Nonprofit Harvest

Get More Bang for Your (Volunteer) Buck

Tracking Volunteer Time to Boost Your Bottom Line: A Complete Accounting Guide from Blue Avocado

Tracking volunteer time: sounds like another chore? Actually it can help you meet match requirements, improve your financial statement presentations, and reduce liability.

Read the full article for the whys and how-tos of tracking and reporting volunteer time and get more bang for your (volunteer) buck.

Collaboration

Last week I mentioned the award-wining collaboration between the YMCA and JCC/United Jewish Council of Greater Toledo.  SSIR recently interviewed the Collaboration Prize Co-Winners.

Mission Plus Strategy: What did each agency get from the merger?
Connie: The merger allowed each of our agencies to serve who they serve best, drawing from the strengths of each agency. The YMCA could handle all of the recreation activities, and daycare programs, where we are strong.
Abby: Because the YMCA was handling all the recreation and fitness programs that freed us up to completely focus on Jewish community programming and increase our services from cradle to grave

Read the full interview with Mission Plus Strategy to learn more about how “Two Faith-Based Nonprofits That Trust Each Other and Communicate Honestly Can Do Anything.”

Reconsidering Mission

Responding to the state of the economy and the housing market, Habitat Adds Demolition to Its Mission:

Workers will remove (and resell) reusable housing material rather than send it to landfills, some homeless or unemployed people will be paid to work on the program, and money earned through the demolitions will go toward the organization’s longtime goal of getting poor families into new or rehabbed homes.

“You have to look at the mission; the mission is to make housing more affordable,” said Paul Warriner, the executive director of Saginaw’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate. “And when you think about this, that isn’t too much of a stretch.

Updates from the Cohen Report

The Cohen Report perks up, with a series of new articles.

• Nonprofits Speaking for Themselves: The Impact of the National Economic Tailspin: This article compiles information from a number of surveys, including one by MCN, to gauge how the economy is impacting the nonprofit sector.  The post identifies key trends:
  • Budget deficits
  • Using reserves
  • Funding cuts – including sources of cuts and likely future reductions
  • Personnel cuts
  • Mergers
• How Corporate Giving Will Fare in This Recession 
• Foundation Payout Depends on How You Average

Tips for Your Board

• Board role in crisis from pubTalk
• To Be or Not to Be…High Performing from Greenlights

This Week’s Harvest

• Federal News Update for Your Nonprofit
• Why nonprofits are like so totally out of fashion
• What Social Media Can Teach Us About Sustainability
• Funder/Grantee Relationships: Or, What To Do After You Get That Check
• 25 Random Things that Make the Nonprofit Sector Great

And don’t miss out on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s next live discussion, Managing in Hard Times: How Nonprofit Leaders Can Make the Right Decisions.  Participate Tuesday, March 24th at 11 CT/12 ET or read the transcript.

Focus on Excellence

At this time of year, there are many blog posts on resolutions (mine, Kate’s) and strategies about how to achieve our goals.  PhilanTopic has one that stood out, More Good Advice for Nonprofits.

I suggest you read the entire post, but my favorite suggestion is:

2. Grow your mission. Many nonprofit organizations that were founded between 1929 and 1935 are still in existence. Focus your attention on growing your mission. If you focus on excellence, money will follow. If you focus on money, excellence never happens. As in the best of times, let your mission dictate management decisions.

Grow as in nurture, not grow as in expand.  At a time when we are all fighting the urge to do more with less, let your mission and core competencies be your guide.

Outlook for 2009

This week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy hosted an online discussion, Outlook for 2009: What the Recession Will Mean for Your Organization.

This was a particularly useful and timely discussion.  In the risk of overdoing it, the topic of mission creep came up here as well:

What would be the top five things you would recommend in either assessment/ evaluation or strategic implementation for 2009?

The response?

1. Making sure mission and program [and budget] are aligned. If not, why not?

2. Make sure that core competencies of the org – including staff, facilities, etc are aligned with #1. In good times, orgs sometimes add all sorts of people and programs, and suddenly find that there is an imbalance between what is being done with core mission. Has you mission in fact changed? Ask the hard questions.

If I seem preoccupied with mission creep, it is because we see how it impacts organizations.  An expanded mission may not create a stronger organization. Often it dilutes the services, goals, and focus — which we cannot afford right now.

Check out the rest of the transcript for more information on how the recession may impact your organization’s bottom line.

Giving in Minnesota

For local organizations looking for additional insights, MCF has released its 2009 Outlook Report, which projects foundation and corporate giving for the year.  According to their findings, we should anticipate a decrease in overall giving as compared to 2008:

Overall, grantmakers anticipate giving will drop about four percent in 2009, as compared to 2008. For grantmakers in the sample who give $10 million or more annually, giving is expected to decrease only 1 to 2 percent.

MCF President Bill King also issues a reminder: “This is, of course, a snapshot in time. The giving picture may change with the economy throughout the year.”

• Read the press release

•  2009 Outlook Report

The upcoming Giving Forum will include additional analysis and recommendations.

This Week’s Harvest

• Climate Change on SSIR (Hat tip: Rosetta Thurman)

• Briefing on the Economy and Charitable Giving: December 2008 from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University

• Fiscal Sponsors Directory:  Connecting Community Projects with Fiscal Sponsors (Hat tip: PhilanTopic)

• How Small Foundations Can Protect Themselves From a Madoff-Style Scandal

• NEA study: Theaters vulnerable during recession

For people interested in how technology can help us understand and respond to the economy, the Foundation Center is using data mapping to illustrate what foundations are doing:

As you can see from the screenshot, you can sort the data by fiscal year, state, or recipient type.  It’s important to note that this includes grants and PRIs or program-related investments.  (Kate describes the benefits of PRIs in her post, Hidden gems of foundation funds.)

For more information, read the announcement on PhilanTopic.  Their intent is for the map to evolve and accurately reflect foundation giving:

New grants will be added to the map on an ongoing basis to provide the most current picture of foundation giving for programs and issues relating to the economic downturn. Grantmakers are encouraged to send announcements about their grants or PRIs to Matthew Ross at mr@foundationcenter.org.

Do you know what’s happening in your community?  Chime in!

• Weekend Link Roundup (November 22 – 23, 2008) from PhilanTopic

• Ease Up on the Restrictions from Philanthropy Potluck

• “Invest in Good Overhead” from Philanthropy 2173

• In This New Economic Reality, Nonprofits & Philanthropy Have to Confront the Fierce Urgency of Now from Perspectives from the Pipeline

• An open letter to MOCA’s board of trustees in the LA Times

• Budget fix in health and human services: Cut rates or cut eligibility from Scott Russell at MinnPost

• What stories do you tell about yourself? from Sasha Dichter
  • While you’re there, check out A NonProfit CEO Manifesto (blame it on Seth Godin)

One of the most common recommendations for organizations during this challenging time is to try to innovate and collaborate. These calls for outside the box thinking are important, but how do you start that process?  Kate offered some suggestions on how nonprofits could initiate these partnerships.  I hope that this blog is another way for the nonprofit community to collaborate.  Social media tools — such as blogs, delicious, and twitter — are a great way to easily gather and share ideas and resources.  They are also a way to strengthen our community and support one another during this challenging time.

Many organizations, such as Nonprofits Assistance Fund, are working to gather and disseminate resources. Our goal is to collect as many of them as possible and post them here.  These posts will be filed under Resource Collections.

Focus on the Economic Crisis

The Foundation Center has created a library of information on the economy.  Their Focus on the Economic Crisis features news items, commentary, research advisories, and blog posts from PhilanTopic. It is an excellent collection of materials, with a focus on research and analysis from thought leaders in the field of philanthropy.

Nonprofit Economy Vitality Center

The National Council of Nonprofits (NCNA) has created the Nonprofit Economy Vitality Center. It is designed as an “ever-evolving resource” with materials on the impact of the economy on nonprofits, statistical data on the nonprofit sector, and coping strategies to help nonprofits continue to deliver services.

The Economy and Philanthropy

The Minnesota Council on Foundations has posted a collection of resources on The Economy and Philanthropy. Although it is geared for grantmakers, many of these resources are useful for nonprofits to gauge the impact of the economy on foundation, corporate, and individual giving.  They also have sections in the side bar of relevant news items and resources for nonprofits.  I also suggest you visit their excellent blog.

Our Call to Action: Building a Collection

I believe that at this time, we have a call to action.  At Nonprofits Assistance Fund, it is our mission to help build financially healthy nonprofit organizations.  Right now, there are many factors undermining our sector’s financial health and viability.  Let’s take advantage of what we do have — tools that facilitate sharing information, as well as savvy and strategic thinkers working to sustain our sector.  I encourage you to connect with me and contribute to this collection.  But I also ask that you work with anyone else who is gathering this kind of information.  For example, you can contact the NCNA and help them keep their collection up to date.  If we are all working in concert to harvest resources, we all have the best chance to make it through the winter.

To get started, here are some resources from Nonprofits Assistance Fund:

• Kate discusses the economy on Balancing the Mission Checkbook. She has identified some strategies for nonprofits, as well as offering advice on on what to be wary of. Here are a few recent posts prompted by the current financial situation:
  • Jittery About Investments
  • Start Your Turnaround Strategies Today
  • This Post Will Not Cheer Your Up
  • It’s 10am, Do You Know Where Your Cash Is?

• Managing and Adapting in a Time of Uncertainty offers a framework to respond to the challenges nonprofits face in this economic downturn and set priorities with mission in mind.
• How financially healthy is your nonprofit? With this Financial Self-Assessment, you’ll have a better idea. Use the checklist to assess your organization’s financial management practices.

There are resource collections, blog posts, podcasts, news articles, and other information that we have found particularly useful. They are a great place to start.

Resource Collections:

• How Charities Cope With a Troubled Economy: Stories, live discussions, and statistics from The Chronicle of Philanthropy

• Economic Crisis Resource Center: A compilation of resources put together by Meyer Foundation.

• Dealing with the Economic Crisis: Resources collected by Donors Forum.

• Opportunities in Lean Times from Fieldstone Alliance

Blogs, podcasts, new articles, and other sources of information:

• Philantopic has done an excellent job collecting news stories on the economy and its potential impact on the nonprofit sector. Their posts are a mix of analysis, provocative ideas, and tangible suggestions to help your organization during this uncertain time.  I suggest reading all of their posts on this topic, and have included a few that I think are especially relevant to nonprofits:
  • Tips for NPOs Threatened by the Financial Crisis
  • A to Z Survival Guide for Uncertain Times
  • Time to Start Preparing for the Unthinkable?
  • How to Survive (and Thrive in) Tough Times
  • Do Foundation Giving Priorities Change in Times of Economic Distress?

• Lucy Bernholz blogs at PHILANTHROPY 2173, where she regularly comments on the future of philanthropy.  Lucy shares some predictions on the possible short-term impact of the economy for foundation and individual giving, as well as ideas for innovating the business of giving.
  • Stirred, Not Shaken
  • Foreclosures, Falling Economies, and the Future of Philanthropy
  • Resetting Philanthropy
  • What Will You Do?

• Philanthropy Potluck, from the Minnesota Council of Foundations, regularly includes resources and news stories on the economy for grantmakers and grantseekers.

• Special Address, On Third-Sector Funding and The Economy, from Tom Suddess

• Greenlights Nonprofit Town Hall Meeting:
  • What the (Near) Future Holds
  • Raising Money in the Downturn

• New York Times
  • Giving Section
  • Facing Deficits, States Get Out Sharper Knives