude to work at a company that practices what it preaches
I am personally grateful for those organizations that live out their mission. We’ve had the same conversation internally. Our philosophy has been about being resilient, stable and putting Americans on the path to a secure retirement. That would not be possible without our own company being built to last and mutually strong by delivering on this five-part pledge:

  • The American retirement dream should be accessible to every American, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender or sexual orientation.
  • Each plan, and every employee participant in the plan, is unique.
  • Meaningful, individualized education is the key to empowerment; new solutions can be simple, approachable and help employee participants to plot a course to achieve their goals.
  • Customization is necessary to address individuals’ varying perspectives, situations and challenges.
  • Thoughtful plan design leads to better outcomes for plan sponsors and participants.

We are proud to be financial first responders, in a sense, to support leaders and their critical not-for-profit teams continue to prosper, adapt and look toward the future as they maintain their essential roles in support of our communities.

Thank you for your leadership and may you, your colleagues and all families enjoy warmest wishes during upcoming holiday seasons.

In Kevin Kidwell’s role as vice president of national tax-exempt sales, he works to provide ideas, knowledge, information – both technical and practical – in an effort to facilitate improved plan and participant outcomes. Kidwell has held various positions within the Retirement Services division since 1988. Beginning in 2000, his exclusive focus has been on health care and tax-exempt organizations.

Nov 09

Donate Safely This #GivingTuesday

By Sponsor Insight

Best Practices for Charities and Individual Donors

By Cody Lents, Partner and Change Manager at COVI, Inc.

Since it was first founded in 2012, #GivingTuesday has become known as a charitable movement built around a simple idea: Set aside a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past seven years, #Giving Tuesday has transformed into a global day of unity that has inspired hundreds of millions of individuals to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity in their communities.

GivingTuesday’s data reported $1.97 million was raised for reputable charities around the globe in 2019. But could the number have been even higher? A few months prior, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) kicked off “International Charity Fraud Awareness Week,” a coordinated effort to help charities and donors avoid a growing number of scam groups masquerading as charitable organizations. Using tax deduction as bait, fake charities have often lured unsuspecting victims into making ineligible donations.

With the next #GivingTuesday quickly approaching on Dec. 1, 2020, what can you do to ensure your donation ends up in the right hands this holiday season? And, as a charity, how can you ensure prospective donors feel comfortable about allocating funds to your cause?

Best Practices for Individual Donors

  1. Give to established, trusted organizations.
    The easiest way to immediately confirm the legitimacy of a charitable organization is through the IRS’ “Tax Exempt Organization Search”, which allows donors to search for qualified charities in which donations may be tax-deductible. Legitimate charities will provide their Employee Identification Number (EIN) upon request.
  2. Use credit cards or checks.
    If a charity is attempting to solicit a donation through cash, gift cards, virtual currency, or wire transfer, it is most likely a scam. For security and tax record purposes, it is safest to contribute by check or credit card.
  3. Be skeptical of copycats and disaster relief.
    Exercise caution when examining charities with names that are similar to nationally known organizations. Scammers may use names, domains, etc. that sound or look like those of respected, legitimate organizations.

Following natural disasters, it’s common for scammers to impersonate charities to solicit personal financial information from victims and those looking to donate–don’t give out personal financial information, such as Social Security numbers or passwords to anyone who solicits a contribution.

Still unsure? Run the organization’s name through Charity Watch or Charity Navigator to browse reviews, ratings and reports from other donors.

Best Practices for Charities & Nonprofits

  1. Educate your donors.
    Whether on your website, social media or mailings, share information that instills confidence in those who want to contribute to your cause. Use the above best practices for individual donors as a guide.
  2. Implement a payment processor on your site.
    This allows your organization’s website to accept all online payments directly through the website, as opposed to sending donors off-site to a third-party platform. When your donor enters their payment information on your site, their card information is sent through a payment gateway to be validated. If the card’s information is legitimate, the transaction will be processed by your payment provider.

This process provides donors a more streamlined and credible experience and keeps them on your website for longer. Here is a comparison of eight trusted payment processors.

Questions?
If you need assistance vetting a charity or setting up a payment strategy for your nonprofit/charitable organization, you can reach out to COVI at cody@gocovi.com for help. COVI is an Information Technology (IT) service provider specializing in productivity, security, support and strategy services, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Nov 02

Decision to leave Fed Funds Rate unchanged until 2023 indicates Fed’s accommodating position for economic recovery

By Sponsor Insight

by Horizon Bank

At its September meeting, the Federal Reserve (Fed) left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged between a range of 0-.25%. More importantly, the Fed indicated its intention to hold the rate there until at least 2023. The Fed stated its expectation to maintain this target range until labor market conditions reached levels consistent with the policymaking committee’s assessments of maximum employment.

In its statement, the Fed also shared its intention to maintain an accommodative stance until the U.S. economy achieves inflation averaging 2% over time and longer-term inflation expectations remain anchored at 2%. The statement reflected the central bank’s new policy framework in which it will allow inflation to overshoot its 2% target after periods of lower inflation. Simply put, the Fed appears positioned to remain extremely accommodative for some time to come.

The Fed’s commitment to obtaining a 2% average inflation rate demonstrated its intent to not enact yield curve control, but instead to continue to foster liquidity where needed. Ultimately, the Fed appears to be signaling that it will allow longer-term yields to rise while holding short-term rates down. This strategy seems necessary to obtain the Fed’s goal of full employment and 2% average inflation. Holding short-term rates low is focused on encouraging full employment while providing room for intermediate and long rates to drift up, which should assist with the goal of achieving higher inflation.

Assuming the Fed is successful, its strategy should result in a widening of the yield curve where investors are paid more yield for taking on longer maturities. One of the goals of such a policy is to encourage financial institutions to make more loans. The idea being that a steeper curve provides more attractive profit margins on the loans. A loan’s rate is typically based on intermediate and long-term interest rates where the money used for the loan typically comes from bank deposits whose rates are typically tied to the shorter end of the yield curve. The difference between what a financial institution pays for deposits and what they charge for a loan is how they make money on lending. As a result, the wider the spread between the two, the more opportunity for profit.

Ultimately, the Fed plans to keep short-term interest rates low while allowing intermediate and long-term rates to drift higher. It appears it is their intention to stick with this strategy unless inflation rises above their 2% average target on a sustainable basis. Inflation, generally speaking, is a function of:

  • Expectations (consumers expect prices to go up or down)
  • Demand (increases drive prices up while decreases drive prices down) and
  • Supply (increases drive prices down while decreases drive prices up). At the present time, none of these factors are indicating that higher inflation is on the horizon.

It is important to note that monetary policy is meant to smooth out economic growth and it is not intended to change an economy’s long-term trend growth rate. Simply put, monetary policy is intended to shift growth around in time. In other words, it is focused on avoiding the high peaks and the low valleys. If growth is slow, monetary policy is implemented to ease or lower interest rates. On the other hand, if growth is moving too quickly, monetary policy is implemented to slow things down by raising interest rates. With that said, inflation or deflation should not be an issue if the central bank gets it right. Dealing with inflation or deflation longer-term typically indicates some sort of monetary policy mistake.

If there is a longer-term inflation story to eventually tell, odds are the Fed remained accommodative too long. There has been significant conversation on this front given the Fed’s extremely accommodative monetary policy. While policy easing has been aggressive, such action seems appropriate in an emergency situation. A pandemic with an associated economic shutdown seems to qualify as an emergency situation. With that said, accommodative policy should always be accompanied by an exit strategy. The risk is that the Fed waits too long and prices overinflate. While at some point, the Fed will be faced with the decision to change policy, we believe, considering the present situation, that point may be several years away. As a result, we expect the Fed to be able to hold course with their present strategy for quite some time to come.

###

Dave Voris is a vice president in the Indianapolis market for Horizon Bank. As a senior treasury management officer, he works closely with middle market, nonprofits and small business companies in a broad span of industries. His 25 years of business experience have included treasury management, merchant services, and international banking including sales management, client service and implementation management, product management and electronic payment operations.

We also provide longer-term loans for asset purchases such as vehicles or equipment.  Visit one of our Commercial Banking Advisors at 317-608-2085 or dvoris@horizonbank.com

Oct 26

Successful Mergers and Partnerships: More than the Numbers

By Sponsor Insight

By Jan Breiner Frazier, Planning Plus, LLC

Throughout our 30-plus year history as consultant professionals, we have worked with the leadership teams and boards of nonprofits as well as owners of for-profits who were engaged in various forms of collaborations — whether for a merger, a formal association or a strategic and documented partnership.

Unfortunately, we are often called in after the due diligence is complete and the merger has started down the road — only to experience a rocky start. The cause? More often than not, the numbers may work but the cultures do not.

During due diligence activities, leaders focus on a number of factual components for creating a “new” organization — including financial statements; current contracts; programs, services and other deliverables; competition; legal constraints; and competencies of the management teams. But all too often, they overlook the cultural issues within each of the entities that can quickly derail any progress.

When merging two or more nonprofit boards, it is critical to understand the operational environments. Are they structured, disciplined, forgiving, siloed, collaborative or innovative? Will the strengths of each organization complement or clash? How will individual company lifestyles mesh?

Perceptions by stakeholders about how or why the discussions took place must also be discerned. Neither organization wants to be viewed as “taken over” because that may be perceived by the community as a sign of weakness. Both organizations generally assure their staffs that the outcomes will be beneficial for everyone involved as they sell the idea to their teams. Yet, those driving the process often discount the emotional toll of going through organizational change as staff members have their own assumptions about their roles — which may change by necessity.

Several years ago, we worked with a merger of two organizations where it all made sense on paper. Both parties agreed the merger would benefit the community and result in a better financial position. There also was consensus on who would serve as the executive director. However, there was still a struggle with the organizations’ boards about equal representation, how to merge the staffs and which organization’s managers would be in charge. Fortunately, the executive director, with whom we had worked before, recognized that the board needed time and assistance in working through those issues. He dedicated time and resources to sponsor several sessions to work through the challenges. The organization continues to thrive today.

In another case, three organizations asked us to help them reach a merger agreement. The potential financial benefit was tremendous, since they no longer would have to support three leases, three executive directors, three IT systems and other overhead costs. But it all fell apart because no one could agree as to who would be in charge, whose name would be on the building, and how it would be communicated to the public.

In today’s uncertain environment, nonprofits may no longer be able to stand alone, particularly as funding becomes more precarious than ever before. As beneficial as mergers and other types of strategic partnerships can be, they are always messy. If you are considering any type of collaboration, here are a few things to consider in your discussions:

  • How do we describe the existing cultures, what are the key differences, and how do we mutually move to the culture dictated by the mission?
  • How do we identify who will be in charge — who is at the top and responsible for the success of the organization?
  • How do stakeholders — external and internal — view the proposed collaboration? How do we get everyone on the same page?

If you are entering the merger waters, we would be more than happy to help!

Jan Breiner Frazier, the managing member of Planning Plus, LLC, has been a consulting professional since 1988. She has designed and facilitated strategic, annual, and operational planning sessions for a multitude of organizations. Her work with non-profit boards and associations has included strategic planning, board development, and committee structure.

Oct 05

Don’t have a data partner? You need to get one … now

By Sponsor Insight

by Leslie Wells, Assistant Director of Communications, the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI

It’s a data-driven world, and finding a partner to help in the process is critical to a nonprofit’s future, its funders and, most importantly, to those whom the organization serves. Most nonprofits want and need to be able to show promising results to justify their existing efforts and their plans for future expansion. At the same time, staff members at those organizations also want to know that their hard work is making a difference. Having solid, reliable data can help them accomplish both of these goals.

But data can be intimidating, and many groups don’t know where to begin.

“Any nonprofit needs to start with solid questions and ideas about what they’ll do and who they’ll serve,” said Breanca Merritt, director for the Indiana University Public Policy Institute’s Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy (CRISP). “Data helps you answer those questions and make informed decisions.”

CRISP recently partnered with the Martin Luther King Community Center in Indianapolis to address community crime prevention, thanks to a grant from the Central Indiana Community Foundation.

After reviewing the research CRISP conducted, leaders at the MLK Center assessed their strategy and shifted their focus to young people. They used the data CRISP collected to secure a grant and create the Best Buy Teen Tech Center. From computers to a recording studio and a 3D printer, the new space gives at-risk preteens and teens the opportunity to explore tech-based interests, careers, and opportunities.

Merritt says the MLK Center project is an example of what embracing data can do for nonprofits — and she has advice for organizations that are just beginning their data journey:

1. Define your vision. Decide who it is you want to serve and how, then think about what data or other resources you already have — or don’t have — to communicate that story.

2. Find a data and research partner. If you’re not a data person, find someone who is. Let them analyze your data before you reach your own conclusions. They can help you translate your big picture goals into something more tangible and measurable.

A good data and research partner organization should:

  • Value your organization’s work
  • Be knowledgeable about what you do
  • Have a heart for your work, but the brain and expertise for the research you need
  • Be adaptive, flexible, and patient

3. Don’t forget funders. Use data to give funders a more comprehensive picture of what you’re doing, why they should invest, and the return on their investment.

4. Review the data often. Ongoing evaluation allows you to make course corrections and stay on track. Merritt recommends reviewing the data at the six-month or one-year mark — and beyond.

“The six-month mark is a very forgiving review time because if something isn’t going according to plan, you have time to fix it,” she said. “But long-term evaluation matters, too. You don’t want to get 10 years into a program and realize you need to make major changes.”

Also, Merritt advised, reviewing data earlier on might be even more useful than waiting until the one-year mark, depending on the length of your program.

The CRISP Clinic
Even with this advice, many organizations often lack the staffing, time, and/or expertise to conduct even small assessments of internal data, client experiences or community engagement.

That’s where Merritt and her team can help. Beginning in spring 2021, the CRISP Clinic will begin accepting new organizations. The clinic will provide low- to no-cost research and evaluation services to help nonprofit organizations in Central Indiana that serve diverse populations and address issues of equity and/or social policy. The hope is to expand the services to other regions.

At the heart of the clinic is a diverse team of service-minded student researchers who can put their critical-thinking and evaluative skills to work for nonprofits in need. The student researchers will be overseen by Roxy Lawrence, a program analyst at CRISP. Initially, the clinic’s projects will likely be relatively small in scope, ranging from support in program development and capacity building, to client participation and engagement. The team will seek to understand how effective programs are, and the level of stakeholder and/or community engagement.

“These students have been instrumental in identifying, interviewing, and surveying the philanthropic organizations from which many local nonprofits receive funding,” Merritt said. “They’ve helped develop an application for organizations, a rubric for scoring those applications, and a schedule for onboarding and managing the clinic’s projects.”

Organizations will be selected based on three primary selection criteria:

Does the organization or program aim to achieve equitable outcomes among participants, service goals, or other aspects of the work?
Does the organization or program address issues of social policy?
Would the organization not be able to obtain these services elsewhere at low or no cost?

The team also will take into consideration other factors, including whether an organization could conduct any research-related activities on its own, the demographics of the clients served, the size and need of any related work, and the organization’s willingness to work with students.

These projects would last no more than three to four months each, from the initial identification and meeting with stakeholders, through development and implementation of research strategy, and the culmination in a final report.

Organizations that are interested in applying for the CRISP Clinic can reach out directly to Lawrence and Merritt at IUCRISP@iu.edu.

Leslie Wells

Sep 21

A Commitment to Caring is Critical to the Community’s Bottom Line

By Sponsor Insight

by Sandy McCarthy, president of retirement services, OneAmerica®

The mention of OneAmerica® in central Indiana may likely spark thoughts about the company’s witty signboard, prominent position in Indianapolis’ downtown skyline, or its title sponsorship of the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon.

While these are important aspects of the OneAmerica corporate identity, they don’t begin to tell the full story of the company’s commitment to the customers and communities it serves.

As the head of Retirement Services at OneAmerica, I often speak on how to develop a secure financial future and how to leverage education as a key to empowerment. Today, I’d like to go a step further and share how these concepts, which are so vital to us in Retirement Services, are also foundational to OneAmerica and its commitment to our city and neighbors in central Indiana – and why, especially during these challenging times, that commitment is more important than ever.

We exist to help others

For more than 140 years, the companies of OneAmerica have operated from the perspective that our business is more than our bottom line. We’re committed to the Americans we serve and the Hoosiers we live and work with, and we believe it’s our privilege and responsibility to better the community we call home. From the top down, our leaders and associates are committed to giving back, and we view these community contributions to be as important as the impact we have on the retirement and financial services industry.

Pathways Junior Fellows Program – Education and opportunity lead to empowerment

In the retirement realm, we understand that education and access to robust tools and resources can enable individuals to take ownership of their financial futures. The same concept applies in our community, where education and opportunity can open doors and help an individual find a promising path that once seemed out of reach.

OneAmerica has brought this idea to life with our Pathways Junior Fellows Program, which provides students from underserved areas in central Indiana with an introductory workplace experience. Partnered with OneAmerica associates who serve as mentors, and in collaboration with other community organizations, the students participate in job shadowing and career exploration, receive soft-skill job training and learn about the financial industry. This paid five-week experience yields meaningful results: these students, who often saw the OneAmerica Tower from their homes but couldn’t picture themselves ever working there, now know they have the skills, experience and connections to pursue future opportunities at OneAmerica or at other companies in our community.

Investing in people has benefits beyond the individual

OneAmerica focuses much of our giving and volunteer efforts on education and workforce development, because we believe that helping individuals grow and advance sets off a positive chain reaction. Empowered individuals create opportunities for themselves and their families, leading to healthier communities and ultimately a stronger, more diverse workforce. The Pathways Junior Fellows program benefits individual students and their families, but it also helps us grow as an employer and gives us a pipeline of future employees who understand our culture, improve our organization’s diversity and make us stronger.

Another component of the Pathways program is geared toward workforce development and putting our associates on the path to sustainable income. Launched in 2018, this initiative was introduced after we reviewed Brookings Institution research about what constitutes good jobs, along with the troubling statistic that only 35% of central Indiana workers without a bachelor’s degree held a good or promising job in 2017. We took immediate action to reverse this trend at OneAmerica, examining and adjusting our positions to ensure every associate has the opportunity to earn a sustainable wage of $18 an hour*, plus strong health and retirement benefits. This investment once again created a ripple effect – impacting our associates, making OneAmerica a better place to work, and enhancing our ability to grow and further contribute to the community.

Diversity and inclusion move us forward

Our Retirement Services philosophy reflects our commitment to support all retirement-plan participants, regardless of where they are on their financial journey. We listen to understand individuals’ unique goals, challenges and viewpoints.

OneAmerica shares this commitment company-wide. We value all people, listen to individual perspectives and believe we are stronger together. Having employees with attributes and backgrounds that reflect our diverse community and the markets we serve is important, and we’ve worked to make our company more reflective. Over the last five years, among our executives, we’ve increased the percentage of people of color by 580% and the percentage of women by 65%. And, we’ve continued to sponsor and support local organizations and events focused on diversity and inclusion – from the Indianapolis Urban League and Indiana Black Expo, to Dress for Success and Integrating Women Leaders, to the 2020 Center for Leadership Development’s 40th Annual Minority Achievers Award & Scholarship Gala, among many others.

We’re also committed to racial equity and continuously moving our community forward on this important issue. We believe meaningful change comes by relying on relationships – seeking genuine feedback and learning together. We’ve instituted listening sessions with our associates, sales professionals and distribution partners, and will use what we learn to inform next steps.

We continue our commitments in challenging times

Despite the challenges of 2020, OneAmerica remains firm in maintaining our community commitments continuing to show up for the customers and neighbors who depend on us. Across the organization, we pride ourselves on being there in times of need and being a source of strength in times of uncertainty.

While this year has changed the way we connect with each other, we value our community engagements more than ever. We’re taking our seventh annual Week of Caring – when our associates volunteer thousands of hours for United Way agencies – and our United Way giving campaign virtual, ensuring that associates still have the opportunity to give back. We honored our commitments to our interns and Pathways students, offering them virtual opportunities to connect and engage. We provided advanced financial support, ahead of our payment deadlines, to vendors and local non-profits, to help with financial challenges. We opened our kitchen and cafeteria to provide Sahm’s and Second Helpings a place to prepare meals for low-income senior citizens. We funded masks and sanitizers for local healthcare workers, and we worked to support e-learning, providing central Indiana students with access to technology and internet services.

Being there for the people who count on us – from retirement plan sponsors, to working Americans seeking financial security, to our central Indiana neighbors – means everything to us. We’re driven and guided by this bigger purpose, and we’re invested in the customers, neighbors and community we serve. Though our deep community involvement isn’t always as front and center as our signboard or our recognizable position in the Indy skyline, it has always been and will continue to be the foundation of the OneAmerica story – through both good and challenging times.

*$18/hour with health and retirement benefits is the sustainable wage threshold for our region, according to the referenced Brookings Institution study.

As president of Retirement Services, Sandy McCarthy leads the OneAmerica® team offering defined contribution and defined benefits services with a strong focus on customized retirement plans through highly personalized administration and recordkeeping services. She brings more than 30 years of industry experience, including key leadership roles at Mercer, ING (now Voya), and CitiStreet.

Sep 08

How to Protect Yourself and Your Organization from Fraudulent Attacks

By Sponsor Insight

Malicious cyberattacks cost the U.S. economy as much as $109 billion in 2016, the Council of Economic Advisors reported. Three years later, in 2019, individuals and organizations experienced record losses due to fraud, identity theft and other related complaints, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

During the current global pandemic, fraudulent activity has continued to increase. Today, we have a lot to be overwhelmed by, but knowing how to best protect yourself now can keep you safe for the future.

The following includes important information and tips to minimize your risks of becoming victimized by fraudulent attacks:

Why are fraudulent attempts on the rise? According to the Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS), criminal activity involving pilfered credit card numbers and phishing attacks has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic — targeting both consumers and banks. Also, with the decline in travel and shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, more and more fraudulent attacks have shifted to the internet.

FIS reported that the dollar volume of attempted fraudulent transactions increased by 35% in April 2020, when compared to April 2019. It also noted that the trend seemed to be continuing.

What does a fraudulent attempt look like? Fraudulent attempts come in many different forms, including emails, robocalls, direct messages, credit card charges, ransomware and wire transfers that may appear legitimate. In many cases, scams will materialize as claims from government entities, financial institutions, or large organizations (like a utility company). The most prevalent methods of cyberattacks include randomly computer-generated card numbers, attempted purchases with card numbers previously stolen, and phishing attacks (emails, phone calls, and direct messages.)

How can you protect yourself and your organization?

  1. Be alert. Keep a close eye on all accounts. Most banks will alert you via call or text, but you know your purchases best. An automated alert could be generated by another fraudster. After email security has met a best practices baseline, employee training and testing is the best way to prevent a breach.
  2. Stay safe. Understand the differences between credit card and debit card use. The government limits your liability on fraudulent credit card purchases to $50. Also, it usually takes much longer to get funds reimbursed with a debit card than a credit card. Lastly, a credit card freeze is much less impactful to a person’s ability to carry on their day-to-day activities than if their bank account is frozen.
  3. Be proactive. Know how to freeze your accounts. Some financial institutions provide online or app-based access to allow you to quickly and easily complete this function. If your bank or credit union doesn’t, call immediately to ask them to freeze your account after you notice any fraudulent charges appearing in your purchase history. You can also limit the number of breach attempts through an investment in enhanced spam filtering services and Advanced Threat Protection safeguards. Enhanced email back-ups also can help prevent major losses.
  4. Know how to handle anything that comes your way. If it looks suspicious, it probably is. Be diligent when it comes to answering robocalls, opening emails, and responding to voicemails. Keep contacts up to date and block unknown callers. Take the time to learn more about how to secure your phone (Apple, iPhone, iOS, and Android). With COVID-19 related scams on the rise, it’s also important to educate yourself, friends, co-workers and relatives with the latest consumer scams reported by the FCC.
  5. Know what to look for when reviewing suspicious or official-looking documents and messages. Beware of the following:
    – Communications with terms like “stimulus check” or “stimulus payment.” The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will use the term “economic impact payment.”
    – Requests to “sign over” a stimulus check
    – Anyone requesting bank information or direct deposit information by way of phone, text, email, social media or other messenger apps
    – Postal mail receipt of a [fake] check with a request to call a number or verify information online to cash it.
    – Malware or virus packages using Covid-19 as an incentive to open them.
    – New Covid-19-related websites; they could be designed to scam or defraud visitors.
    – Work-at-home infrastructure attacks. Ensure your employees have a firewall when using company or personal devices for work-related activities.
  6. Seek expert help. The time to detect vulnerabilities is not after you have been a victim of an attack. At Covi, we help our clients navigate changes in technology, including the latest cyber security measures to protect you and your organization from malicious behavior by hackers.
Aug 31

Sacred Cows? They May Not Be Worth It

By Sponsor Insight

By Jan Breiner Frazier

Every organization has its sacred cows — those employees considered above reproach. Until now, you may have been able to justify their position. But as organizations are forced to rethink their staffing models, become leaner, and figure out how to move forward in today’s pandemic-ridden economy, it may be time to face the challenge of analyzing your approach to sacred cows.

Many staff members perceive that these sacred cows are able to work according to their own rules with few consequences for various reasons: personal relationships with leadership, strong technical talent, strong relationships with key funders or constituents, lineage to another super star who is critical to the organization. In some cases, these employees are considered sacred cows for reasons no one can ever really figure out. They flaunt their power and, everyone — including you, knows who they are and talks about them in whispers. Unfortunately, these sacred cows are a fact of organizational politics — and highly destructive.

Every employee commitment survey we administer includes some item related to “fairness,” often in the context of “My manager applies rules and consequences fairly and consistently in the department.” Nine times out of 10, this will be among the lowest rated metrics for organizations that are formally getting employee feedback for the first time. And, more often than not, these sacred cows are at the root of the fairness tree.

The perception of unfairness causes many employees to question their own value and how — or better yet, if — their contributions are really being appreciated by the leadership of the organization. Employees begin to wonder why they work so hard and give so much if the rewards are not fairly distributed. Employees also may wonder just what it takes to get ahead in the organization. And those companies trying to instill healthy corporate cultures — where recognition and rewards are based on performance, team behaviors, and modeling the values of the company — negate any significant progress by protecting the sacred cows.

For those in leadership, what to do? The first step is to recognize there is a problem. When questioned, leadership can get defensive about all the reasons this individual is really valuable, a key player, too hard to replace, has too many community ties, etc. You have your reasons. But weigh the perceived value of one or two problem individuals against the cost of a harmful negative influence on your culture and the rest of your employees. Reign in the mavericks and be sure to apply the same standards to them as you do for the entire workforce. And make sure they understand you are serious.

Strong stakeholder relationships? The relationship needs to be with the organization and not one individual. Strong technical talent? Perhaps, but often behavioral nightmares for their colleagues. Spouses, siblings, in-laws and other relatives? They need to understand that they will be held to a higher standard simply because of the potential perception of favoritism.

An interesting exercise would be to ask your leadership team if there are any sacred cows in your organization and what they believe the impact to be. Then listen. You’ll know what to do.

Jan Breiner Frazier, the managing member of Planning Plus, LLC, has been a consulting professional since 1988. She has designed and facilitated strategic, annual, and operational planning sessions for a multitude of organizations. Her work with non-profit boards and associations has included strategic planning, board development, and committee structure.

Aug 24

The Nonprofit Board Chair’s Role in Building Organizational Resiliency

By Sponsor Insight

By Erin Hedges, president and founder, Hedges

As COVID-19 continues to change everything in our world and our communities, nonprofit organizations have stepped up to fill in the gaps and meet the needs of those who have been impacted. During the early stages of the pandemic, many nonprofit organizations were able to secure Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans and receive generous donations from individual donors and philanthropic institutions. These economic boosts enabled nonprofit organizations to increase and expand services to meet the urgent needs in our communities as the pandemic unfolded.

As PPP funding runs out, and donor fatigue settles in, concerns are increasing about the resiliency of nonprofit organizations as they navigate the challenge of fulfilling their missions with such little certainty on the horizon. Strong leadership and strategic thinking at the executive and board levels have never been more important as nonprofits not only strive to sustain through this time, but also build resiliency for the future.

At Hedges, we describe resiliency as an organization’s ability to weather crisis, sharpen focus, adapt to changes in the landscape, and emerge with the capacity to have even greater impact. We believe the responsibility of building resiliency ultimately lies with the board of directors in partnership with executive leadership.

The board chair is central to nonprofit resiliency and has a unique role in leading and influencing others through the COVID-19 crisis. Yet, many are unsure of how and where to focus energies among so many priorities. Here are four areas where board chairs can lead, engage and hold fellow members accountable, and foster organizational resiliency:

  • Evaluate, support, and compensate executive leadership. It is the board chair’s responsibility to ensure the full board is supporting the executive director’s success. At the very least, executive directors are entitled to an annual performance review to gain an understanding of where they are excelling and where they can improve. Too often, this process is lacking, which can leave high-performing executive directors feeling undervalued and low-performing executive directors keeping the organization from reaching its full potential. A strong board chair will lead a formal performance evaluation process, which is the foundation for a collaborative and effective working relationship between the board and executive leadership and ensures the organization has the executive talent needed to thrive. Board chairs seeking resources on this topic can begin here.

    An effective board chair will make it a priority to partner with the executive director. Monthly one-on-one meetings, in which the executive director shares what is going well, where they are feeling challenged, and what support they need, ensures the board chair is in tune with the organization and its leader. If the executive director is not meeting expectations, the board chair has the responsibility to clarify expectations and engage the board in identifying supports and resources that can help the executive director succeed. Professional development opportunities, including coaching, mentoring, and training, are a few examples.

    Additionally, the board should review the executive director’s compensation package to ensure the organization is always able to recruit and retain top talent. The Central Indiana Salary Survey Report, published every two years by Charitable Advisors, is an invaluable resource containing local compensation and benefit data. It can be downloaded here.
  • Be a fundraising champion. The board chair does not need to be a fundraising expert but does need to be a fundraising advocate. A strong board chair educates and influences fellow board members and executive leadership to double down on fundraising efforts now in the interest of the long game. First, the board chair can urge fellow members and the executive director to avoid cutting fundraising expenses as a short-term fix, as it will have long-term consequences. Second, an effective board chair sets the expectation for and executes 100% board giving to the organization. This includes facilitating conversations among board members to determine individual contribution levels or a combined board goal, monitoring board gifts, and making asks of those who have not yet given. Third, the board chair reminds fellow members they are expected to introduce individuals in their networks who may be potential donors. This can be done in a variety of ways and staff can play a facilitating role. Lastly, a strong board chair champions board engagement in stewardship efforts through such activities as donor thank you calls and letters.

    Indianapolis social entrepreneur Jeb Banner, in this article published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, provides further insight into why every nonprofit board needs fundraising champions.
  • Build operating reserves. The importance of the rainy day fund has become abundantly clear in 2020. According to experts, three months of cash on hand is a bare minimum to safeguard an organization in times of uncertainty. Yet, data shows that 32% of nonprofit organizations have less than three months of operating reserves and 62% have six months or less (2018 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey, Nonprofit Finance Fund).

    While it can be difficult to secure operating capital above and beyond annual expenses, it is not impossible. A strong board chair will address the need for establishing, restoring, or increasing operating reserves to build short and long-term stability for the organization. Once there is board agreement, a policy should be created and approved to outline appropriate minimum and maximum thresholds, how funds will be invested, and how funds can be used.

    The board chair should encourage the finance and development committees to work in partnership to create a strategy and a timeline to secure unrestricted funds that can be held in reserves, most likely from loyal donors who have demonstrated support to the organization over time. Jill Robisch, vice president and senior business development officer, Nonprofit Services, The National Bank of Indianapolis, encourages nonprofit organizations to hold short-term funds in a liquid fund like a money market account that is governed by a short-term working capital policy.

    Longer-term investments should be guided by the organization’s investment policy statement and held in longer term investments, such as equities and bonds. Robisch said that, over time, organizations should work toward having enough income generated from long-term investments to serve as the organization’s short-term liquid capital. A strong board chair will also hold the organization accountable for staying focused on building the reserve funds in accordance with the policy developed and agreed upon.
  • Make every seat count. As the proverb goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The same is true for nonprofit boards. Members are recruited with the expectation that they will bring their knowledge, skills, and expertise into the boardroom. And, yet, how many board seats are taken up by individuals who don’t attend meetings or are not meeting board expectations? A strong board chair will make every seat count by enforcing bylaws that call for the removal of members who do not make meeting attendance requirements or are otherwise not fulfilling the expectations of board membership. These conversations should be approached thoughtfully and carefully and provide an opportunity for the member to make a graceful transition from the board, potentially into another volunteer role within the organization with a lesser time commitment. Similar conversations should be had with members as they reach their term limit as determined in the organization’s bylaws.

    Addressing board disengagement and term limits will create room for new board members, presenting an opportunity to deepen the organization’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity at the governance level. A strong board chair will task the board with revisiting the ideal board composition for the organization, ensuring that it is diverse and representative of the community, and make needed adjustments to member recruitment strategies. The board chair also should be responsible for creating a boardroom environment that allows all members to have equal voice. Organizations struggling to diversify their boards or provide an equity culture should seek outside sources, beginning with answering these initial questions from BoardSource.

Nonprofit resiliency is not a buzzword; it is hard work. With board chairs focused on best practices in nonprofit governance, including a willingness to support the executive director and lead others toward shared goals, nonprofits will weather this uncertain time ready for greater impact. This is their time to lead.

Erin Hedges founded Hedges in 2002. The Indianapolis consulting firm is focused on increasing nonprofit capacity and impact. Hedges, who is passionate about board leadership, currently serves as Board Chair for Dove House and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Alumni Board. She also is a past Chair for Joy’s House.