Category: Uncategorized

When another organization, group of people, or an individual offers to raise funds or collect in-kind donations for the benefit of your nonprofit, it is generally a cause for celebration!  Free money is terrific.  No strings attached…no work involved…no fundraising expenses for you….or is it?  What if the outside entity makes promises your organization couldn’t keep? What if the outside group provided inappropriate receipts or acknowledgements for the gifts?  What if the noncash gifts received included items that you could not use or sell?  What if the organization raised funds in a manner counter to your organization’s culture or mission?  For instance, you may be very likely to accept funds raised in an weekend-long baseball tournament, but may shy away from gifts raised in conjunction with a beer chugging contest.

The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector® states that nonprofits “should exercise control over any staff, volunteers, consultants, contractors, other organizations, or businesses who are known to be soliciting contributions on behalf of the organization.”

Toward this end, nonprofits should take care to work in partnership with those known to be raising funds for their efforts.  And, nonprofits should work diligently to become aware of all outside entities raising money on their behalf.  A few hints to keep in mind include: approving all uses of your organization’s name and/or logo, entering into an agreement (whether it’s a formal contract or some other type of written breakdown of responsibilities, expectations, restrictions, or requirements), and being involved in the event’s development and planning in as significant a manner as you feel is appropriate under the circumstances (you may want to consider recruiting a staff or volunteer representative of your organization).

Did you know?  The Standards for Excellence® Educational Resource Packet, “Employment of Fundraising Personnel and Fundraising Consultants” includes a full discussion of this topic and a sample agreement for working with organizations raising money on your behalf. The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members.  It is available through the members only section of our website.  Hard copies are also available upon request.

Log in to access this educational resource packet. Not a member? Join now!

The headlines in the past few weeks have highlighted the sudden influx of highly qualified volunteers arriving at our doors in record numbers.  If you frequently utilize volunteers, you probably have systems in place to get them working right away.  However, some nonprofits have avoided engaging volunteers on a large scale due to the cost of a structured volunteer program. After all, managing volunteers requires resources and exposes the organization to potential risks. But have you calculated the cost of not engaging potential volunteers? Missed opportunities to engage volunteers are also missed opportunities to introduce people to your needs, your successes, and can be a missed opportunity to engage a potential donor.

Whether you hope to receive hundreds of volunteers or just a few interns, drafting a good set of volunteer policies will get your volunteer program in order quickly and efficiently.  Not only do policies enable you to respond to potential volunteers in an acceptable and coordinated way, they can also communicate the organization’s policy on screening, orienting, and supervising volunteers – a must if volunteers will be working with vulnerable populations or will have access to the organization’s resources. The bottom line is that good volunteer policies help facilitate good volunteer management.  And good volunteer management allows your organization to provide the volunteer with a meaningful experience, while receiving a valuable contribution in return.

Did you know?  The Standards for Excellence® Educational Resource Packet, “Volunteer Policies,” provides guidance on potential topics to address in volunteer policies.  Sample volunteer policies are also available, which can serve as a starting point for drafting your own policies. The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members.  It is available through the members only section of our website.  Hard copies are also available upon request.

Log in  to access this educational resource packet. Not a member? Join now!

For many nonprofits, it is difficult to find that rare person who delights in writing board minutes and has an aptitude for the task!   Hopefully, you have a person with that special talent who creates perfect minutes for every board meeting.

Of course, board minutes serve as the business records of the organization and should be kept for all meetings of the board.  In addition, minutes should be kept for committee meetings when the committee makes decisions on behalf of the board.  In many states, it is legally required for nonprofits to keep minutes in a written form, or any other form, which can be converted in a reasonable time into a written form for visual inspection.  Even the latest IRS Form 990 also includes the question, “Did the organization contemporaneously document the meetings held or written actions undertaken during the year by the governing body and each committee with authority to act on behalf of the governing body?” (Part VI, Section A, line 8a and 8b).

Board minutes keep all members informed of actions taken and those that need to be taken in the future.  They should state who is in attendance, who presided at the meeting, when the meeting started and ended, and what actions (motions) were taken.  The minutes may, but need not include materials that would explain (briefly) the “why” of a decision.  They should NOT include a recitation of all discussion that took place or any of the personalities involved. Minutes are official once they have been approved by the Board (or committee) at the next meeting.

Did you know?  The Standards for Excellence® Educational Resource Packet, Conduct of the Board includes guidelines for writing board minutes and a sample set of board minutes.   The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members.  It is available through the members only section of our website.  Hard copies are also available upon request.

Log in  to access this educational resource packet. Not a member? Join now!

One role of the board of directors is to keep a watchful eye on the organization’s financial health.  However, the quantity of financial information that nonprofit boards receive can vary from a brief verbal summary that “all is well,” reported sporadically from time-to-time, to a 30-page copy of the organization’s general ledger provided monthly.  The Standards for Excellence® code has always recommended that the board of directors review the internal financial statements at least quarterly. But not only is the frequency important, the quality of those reports must be high so that the board can quickly react to unanticipated changes in funding, unexpected expenses, or changes in the demand for services. Of course, this is particularly important in the current economic climate.

A quality financial review will include a report on the overall financial picture, and a detailed report on the budgeted to actual revenues and expenses, making special notes of significant deviations from budgeted line items. Examining the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet may give a more complete financial picture.  That said, all of these reports are likely done in vain if the statements are not detailed enough and interpreted well for board members that may not be strong in reading financial statements.  This small step can go along way to empower those that lack the confidence to provide adequate fiscal oversight.  Coordinating board training on financial statements might go even further to ensure that everyone is financially literate.

Did you know?  The Standards for Excellence Educational Resource on Financial Planning and Monitoring includes a discussion of the importance of high quality financial statements as well as a sample for your review.   The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members.  It is available through the members only section of our website.  Hard copies are also available upon request.

Log in to access this educational resource packet. Not a member? Join now!

Did you know that the first question of the newly revised Form 990 (following the initial identification) is a request for your organization’s mission statement?

The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector® states that all organizations should “have a mission statement that is a formal statement of the organization’s purpose as defined and approved by the board of directors.  The organization’s activities should be consistent with its stated purpose.”  In addition, the Standards for Excellence® code encourages nonprofit boards to periodically revisit the organizations’ mission “to determine if the need for its programs continues to exist.”

Keeping the mission consistent is a key consideration for nonprofit organizations.  Unfortunately, many nonprofits fall into the trap of using different versions of the mission statement depending on the intended reader or audience.  Such mission “morphing” can get your organization into trouble.  With many versions of the mission statement floating around, it is sometimes difficult to remember which is the official, board-approved, version.

Did you know?  The Standards for Excellence® program’s educational resource packet, “Mission Development and Revision” includes a discussion of developing, reviewing, revising, and using your organization’s mission statement.  The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members It is available through the members only section of our website.  Hard copies are also available upon request.

Log in  to access this educational resource packet. Not a member? Join now!

Like most people, I have a couple of favorite charities that can count on my donation each year.  I also have my “walk-ins.”  These are charities that unexpectedly catch my attention.  Their stories are compelling and their needs are often urgent.  The least I can do is to take a second look, right?  This is where the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for Nonprofit Sector® is very helpful.

The Standards for Excellence® code is one of many tools I use to distinguish the good nonprofits from the great ones.  If a particular nonprofit has earned the Seal of Excellence, deciding to give to that organization becomes much easier.  At a minimum, however, I examine the charity’s website to find current information about their mission, programs, and the impact they are having in the community. I take note of special awards, accreditations, and partnerships.  I find out who their board members are.  I assess their financial health by looking at their financial statements and Form 990s over several years. 

However, even if this all checks out, there is one deal-breaker. If I receive a solicitation that does not identify the organization, state the intended use of my donation, or that fails to state that my contribution is tax-deductible, it causes me to question.  If this organization’s solicitations are unlawful or secretive, are they being secretive or unlawful in other ways? The Standards for Excellence® code highlights 55 indicators of well-managed responsibly-governed organizations.  I encourage you to use the code to tease out the indicators you value the most and to evaluate how your “walk-ins” stack up.  Who knows?  They just might make it onto your list of favorites. 

The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector® can be downloaded or copies can be ordered online>>

We expect a lot from our board members – time, money, connections, influence, talents, just to name a few.  During your board recruitment, you probably spent a lot of time figuring out what each person can contribute.  While we expect that our compelling mission should be enough to keep them motivated and contributing their maximum potential, what we fail to remember is that each one comes to us with a particular need. Some like the opportunity to achieve something great and to be recognized for it. Others simply enjoyed the responsibility of influencing something important.  Some look forward to the possibility of advancement or the opportunity to grow and learn.  If your board members are leaving just as quickly as they came, it could be because you are not identifying and nurturing their motivations for being there in the first place. Make board engagement a top priority. Having a board development committee can help to make board development a perpetual process rather than an afterthought.  This alone can go a long way towards cultivating the board’s capacity to lead.

Did you know?  The Standards for Excellence® program’s educational resource packet, “Conduct of the Board,” includes a sample board member development committee job description?  This job description will give you a jump start to defining the roles of your board development committee. The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members. It is available through the members only section of our website.  Hard copies are also available upon request. Not a member? Join now!

Anyone who works with volunteers realizes that their contributions of time and energy are anything but free! Recruiting, screening, training, and supervising volunteers take a substantial amount of time and effort. Appropriate management of volunteers is essential. Volunteer policies help with volunteer management by guiding, directing, and clarifying an organization’s relations with its volunteers.

Volunteer policies also communicate to employees that volunteers should be taken seriously. Like personnel policies, volunteer policies provide a mechanism to ensure that all staff, board members, and volunteers know and understand the role of volunteers in an organization.

Nonprofits should be careful in developing volunteer policies. Any policy should be user-friendly, easy to implement, and easy to enforce. Policies must be imposed both fairly and consistently to ensure their effectiveness.

Did you know? The Standards for Excellence® program’s educational resource packet, “Volunteer Policies” includes model and sample volunteer policies and procedures. The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members. It is available through the members only section of our website. Hard copies are also available upon request.

Log in to access this educational resource packet. Not a member? Join now!

What resolutions have you made to give your nonprofit a fresh start in 2009? Maintaining a well-functioning, motivated board is probably somewhere near the top. Absent, unmotivated board members, who fail to participate in governing the organization, could be keeping you from doing this.

Addressing noncompliant board members can be a challenge. It is difficult to reprimand veteran board members or ask them to step down. The Standards for Excellence® recommends that boards put certain practices into place to help you prevent and address noncompliance with board policies. All nonprofits should institute term limits to facilitate board renewal. Routinely evaluating individual board members will create opportunities to acknowledge contributions and to discuss problems. Orienting board members to their expectations, and providing these expectations in writing is another proactive measure. Including a process to address noncompliance in these written policies is essential. Having this process in writing will ensure that you will have it when you need it.

Did you know? Our educational resource packet, “Financial Policies” includes a sample purchasing policy. The packet is free and available to Standards for Excellence Institute® members. It is available through the members only section of our website. Hard copies are also available upon request.