Recently there’s been a lot of chatter about nonprofit wages in the blogosphere and beyond. Debating these questions is important, but in this age of tight budgets, are there any steps an organization can take to improve employee compensation right now? Especially for lower wage employees who are critical to an organization’s success, but are sometimes left out of this conversation.

Blue Avocado gets to the heart of the matter in the article Low-Wage Workers and Nonprofits:

While raising salaries would be, by far, the best way to support these important staff, doing so isn’t possible for most nonprofits: certainly not in the short term, and often impossible for the long term given business models and funding constraints…

Although the challenge of providing adequate compensation to low-wage employees may seem overwhelming, especially during a financial crisis, the fact is that nonprofits, consultants and funders can consider a number of helpful options without torpedoing the budget.

The article offers a range of options, which fall into three main categories:

• Steps to take relatively quickly at little or no cost
• Intermediate steps
• More far-reaching steps

These ideas are not intended to replace a real conversation about wages, especially one that goes beyond executive compensation.  But they are a place to start. Add your thoughts and suggestions here or leave a comment at Blue Avocado.

Related HR Resources

Not-For-Profit Accounting shares some information from the intersection of HR and accounting.  This post unpacks the sometimes woolly world of employee classifications — exempt vs. nonexempt, independent contractor vs. employee — and provides information on payroll systems.

If you have specific questions about nonprofit account, I suggest submitting them to Alan.  His regular Q&A feature is a great resource for financial managers.

New Resource Collection

Blue Avocado has compiled all of their articles about nonprofits and the economy. Visit this archive for information on financial management, HR, and more.

Harvest

• IRS Form 990 Filing Tips: Part VI, Governance 
• Nonprofit Policy News | May 2009
  • Federal Legislative and Regulatory Developments
  • IRS makes public its 2009- 2013 strategic plan
• Free Foundation Center Widgets
• Charities Loosening Strings on Arts Grants

Over the next year or two, budgetary challenges are clearly in the cards, and there are likely to be successive and different situations requiring action. Change may be inevitable, but the impact of this change on an organization depends on which decisions are made and how.

Although Kate doesn’t use the old adage “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today,” she does illustrate the dangers of allowing a problem to “fester until it [becomes] a crisis.” She also offers some suggestions for how to improve organizational decision making.

After reading the article, you can use our resources to start making decisions at your organization.

• Cash Flow Template
• Scenario Planning Worksheet

This Week’s Harvest: Frequently Asked Questions

Audits

Not-For-Profit Accounting returns to answer some frequently asked questions, starting with questions on audits:

Our nonprofit is getting ready for our first audit.  What are we supposed to do, and what does the auditor do?

You should receive a letter of engagement from the auditors that helps spell out the relationship.  You’ll also get a lists of things to do and get ready before the auditors come to your offices for the field work.  This article also talks about the process.  But if you have any questions you should ask your auditors before things get going to avoid any confusion and additional cost.

Read more about audits in Balancing the Mission Checkbook and see what other FAQ’s Allan tackles in blog post.

Collaboration

• Mergers seem to be the hot topic these days. But there are many ways to collaborate beyond mergers. The Foundation Center provides information on different types of strategic alliances, including few different typologies, which underscores the range of possible collaborations.

Stimulus

• 2009 Recovery Act Resources for Nonprofits from MCN’s Public Policy team

• Want Stimulus Money? Act Fast! from Fieldstone Alliance

• Special Reports on Economic Stimulus & Recovery from the National Council of Nonprofits

Inspired by Nonprofit Leadership 601, I’m going to keep an eye out for innovative and interesting examples of how nonprofits are collaborating during this challenging economic time.  Taking a note from Heather, I’ll also tag those stories npoeconomy.

• Now That’s What I Call Collaboration…

Another Collaborative Framework

In his post, Social Movement Innovation Andrew Wolk asks how nonprofits can work together to maximize impact.

What are the unique roles of a direct service organization, an advocacy organization, a coalition, or the government? How do they all fit together to ensure lasting social impact?  What are the connections in education, for example, among Teach for America, Alliance for Excellent Education, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the U.S. Department of Education?  Each organization is  concerned with its own sustainability and impact, but shouldn’t they also consider their role in a collective purpose: better education?

How Liquid is Your Cash?

From Balancing the Mission Checkbook, an important reminder that Cash is Cash, Sometimes:

Beyond verifying an accurate number, though, it’s important to have a solid grasp of all the strings and restrictions that might hinder your ability to use that cash when you need it. Some restrictions are external, such as temporarily restricted grants. Other strings on cash result from internal decisions related to investment decisions, reserve policies, or overly-complex designations and conditions.

To help organizations get a better handle on how accessible their cash really is, Nonprofits Assistance Fund has created the Cash and Investment Analysis worksheet.

I would also suggest reading a related post, It’s 10 am, do you know where your cash is?

 This Week’s Harvest

Updates on the Stimulus and the Proposed Deduction Changes

• Sources of Information Regarding Stimulus Funds: National Council of Nonprofits Special Report #4

• More information on federal stimulus in Minnesota from Minnesota Budget Bites

• Information about the Proposed Changes in Charitable Deductions: National Council of Nonprofits Special Report #5

• Obama’s Charitable-Giving Plan: What It Means for Nonprofit Groups Live Discussion Transcript from the Chronicle of Philanthropy

Other Developments

• L3C – Developments & Resources from Nonprofit Law Blog

• What I Learned From the IRS, Part 1 from Not-For Profit Accounting

• Art as collateral from the Artful Manager

• The Critical Alignment of Mission, Money and Competence blog post and discussion on Social Velocity