The change in accounting standards will cause two surprises for nonprofits.

Audit costs are likely to increase up to 20%.

Your audit will cite internal controls and other processes in your organization which it had previously ignored in prior years.

To control your audit costs, be better prepared to provide your auditor the financial material in an organized manner. Your organization will be billed for each minute. Your mess is billable for them and they are not required to tell you how to decrease your costs.

Second, make sure more employees are trained on your internal control processes. The more you can document the checks and balances the better for management and the board to show their fiduciary responsibility.

If you took a moment to understand where bottle water comes from and its degree of regulatory safety review you might rethink its purchase.

Bottle water is one great sales gimmick.  You pay for the plastic the bottle is shipped in, you pay for the truck carbon imprint that delivers the bottle water, you pay for the production of the fuel to support the truck, you pay for the drilling for water, you pay for the environmental impact of the drilling.  You take your chances with the unregulated or tested bottle water industry.  You take chances with the bacteria and mold that builds up in the water coolers due to the air entering the system each time you change the bottles. 

Oh, how about the fact that you’re paying the square footage to store all of those bottles.

If you review the amount you spend on the water and what perks you could do for your employees in lieu of it, you would be surprised.

You can create the same if not better result with Reverse Osmosis Systems and lower your costs dramatically.

Water coolers are connected to a filtration system. Gone is the need to store bottles, change the bottles, clean up the slippage and running out of water.

If you want a recommendation, check out the company the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has selected at: http://www.atlaswatersystems.com

I have no association with any company but feel that this option is a great one for any nonprofit that goes through 6 bottles plus a month. 

Locally made vs. foreign made! The more you know that the source of a good or service is local, the more likely your interests are being protected.

Short-term warranty vs. long-term warranty! The longer the warranty the more likely the seller backs their product.

Government calculated risk vs. actual risk! Just because it is deemed safe does not mean it is safe 100%.

Insurance calculated risk vs. actual risk! What you pay is based on the likelihood that the Insurer will have to pay out. Government enforcing regulations vs. its failure to enforce regulations. Certain Federal and State agencies have been reported as being understaffed and underfunded to complete their responsibilities. There must be an expectation that you be more diligent.

Who is watching out for you, those you serve and your community? What is your contingency plan? What is your emergency plan? Most individuals and organizations fail to take the time to do due diligence before purchasing or to make a plan to deal with various circumstances.

Previously on 9/13/2007 in my post “TakingRisk” I spoke about the use of an emergency plan as a way to reduce risk.

Support services for parents who wish to continue their own education or training is a direction that organizations can look toward for growth.

Ideas to improve the success of students completing their program are:

• Childcare centers in locations where education/training takes place
• Providing housing in educational institutions for families
• Providing internships to students that are family focused
• Providing parent mentors to students
• Providing students with a support center to connect to services, i.e. babysitting, doctors, laundry services, etc..

Every ones time is worth something. Tracking the value of volunteers is important for representing to donors and funders the true costs of the services an organization delivers. Have a formal sign-in sheet in the location where the volunteers are placed. Have the volunteers trained to know and understand the policies and procedures required of the employees for a program. If you are attentive to following through on the volunteers training, they can be considered part of the staffing pattern. There is no regulation that says that only paid staff can be part of your staffing pattern.

To calculate the value of the hours default to using the minimum wage of your state. If the position requires credentialed staff, then use the Federal Department of Labors cost standards for calculating the value.

Recruitment of Volunteers can focus on a person giving to their community to serve their country.

Communication is the key component to a successful volunteer program. The communication to the volunteer should clearly state expectations of the volunteer  and what they can expect to learn.

Two other value added messages are:

• Without the help of volunteers a person is not ensured equal access to programs they need.

• The value of the volunteers time is worth money and generating more successes.

In the past 10 months news headlines announced an ongoing lack of enough Veterinary professionals; a lack of sufficient farm workers resulting in produce rotting; the lack of rural doctors; dieing towns; the lack of human service workers; not enough child care for families; not enough electricians, plumbers, automotive mechanics and the list goes on.

A stronger and healthy solution is to simply match the needs to the pool of immigrants and to publicize the priority.

Making the rules clear to immigrants will bring resolution more quickly. Making rules complex waste everyones time.

Human nature provides for an unusual way for individuals to convey their personal feelings. Most people do not complain to the company, individual or entity that they feel provided them with a bad experience.

Verde Group who conducted a study with jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the Wharton School show that an individual most likely is going to tell an average of six of their friends or relatives of their negative experience. These individuals are then up to five times more likely to avoid a store or avoid use of the service than the original customer.

A customer service focus to those you serve and the treatment of employees creates a positive healthy environment. A customers refer others to the organization and employees promote working for the organization. A win win situation for any organization.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that every additional hour of spleep per night a 3rd grader spends sleeping reduces the chances of being obese in sixth grade.

Other research has shown the lack of sleep causes problems with attentiveness, short-term memory, performance and response time. Children who are irritable or have hyper types of behavior may be labeled with ADHD when in reality they are tired due to the lack of sleep.

The lack of sleep further creates barriers for a child to adapt to situations and problem solve. This may be another reason for an increase in violence among youth. Are youth too tired to think?

Click the link below on Kids Health for Parents

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sleep.html

The United States Department of Education has a policy that Perkins loan recipients are eligible to have their loans cancelled under certain circumstances. According to the federal regulation one provision is:

To qualify for a child or family service cancellation, an otherwise eligible borrower must be “providing or supervising the provision of, services to high-risk children from low income communities. These services must be provided directly and exclusively to high-risk children and families. The borrower must either provide the services him or her self or the borrower must directly supervise the service providers.”

Therefore, it is important that the job description you provide when you or an employee is seeking cancellation to focus on the description above and to work with the employer to adequately document the provision.

When does a contract fail you? When words in the contract are not defined.

For example, in Coldwell Banker’s Exclusive Right to Sell Agreement, a seller owes the fee if ” During the term of this Agreement a Buyer is procured ready, willing and able to buy the Property or any part there of, in accordance with the price, terms and conditions of this Agreement”.  Nowhere in the agreement is there a definition of what “this Agreement” means.   I have the knowledge of one individual who received a letter from the Coldwell Banker Realtor demanding their fee. A year later between legal fees and settling, with neither side admitting anything, the cost is $23,000.  Come to find out, regardless of what the Sellers were told verbally by the agent, the seller should have written it into the Agreement, regardless of the Realtor’s assurances, that it was the purchase and sale agreement.  It could mean “the offer”.

Another example is the expiration of an offer. It is important to realize that the strength of your position is only to the degree that you maintain control. In an agreement, deadlines and options can be the critical components. If provisions have not been met, it may be wise to let the offer expire. It will certainly make sure everyone involved is paying attention and that your serious.

Do not let a realtor or anyone else push you to automatically exercise an extension or accept an option unless you have an attorney who represents your rights and they have advised you of the pros and cons. You must clearly understand what will happen with your actions. It is your responsibility to ask your attorney questions to make sure you understand what the results of your actions could be.

Therefore, if it is not clear to you, do not sign until the language means such to you.