Photos by theopportunityagenda

I attended a conference on 9/26/08.  One session was on how not to put your 501 c 3 at risk.  The one important aspect that I learn is how much more nonprofits and any company can do in getting people to register to vote without effecting the organization.  Nonpartisan voter registration is not considered political lobbying.

Getting people to participate in the election process begins with registration.  This nonpartisan effort allows individuals 18 years of age and older to be heard.  Whenever a person contacts their elected officials one of the first things they do is to check if the person is registered to vote in the district.  The second reference check is whether and how often a person votes.

The more that individuals affiliated with your organization participate in the election process the more likely issues of importance to your organization will be heard.

So get your act together and have register to vote applications available at your operations.

Photos by mujitra and dulhana

Thinking of putting a 401(k) in place but don’t know where to start?

Here’s five easy questions (and the answers you should hear) you can ask any provider to find out what 401(k) is right for you:

1.    How much does your 401(k) product cost? Please include fees that come out of participant account as well as the upfront fee I need to pay.

Beware of hidden fees! Many providers don’t disclose annual fees that are calculated on the amount of money you have in a plan.

2.    Do you sell your own investments? If so, what do I need to do to get access to other mutual funds?

It’s your responsibility to provide a range of investments to your employees. Make sure the provider you choose offers different fund types as well as different brands of funds so your employees are properly diversified.

3.    Does your service give me everything I need for a 401(k) plan?

Look for a “bundled” solution. A 401(k) plan generally consists of two parts: making sure your plan is in compliance with the Department of Labor’s guidelines (includes tax filing, compliance testing, etc.) and also the recordkeeping of your employees’ contributions, taking the correct amount out of paychecks, etc. The provider you select should be a one-stop shop that includes both of these features in its service.

4.    How long does it take to set up a plan and what are the steps to do that?

Setting up a 401(k) plan, should take no more than an hour, and maybe a half-hour a month to keep it going. Look for an efficient provider that can provide you with electronic versions of everything. You will save yourself time, as well as some trees!

5.    What type of education will you provide my employees with?

Putting a 401(k) plan in place isn’t enough. You will need to let your employees know it is there and educate them on the benefits. Your 401(k) provider should provide this education and support you in this endeavor.

This article comes to you from The Online 401(k), a provider of 401(k)s for small businesses. For more information or a free consultation on your 401(k) plan, contact John Wasiejko at jwasiejko@theonline401k.com or call us at 415.477.8800 xt 828.

Photos in order by cambodia4kidsorg, theory propanganda, theory propanganda, torley, fortinbras and votenulo.

Nonprofits that have lost the trust of its constituency fail.  nonprofits can not afford to lose trust of their supporters. Truthful communication is critical towards keeping supporter.  Trust is not to be taken lightly.  When you lose the trust of supporters you create the image of loser.  It is easier to keep the image of loser than it is to rebuild an image of “Trust”.  This is the reason why for the purpose of branding organizations merge.

Government can learn from this fact from both nonprofit and for-profit companies.

photos in order by jurvetson, nyccarthur, and kthread

Transparency is the best way to provide positive support to an organization or institution. Nonprofits have vision and are use to reaching out across a broad constituency and receiving unexpected sources of support.  Nonprofits are a great example of the free market.  They must strive to reach the core values of an individual or organization to release with faith their money.  Like a message in the bottle that is found at the beach having floated endlessly until that moment the right person comes along, so do the financial markets are waiting for the right fit.

Internal controls within nonprofits have been tools from which management can continuous quality improvement.  The positive is kept and the negative is changed.  Government could use similar oversight of its enforcement agencies.

Photo in order by gorickjones, jdlasica, eekim, and jacob & Kiki hantia

Nonprofits have people prepared with a passion to attack a problem.  Participation, community organizing, and creating opportunities for engagement  are just a few traits that nonprofits have as tools.  A nonprofits focus towards problems is about measurable outcomes.  Nonprofits are use to measuring whether there is resolution through evidence base practice.   Government needs to accept similar principles for the measuring of government laws, regulations, and policies.

Donors expect these principles of measuring outcomes.  It seems to be reasonable that tax payers could expect the same.

Send your evidence base practices and outcome measure principles to government entities and officials to help them out.

Photo in order by dimi15 and spike55151

Government could learn a few things from nonprofits.  Nonprofits are USA organizations created for a charitable cause.  Government was created as an institution for representation of the people:  “To serve and protect”.  Nonprofits evolve to best suit their community.  The evolution of government has seemed to lost its way for serving the interests of the America People.

The requirement of nonprofits not being allowed to be involved in politics to keep their nonprofit status has kept them focus on their purpose.  When politics are not at play mission, vision and public policy is best served.

Nonprofits can show government how it resolves public policy concerns.

Photo’s in order by DOT. ; Murilo; _ES and dmax3270.

Taking control of your destiny is better than waiting for devine intervention to get you thorough retirement.  I have not heard of any God promising cash to live on. The other aspect of future savings is to not use retirement for emergencies.  Saving for retirement should not involve an internal debate for anyone.   Do not allow a logical delaying choice which place ones future at risk.

Here is a suggestion from On Line 401K:

Sometimes we all need a little boost or push—even when it comes to things that benefit us and are in the best interest of our financial future. Automatic enrollment requires employees to opt out, rather than opt into a 401(k) plan. It compels them to at least reflect on retirement, even if they choose not to participate.

If the contributor chooses not to select an investment strategy, funds are automatically allocated into an appropriate investment, such as a target date mutual fund where the investment platform adjusts accordingly to the target
retirement age for each employee.

What are the benefits of automatic enrollment?

*Increases your employees’ participation
Statistics show that automatic enrollment in a 401(k) plan greatly increases the percentage of participation.

*Encourages saving without thinking
For many, signing up for a 401(k) plan is intimidating – automatic enrollment allows them to save without going through those steps.

If you’re on the fence about putting a retirement plan in place because you’re not sure if your employees will participate, consider automatic enrollment!

This article comes to you from The Online 401(k), a provider of 401(k)s for small businesses. For more information or a free consultation on your 401(k) plan, contact John Wasiejko at jwasiejko@theonline401k.com or call us at 415.477.8800 xt 828.

 Photo by lonely angel cp         Photo by Tzatziki

Most organizations, especially nonprofits sometimes think too hard and worry too much about finding the right language.  I would suggest that maybe you have forgotten what makes the organization special. 

Start with these four levers:

1. People:  What is your targeted audience (customers or donors) ready for?
2. Objectives:  What are your goals?
3. Strategy:  How do you want the relationship with the audience to change?
4. Tools: What tools (i.e. technology) should you use to maximize your efforts?

Think of the next three questions as you devise the four levers above.

1. What makes people participate in the first place?
2. What is the participants emotional motivation?
3. What will the participant get out of the participation?

Good luck!!

 Photo by dawnzy58    Photo by Ross Mayfield

• Keeping upon friendships
• Making new friends
• Succumbing to pressure from friends
• Succumbing to pressure from family
• Motivation to accomplish something
• Impulsive
• Hanging out with family
• Being bored
• Being alone
• A good night of sleep

The list could go on and on.  The human species has evolved into a complex social animal.  On one level, interaction has become a built in need and on the other level a need to be distant. 

Regardless of what any of us believe there are two factors important to have.  A balance of sleep and relaxation.  Most individuals will provide excuses for why either of these needs suffer.  

Therefore, if your an employer I challenge your organization to have a better understanding of whether your organization and its needs are healthy to its employees.  Does the way the organization functions adequately support the employees opportunity to obtain the sleep and relaxation they need? 

Knowing the audience called employees only make an employer stronger.

 Photo by Micala

Photo by Ross Mayfield 

Nonprofits bringing strength to the community.

To build a ground swell of support for a nonprofit organization or a cause takes consistent ongoing effort.    The building of a ground swell of support means that you want to hear from your community otherwise known as the customer.  However, you should be aware that the most successful ground swell involves also reaching those whom want to give you feedback and some of that will be negative.  This negative feedback provides for a means to identify those areas where continuous quality improvement occurs and lets the customers know that your listening.  Therefore, only support ground swell efforts if your willing to say yes to feedback that you share openly. 

You will find that there are three types of individuals that are part of the building of support towards the organizations effort.  The individual whom wants to provide the energy and content for the group, the individual whom will provide feedback either verbally or in person and the individual whom wants to be informed. 

You must assume that 44% of the targeted audience will be inactive.  The 56% of the audience whom are active in some way I will break into the three categories:

General audience who will read communications (48%)

Joiners who will read, vote, provide feedback, and potentially attend events (34%)

Participants who will provide time, effort, and attend the events.  (18%)

Concentrate on the building and linking of relationships to improve the level of success.