Photo by Living the American Dream

There are so many unmet needs and plenty of options.   Those nonprofits whom have  a nurturing environment where ideas can be hatched and brought to life provides the tread for impacting the mission and goals of the organization.  The for-profit business community tries many ways to  create opportunities to incubate new ideas.  A nonprofit in its strategic plan should identify which components community needs that the organization could better serve with what partnerships.  I wish to emphasize that to some degree housing is a service area that effects all nonprofits.  Therefore be part of the effort to bring affordable housing to the community you serve.  I have provided a short list below for the nonprofit to use to to start an internal discussion.

Affordable Housing (base on 30% of income)

Life Lease Housing

Elder Congregate Living

After School programs

Child Care

Child Mental Health services

Adult Day Health

Energy Efficiency Initiatives

Education

Employment

Transportation

Environment

The Lumina Foundation has just announced that it has awarded second quarter grants which altogether total more than $6.2 million.

Photo by Starlisa

The Nonprofit industry has many choices to evolve to meet the needs of the community it serves.  The one aspect of the business world tools which the nonprofit community has been slow to adopt are strategic partnerships either with other nonprofits or the business community.  These strategic partnerships are a great way to unlock the value of the assets of an organization, gain strengths, and to better compete.  There is no harm in talking with entities about a possible partnership.  Creating a partnership is also a good way to learn about each other without the finality of a merger if that was even a possible option later. So give a partnership of change a try; the impact just might impact the world.

A great article that talks about more than 100 national and local non profits that have pledged to take part in the ServiceNation Summit.

 Photo by Bigmick

When we make a purchase each of us want to know up front what it costs and want to be able to compare those costs to others selling the same service.  Due to the complex nature of understanding retirement investing most employees do not ask the question: what is it costing me?  While the employee does not usually invest directly they should be keeping an eye on what it costs for others to invest for them.  So I ask for a little help from folks with a straight forward approach.  John Wasiejko from The Online 401(k), a provider of 401(k)s for small businesses has agreed to provide todays post to support the efforts of nonprofits.

“With the new changes in IRS legislation, many non-profits are choosing to establish a 401(k) plan over a 403(b). Are you thinking about putting a 401(k) into place, but concerned with cost?

Hidden fees can compound costs and significantly erode you and your employees’ retirement savings. Because providers are not required to disclose all types of fees, you can incur expenses unknowingly.

Here are the basic fee structures you can expect:

Asset-based fees

The majority of 401(k) providers employ this fee structure, which is based on the amount of dollars in the plan and generally calculated as percentages. When taken from the plan, these fees can eat into retirement savings – saving more money means paying higher fees, making it difficult to control expenses.

As your account grows, so do the fees!

Example:

2008
Your 401(k) balance: $100,000
Fee: $1,000

2010
Your 401(k) balance: $150,000
Fee: $1,500

Flat fee structure

A flat-fee structure is exactly that. You pay a simple flat fee, based on the number of employees you have and the services you want. It’s that easy and allows you to control your expenses.

For more information on 401(k) plans and the dangers of hidden fees, check out this expose from Bloomberg by clicking here.”

For more information or a free consultation on your 401(k) plan, contact John Wasiejko at jwasiejko@theonline401k.com or call him at 415.477.8800 ext 828.

Vice President Dick Cheney is probably the most well known public figure whom has been conveyed as having numerous conflicts of interest.  His association and pay from Halliburton is just one example.  These conflicts of interest at times have distracted from his duties or the integrity of the decisions being made by the President.  The government is an entity one can donate to.  I ask you to consider does the actions of one person place in jeopardy whether a person will donate while the person serves as a steward of the organization.  The actions of a Board President as a steward of the nonprofit is just as important as the Senior Executive of a nonprofit.

Great article about the possibility of not for profit foundations “saving” the quality of political journalism. Of course, we all know that non profits can do anything really, don’t we?

Photo by Nammer

When is Double Dipping Ok.  If your an Educator!!

When is an exception to a rule getting out of hand?  The Boston Globe reported that nearly 100 retired educators made $5 million dollars and took home retirement pay of $5.5 million dollars.  Where is the incentive for hiring people to fill the jobs?  Where are the action plans of these education boards to take seriously their responsibility of recruiting educators? Waiting for the right candidate to come along is no different then waiting until the right donor comes along.  It will only happen if the Board takes the action to create a successful outcome.  Boards are just as responsible for the success of an organization as Management team.

Wall Street Journal reports how various businesses are being created to help school fundraising to go Green.  It is some thing many nonprofits can consider.

IT was just recently announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has awarded Massachusetts public libraries $8 million for upgrades to the many out of date computers that are still being used.