Category: Nonprofit

It’s fall and along with it—the start of school and even in these unusual times, the beginning of many new activities. One traditional fall activity for many nonprofits is the annual (or semi-annual) board member development effort in anticipation of the nominations and on-boarding processes for new board members and new officers.

What does the board development process look like in your organization?  Do you have a short meeting a few weeks before your annual meeting where you create a list of potential members and then cross your fingers that each person will say yes when you reach out to each in a desperate plea for board membership? Or, have you created a more intentional and comprehensive approach to board development? The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector suggests that boards “should establish a rigorous board development strategy for recruiting and selecting new members and ensuring that the board has an appropriate mix of talent, connections to the community, and diversity.” The Standards for Excellence code goes on to state, that “the board, in partnership with the executive, should engage in coordinated succession planning and leadership development to ensure a thorough process for recruiting and developing new board… leaders.” Of course, each organization should ensure that its board development process is consistent with its bylaws. 

The board member selection process is often headed by the Nominating or Board Development Committee (or Board Governance Committee). As a first step in the selection process, the committee should evaluate the skills, expertise, and demographic backgrounds of current board members to determine what characteristics they are lacking and would be looking for in future members. A list of potential board members should be compiled based on how potential candidates may be able to fill the needs within your organization at the present time. It is important that the board keeps in mind that diversity among board members should be embraced and strengthened.  Additionally, in some cases, bylaws may outline certain criteria or characteristics among board members.  For instance, some organizations may have requirements related to geographic representation, status as a client/former client, or even professional background. 

Prospective board members can be suggested from various sources and the board and its committees should maintain confidentiality in the selection and recruitment process. Potential candidates should be interviewed, ideally by several board members. It is also recommended that the executive director be given a chance to meet prospective board members.  As part of this process, the expectations or job descriptions for individual board members should be shared and clearly reviewed with candidates (no new board member should receive the board job description after they are already elected!). In addition, the prospective board member’s interests and background should be discussed. A mutual understanding of the organization’s mission should be established and the role that the board plays in fulfillment of that mission should be clearly conveyed.

Of course, board members may be elected to the board by the board itself (self‑perpetuating); by a broader organization membership, if such exists and is given that power; or by nomination from a third party in accordance with the organization’s bylaws.

For more information on the composition of nonprofit boards and the processes you can embrace for stronger board development efforts, we encourage you to check out the Standards for Excellence educational resource packet Board Composition and Independence. This packet includes discussions and resources on the board development and nominating process, including a job description for a board development or nominating committee, a sample matrix for board member composition and much more.  For a discussion of diversity in board membership see below and refer to the Standards for Excellence® educational resource packet on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  Sample board member position descriptions can be found in the Standards for Excellence educational resource packet, Board member responsibilities.

This educational resource packet and the full series of all packets  – including sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management – can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

By Amy Coates Madsen and Paddy Morton

Since its inception, the Standards for Excellence Institute has always stressed the importance of a strong and well-functioning board of directors. As stated in the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector, “Nonprofits depend upon effective leadership to successfully enact their missions and programs. Effective leadership consists of a partnership between the board and management, each of which plays an essential role.”

Board members are in a position of trust and serve in the vital fiduciary role – working to ensure that the organization stays true to its mission, is healthy and sustainable —always working in a manner that is in the best interests of the organization.  But, what happens when the organization must make the difficult decision to shutter its doors and go out of business? During these unprecedented times, we will likely see more nonprofits in our communities closing their doors and going through the dissolution process.  Candid has recently released a report that focused on the financial futures of a set of over 300,000 US based nonprofits focused on 20 possible future scenarios.  As part of this research, the report found that in their “median baseline scenario,” about 22,000 additional nonprofits (or 7 % of the nonprofits) are anticipated to close due to the COVID-19 crisis.  This is in addition to the 4 % of nonprofits (or 12,042 nonprofits) that would dissolve even in the absence of a crisis (also in the median baseline scenario). The report also shared more optimistic and more dire scenarios.

Board members have the important responsibilities for evaluating the legal and financial health of the organization and in some cases, as a result, the board may discern that the best approach is to find a new home for the mission and the programs and dissolve an organization that is struggling financially. The principles for strong board governance that guide boards to meet their obligations in good times, including the fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and obedience, must be embraced when considering whether dissolution is appropriate, as well. Board members must be guided by what is best for the organization even in the midst of considering dissolution.

How is the board involved in the dissolution process?  In most states, if the directors serve as the members of the corporation, the board is charged with making the decision to dissolve and, if the organization has a broader membership, the members likely must vote to dissolve the corporation. Typically, the articles of incorporation or the bylaws of an organization specify the percentage of members who must vote in favor of dissolution. These clauses in the nonprofit’s organizing documents must be carefully followed and considered. 

The decision to dissolve is a tough one and typically includes the drafting and approval of a plan of dissolution which describes how the organization intends to distribute its remaining assets and satisfy its remaining liabilities. The plan should identify all assets and liabilities, describe how liabilities will be satisfied, which nonprofit organizations will receive the remaining assets, and the fair market value of those assets, if possible. It is often good to identify who is responsible for what task and by what date such task should be completed in order to maintain accountability throughout the dissolution process. Frequently, an officer of the board will remain available for a year following dissolution to respond to administrative issues that might arise.

The Standards for Excellence educational packet on Strategic Partnership includes a special document called “Guide to Dissolving a Nonprofit (Nonstock) Corporation” which includes: overview of the dissolution process, state requirements, making the decision to dissolve (a sample dissolution resolution is provided), notifying the organization’s creditors (a sample letter to known creditors is provided), filing articles of dissolution (sample articles of dissolution is provided), distributing the nonprofit’s assets, as well as a discussion of IRS oversight.

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.
 

Padraic (“Paddy”) McSherry Morton has been providing legal services to Maryland Nonprofits’ members since 2002. Prior to her work with Maryland Nonprofits, Ms. Morton was an Associate with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP and Law Clerk to the Honorable William M. Nickerson of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. As General Counsel, Ms. Morton provides startup services, advises on strategic partnerships including structural reorganization and corporate integration, negotiates critical contracts, and consults on governance and management strategies and implementation. Ms. Morton has served in a leadership capacity on numerous boards and community activities. Ms. Morton gained her law degree at the University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., 1991. She holds a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Georgetown University. She is a licensed consultant with the Standards for Excellence® Institute.

Like many, the nonprofit for which I work is finding that the traditional ways we offer programs has had to adjust and pivot in the midst of the times of the COVID-19 pandemic.  One such example is the move of our annual in-person conference to a virtual conference.  A few weeks ago, our conference director called a special meeting on risk management for the event. While the event was still more than two months away, she requested that everyone on our planning team independently brainstorm and consider what risks we may experience in our virtual event. She asked other virtual conference planners to share their experiences and ideas about risks that we may encounter.  She compiled the responses into a detailed spreadsheet and convened a (virtual) meeting to consider steps that could be taken to mitigate and in some cases eliminate the risks that had been identified. This important and prudent step helped us to think about what may go wrong, what wrinkles we may run into, and what kinds of things could cause problems for our attendees, staff, and presenters?

While I am sure that we were not able to definitively uncover every single problem that we may have or risk that we may experience, this exercise was incredibly valuable as an intentional planning exercise to dig into the myriad of ways that we could make plans to mitigate, eliminate and manage the risks than can and will crop up.  After the meeting, I couldn’t help but think this type of risk management planning exercise would be valuable across the organization and in fact, across the entire nonprofit sector.

One important risk mitigation strategy is to ensure that your organization is properly insured. The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector states, “Organizations should make every effort to manage risk and periodically assess the need for insurance coverage in light of the organization’s activities and its financial capacity. A decision to forego general liability insurance coverage or Directors and Officers liability insurance coverage should be made only by the board of directors. The decision should be reflected in the minutes for the meeting at which the decision was made.”

We know that the number of organizations which paid to have pandemic insurance coverage prior to the pandemic was very small.  I was so interested to hear the news stories about the All England Lawn Tennis Association — the group that organizes the Wimbledon tennis tournament.  The All England Lawn Tennis Association had taken out a $ 2 million pandemic insurance policy for 17 years prior to 2020.  News reports indicate that they stand to recoup almost half of their losses from cancelling the event which was to have taken place June 29 to July 12.  This illustrates how insurance coverage is just one risk management tool. Even the few organizations that invested in pandemic coverage still must self-fund a large portion of their losses during this time.  Even so, thoughtful planning and adequate insurance coverage both help organizations in managing risks.

Standards for Excellence learning materials feature resources and tools to help nonprofits address risk management and consider various types of insurance coverage.  For a set of helpful resources on this topic I encourage you to check out the Standards for Excellence educational resource packet Risk Management and Insurance. 

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets  include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us put a range of routine items on hold while we handled the many complexities of the crisis.  Now that we have taken stock of the long-term nature of the pandemic and the need to sustain our operations, we are starting to circle back to some of those annual to-do’s that we may have put off.  One of those is the annual evaluation of the executive director by the board.  Working remotely for months has perhaps made us feel more comfortable doing a wider range of sensitive meetings that we would only have done in-person previously.  Below are some tips for a successful remote evaluation of the executive director.

1. Take Time as CEO to Plan the Evaluation:   Especially if this is your first CEO evaluation, take some time to think through the ideal scenario and how you can support the board in its process.  Does the board have a process it used with your predecessor or is this new territory?  What evaluation tool will you use (The Standards for Excellence Institute offers samples in our Board and Executive Partnership educational resource packet described below.)?  Will it be a 360 evaluation with feedback from direct reports, or only a board evaluation?  Plan out a scenario and share it with your board chair and/or executive committee.  Be open to their feedback, of course, but your advance thinking is the best way to ensure a smooth and constructive process.

CEO evaluations often involve assessment and review of a pre-determined set of goals, objectives and metrics related to the organization’s health and work toward meeting its current strategic plan and mission.  Of course, in the midst of these unprecedented times, nonprofits across the nation have found they’ve had to push aside some or all of the plans they may have set and have had to pivot, seek new ways to carry out their vision and goals.  Thus, at this time, it is important to insert adequate flexibility into the CEO evaluation process to take into consideration the unusual situation caused by the pandemic and the times we are finding ourselves in. This may involve added emphasis on the CEO’s leadership, resilience, and agility in the midst of these challenging times.

2. Find a Trusted Survey Administrator:  It is a best practice for the full board to have an opportunity to have input into the evaluation of the CEO.  For some organizations, this is simply a conversation of the board in executive session.  A more rigorous and objective approach is to conduct an evaluation survey that goes to all board members, and to direct reports if it’s a 360 evaluation.  You do not want this survey to live in your own organization’s online survey account due to confidentiality reasons.  The best choice is if you have a board member who has a survey account available and is willing to administer the survey.  They will need to send out the survey to the participants, track responses, badger the non-responders, and most importantly, produce a summary that removes identifying information and summarizes open-ended comments to ensure none are identifiable.  You may wish to hire a consultant to administer CEO evaluation surveys — you can find a local Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant here. 
3. Stretch out the timeline:  Get everyone used to the new way of doing the evaluation by first discussing it between the Board Chair and Executive Director, or with the Executive Committee.  Determine how you will get input from each board member and who will be responsible for the various tasks, and make a timeline.  Share the timeline with the full board in a meeting and let them know how they will be expected to respond.  A sample timeline could be: 
   1. Week 1:  Board Chair and CEO Meet (or full Executive Committee)
   2. Week 4:  Full board meets; CEO Evaluation Process is Introduced
   3. Week 5:  Confidential Survey of board members and direct reports if it is a 360 evaluation
   4. Week 7:  Reminder to all board members
   5. Week 8:  Executive Committee reviews survey results; discusses potential salary action; reviews salary benchmarks
   6. Week 10:  Full board meets in executive session to discuss the evaluation; determine any salary action
   7. Week 11:  Board Chair and Vice Chair Meet with CEO remotely to share evaluation results
4. Executive Session and Sharing Results Remotely:  In the virtual meeting environment, if the executive director is the owner of the virtual platform  account, they can switch the controls to the Board Chair by making them the meeting “Host”, and then they can safely leave the meeting for the Board to continue the discussion. When it is time to share the results with the CEO, it can be helpful for the Board Chair to have at least one other board member with them when sharing the results of the CEO evaluation.  This way the board builds institutional memory about evaluations and any specific agreements are shared more broadly.  It can also help the CEO receive more multi-faceted feedback and gain confidence that its not just the opinion of the board chair.  Receiving the written results may also be tricky if anyone else has access to your email, you may want to give the board your personal email address to receive the written survey summary.
5. Documentation:  Be sure to capture the completion of the evaluation in the organization’s minutes (but not the specifics).  For example, “the Board met in executive session and conducted the evaluation of the CEO.”  You can utilize these minutes as documentation for your Standards for Excellence application to demonstrate your organization is adhering to best practices, even in a pandemic!

The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector states that a nonprofit’s “board should appoint the chief executive, set the executive’s compensation, and annually evaluate the executive’s performance. In cases where a designated committee performs one of these responsibilities, the decision should be ratified by the full board.”

Standards for Excellence learning materials feature resources and tools to help nonprofits address important responsibilities such as CEO performance evaluation.  For a set of helpful resources on this topic I encourage you to check out the Standards for Excellence educational resource packets Board and Executive Partnership educational resource packet.

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets  include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

Earlier this summer, I read an interesting article in Parade magazine called, “Secrets to Living to 100.”  I was struck by the tips that the article offered. Some of the tips were the kinds of things you’d definitely expect on such a list, like “eat less,” “exercise 45 minutes a day,” and “stimulate your brain.”  But, it also had some tips like “keep the faith,” “cultivate close friendships,” and “have a purpose.”  These tips all reminded me of my dear grandmother who would have turned 100 on August 26^th.   Sadly, she passed away just a few years before the big milestone. I have to admit that I’ve been carrying around this article for two months because I wanted to share it with my dozen first cousins.  You see, our grandmother lived by all of the tenets in the article, except for the one focused on eating a plant-based diet—not surprising—since she was a dairy farmer’s wife for most of her life.

The other thing that struck me about this article is the fact that the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector serves a similar function, encouraging nonprofits to follow its model for well-managed and responsibly governed nonprofits.  The Standards for Excellence code, as stated in its preamble, “aims to raise the level of accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of all nonprofit organizations to foster excellence and inspire trust,” and “provides a framework and step-by-step guidelines to achieve a well-managed and responsibly governed organization.”  The Standards offers advice and tips for the health and vitality of the nonprofit in areas like: Mission, Strategy and Evaluation Leadership; Legal Compliance and Ethics; Finance and Operations; Resource Development and Public Awareness, Engagement and Advocacy.  So, in a way, the Standards for Excellence code is like an instruction guide for growing sustainable nonprofits that are healthy and strong – so that they can be best positioned to meet their important community missions.  Like the article about the secrets to living a long, healthy life, we welcome you to read all of the Standards to learn how your nonprofit can enjoy a long, healthy life.

The Standards for Excellence code in its entirety is available for you to view on the Standards for Excellence Institute website, as a mobile app, and can also be purchased for distribution to nonprofit board and staff members. The Standards for Excellence, its licensed partners and Licensed Consultants, not only, encourage nonprofits to live by these principles, but they also provide a host of resources and tools to help nonprofits live by these tenets. A full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets  include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

I cherish all of the memories I have with my grandmother and am grateful for the lessons she shared with me for living a good and healthy life.

The CARES Act provides that the new deduction cannot be used by itemizing taxpayers—these taxpayers are still permitted to take their charitable contributions “below the line” as itemized deductions. This new benefit is limited to $300 on both individual and joint returns, and only applies to tax year 2020.

This benefit underscores the important responsibility that nonprofits carry to ensure that their donors receive appropriate acknowledgements and receipts for their donations.  While it is not possible for every nonprofit to know whether each one of their donors is itemizing their taxes or taking the standard deduction, nonprofits have a responsibility to ensure that those who contribute to their missions receive appropriate documentation showing the charitable contributions made.

The Standards for Excellence program focuses on following best practices in your resource development and fundraising activities.  The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector states that a nonprofit’s “resource development policies should be consistent with its mission, compatible with its organizational capacity, and respectful of the interests of donors, prospective donors, and others providing resources to the organization.”

Standards for Excellence learning materials feature resources and tools to help nonprofits who are preparing acknowledgements and receipts for their donors.  If you’d like more resources on how to write a policy to govern the acceptance of charitable gifts for your nonprofit or what statements are required in your fundraising receipts and acknowledgement, check out our Standards for Excellence educational resource packets Disclose It: A Charitable Nonprofit’s Guide to Disclosure Requirements and Fundraising, Solicitation and Acceptance of Gifts.

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets  include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

We share our sincere wishes for your continued good health and patience as we all navigate these challenging and uncertain times.

[1] How is this different from the existing charitable deduction, what “line” is that, and why put this “deduction” above it?

To start – think of the basic steps that go into calculating your tax liability.  Conceptually these are:

1. adding up gross income,
2. applying adjustments (additions or subtractions) to gross income to yield adjusted gross income or “AGI”,
3. deducting either “itemized” or the ”standard” deductions from AGI to determine net taxable income,
4. calculating the tax due on the net taxable income,
5. applying tax credits against that amount of liability,
6. deducting taxes already withheld or paid to yield the amount of tax due.

The adjustments that reduce gross income in Step 2 to determine “AGI” are commonly referred to as “above the line,” as opposed to the deductions (including for charitable contributions) that occur after the AGI is calculated, that are considered to be “below the line.”*   In some tax situations, ”above the line” reductions to income can be more advantageous than ”below the line” itemized deductions, that are more often subject to caps or limitations.

[2] Urban Institute and Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-standard-deduction#:~:text=The%20Urban%2DBrookings%20Tax%20Policy,itemizing%20their%20deductions%20in%202018.

With so many nonprofits cancelling, postponing, or moving their big annual celebrations, galas, graduations, and fundraisers, not only are nonprofits seeking new opportunities for revenue generation, they may have also missed out on their annual volunteer appreciation celebrations.

Did your organization take your regular volunteer appreciation event or celebration off the schedule for this year? With restrictions on in-person gatherings and celebrations, this is definitely a sign of the times and a necessity across the country. But, have you taken the opportunity to acknowledge the good work of your volunteers in other ways? The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector has always highlighted the important work of volunteers who work generously and tirelessly to help nonprofits meet their important community missions.

What can you do to recognize your volunteers, even in the midst of moratoriums on big in-person gatherings? Consider some of these options:

• You could write a feature on your volunteers in your newsletter or your annual report.
• You could recognize your volunteers on social media.
• You could hold a phone call “thank-a-thon” for your volunteers.
• You could do a fun socially distant virtual volunteer celebration.
• You could send a small thank you gift.
• You could send old-fashioned hand-written thank you notes.

There are many opportunities to consider for recognizing your beloved, and valuable, volunteers. You may even have some volunteers who traditionally serve in roles where they support your organization in an office or in-person setting who may love to help coordinate or lead efforts to ramp up volunteer recognition at this time.

The Standards for Excellence educational packet on Volunteer Policies addresses the benefits of volunteer policies, how to develop volunteer policies, preparing for incorporating volunteers into an organization’s efforts, initial assessment and screening of volunteers, volunteer training, ongoing volunteer supervision and evaluation, motivating and encouraging volunteers and recognizing and providing opportunities for volunteer advancement. Of course, volunteer motivation includes recognizing the important contributions of your volunteers! The package includes: a Model Volunteer Program Policies and Procedures, a Position Description for Volunteer Coordinator, Sample Volunteer Policies, a Sample Volunteer Agreement, and a Sample Agreement for Unpaid interns.

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

We share our sincere wishes for your continued good health and patience as we all navigate these challenging and uncertain times.

I am an avid newspaper reader. For more than 25 years, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to catch up on the news of the day from my own home without a computer screen!

I’ve been interested in following so many different headlines and stories these days and I’m especially enthusiastic about the now growing sports section.  After so many months with most sports on hold, news of the upcoming baseball season has me in an anticipatory mood.  I’ve been following the stories of this week’s exhibition games and am looking forward to Opening Day.  I’ve been struck, however, by report after report of professional athletes testing positive for COVID-19.  Of course, news of ANY individual struck by the virus is terrible news, but there is an extra sense of loss when folks need to recover in the spotlight and in the headlines.  I was particularly pleased by Mike Elias (Executive Vice President/General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles) who responded to questions about disclosing players’ COVID-19 positive tests: “We don’t like to be cagey or withhold info. But again, this is a private medical matter for these individual people, and I don’t think it’s anyone’s best interest to get out in front of it, mislabel something and have to unwind that later for whatever reason.”[1]  Perhaps you’ve read stories like this or received communications from organizations you are part of stating that one of their employees has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the identity of the individual would not be shared.

Nonprofit organizations can and should be following suit and adhering to their own policies for confidentiality of employee information, especially medical information.  Our personnel policies would preclude our organization from making announcements about a staff member’s positive COVID tests and our “COVID 19 Return to Work Guidelines” also reflect this in this statement:

“If management is made aware that someone in the office has tested positive or is in quarantine, the staff will be informed that possible exposure in the workplace has occurred, without identifying the individual.”

Of course, such policies do not eliminate the possibility that employees (including our own staff or individuals working as professional athletes) might share their own health status, but this would be something an individual may voluntarily choose to share or not.  And, it would not be initially shared by the employer.

The Standards for Excellence educational packet on Administrative Policies includes our Sample COVID-19 Return to Work Guidelines and the Institute’s educational packet, Personnel Policies, Employee Orientation, Compensation, and  Evaluation includes a helpful Model Employee Handbook. The Model Employee Handbook, just updated and re-released in 2020, provides a comprehensive set of personnel policies on a range of topics including: confidentiality, career development, workplace practices, leave policies, benefits and insurance coverage, communication, compensation, and much more.  The Standards for Excellence Model Employee Handbook also includes a comprehensive section on forms and additional information that can be customized and implemented in any nonprofit organization.

These educational resource packets and in fact, the full series of all packets  – including sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management – can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

We share our sincere wishes for your continued good health and patience as we all navigate these challenging and uncertain times.

We have had to adopt so many new important daily practices to stay safe and healthy in the midst of the pandemic: social distancing, wearing masks, staying at home, keeping up with the number of infections, are just a few. At my house, we have also been focused on keeping up with friends and loved ones, baking new foods, hunting for hard to find items (like: disinfectant wipes, toilet paper, and cream of wheat cereal) as well as cleaning and clearing out closets and preparing to donate items that are in good condition but that we no longer need. 

I know that I am not alone in my efforts to make in-kind donations during this time.  The other day, I waited in line for 45 minutes for my turn to donate a trunk full of clothing, toys, books, music, and household items to a local nonprofit., With so many people wishing to make in-kind gifts, organizations across the country are also working to ensure that in-kind gifts are properly received (or turned away if that is the most appropriate option).  They are also ensuring that appropriate receipts and acknowledgments are provided to donors. 

In-kind gifts are an important part of many organizations’ fundraising plans.  I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve spoken with nonprofit staff members about NOT placing a value on donations of in-kind items in their fundraising acknowledgements.  In fact, the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector states, “Nonprofits must be aware of and comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. This may include, but is not limited to complying with laws and regulations related to IRS filing requirements, governance, human resources, licensing, financial accountability, taxation, valuation of in-kind gifts, unrelated business income, document retention and destruction, related entities, data security, accessibility, [and] fundraising . . .”   In addition, the Standards for Excellence code states that “an organization should have policies in place to govern the acceptance and disposition of charitable or in-kind gifts that are received in the course of its regular fundraising activities….”  You can look to the Standards to help you craft appropriate receipts and acknowledgments for when your organization receives in-kind gifts.  Your donors will appreciate the proper acknowledgment, and the IRS requires it!

The Standards for Excellence program focuses on following best practices in your resource development and fundraising activities.  Our training programs and learning events always feature resources and tools to help nonprofits who are preparing acknowledgements and receipts for their donors.  If you’d like more resources on how to write a policy to govern the acceptance of charitable gifts for your nonprofit or what statements are required in your fundraising receipts and acknowledgement, check out our Standards for Excellence educational resource packets Disclose It: A Charitable Nonprofit’s Guide to Disclosure Requirements and Fundraising, Solicitation and Acceptance of Gifts.

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets  include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.

We share our sincere wishes for your continued good health and patience as we all navigate these challenging and uncertain times.

If you follow this blog, you may have read my post from a few weeks ago about the rising levels of public trust in America’s nonprofit sector.  I cited a recent study conducted by Luth Research, and the Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences which showed that public trust levels in the nonprofit sector are on the upswing in the midst of the pandemic. The report also showed that the public’s trust in nonprofits is much stronger than trust and confidence in government entities (both at the federal and the state and local levels).  This is positive news for the nonprofit sector, but we can’t rest on these numbers for too long. 

In fact,  another nonprofit public confidence study was just released recently by Independent Sector called Trust in Civil Society.  Independent Sector worked with Edelman Intelligence to conduct two national surveys each of 3,000 American adults with the goal to “assess general population trust in the sector (philanthropy and nonprofits) and uncover the factors that drive trust in the sector.”  Independent Sector’s latest research showed strong overall confidence numbers in the nonprofit sector with 81 % of respondents stating their confidence in nonprofits to help strengthen society.   However, when looking at the demographics of Americans with the most and least confidence in the sector, the Independent Sector report illuminates a different picture — with the highest trust exhibited by “suburbanites and those with high socio-economic status” and those with least confidence exhibited by individuals in what Independent Sector calls “underserved communities” as defined by a variety of factors, including but not limited to household incomes of less than $35,000 and households with less education. 

We know that individuals of all socio-economic backgrounds participate in and receive benefits from nonprofit organizations every day.  So, what can we do to strengthen public trust among the underserved communities?  What are some strategies that nonprofits can employ in order to earn the public’s trust from all in our community, including those who participate in our programs and those who donate income to our efforts?

The Standards for Excellence Institute has always had an important focus and emphasis on respectful and ethical treatment of those who participate in nonprofit programs and are served by nonprofit organizations. The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector states, “ In rendering its programs or services, a nonprofit should act with the utmost professionalism and treat persons served with respect.”  The Standards for Excellence code also encourages nonprofits to “have a meaningful opportunity for the public to communicate with a representative of the organization.”  In addition, the Standards for Excellence code has a set of benchmarks centered on addressing problems and states that “nonprofits should provide an effective procedure for problem solving or reporting grievances, including but not limited to, legal or ethical misconduct by the organization’s employees and volunteers.  The procedure should include actions for addressing and resolving complaints effectively.”  As we work to serve those in need, let us all ensure that we earn the trust of those we serve through our words and deeds.

If you’d like more resources, our Standards for Excellence educational resource packet Working Professionally and Respectfully with Program Stakeholders  is a great place to start. This packet includes discussions and resources on respect, confidentiality policies, and grievance procedures with samples to help in this important area of nonprofit management and operations.

The full series of Standards for Excellence educational packets  include sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management. They can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.