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. 

Circle Lending now called Virgin Money is a great resource for creating personal and business loans between between associates, relatives and friends. http://www.virginmoneyus.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

Governing Magazine:  A resource on states and localities.  Great for keeping the pulse on what is happening in states and localities.   http://www.governing.com

Nonprofit Quarterly:  A magazine that provides valuable management information and proven practices. The information is cutting edge, relevant and useful.    http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org

Mission Fish:  The easy way on Ebay to convert in-kind donations into cash or a new way to invigorate your fundraising efforts http://www.missionfish.org/ForNonProfits/fornonprofits.jsp

In my review of sites and services I have come across several that are great tools for organizations to use to keep costs low or to utilize for information about events.

Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

Great value for your money in identifying products that are the best buy and providing a review on the products. Saves money and staff time.

Vista Print: http://www.vistaprint.com The best price anywhere for most printing and some free stuff to go with it.

AAA: http://www.aaa.com Low cost way for back up transportation roadside services, discounted college loans for employees, travel, insurance, financial and accessing discounts from many different vendors.

Who Fish: http://www.whofish.org/ for Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire is a free service of local events that is great to use for planning outings. There are many other similar sites for other parts of the USA. If you have a hard time finding one just send me an email with information about your location.

Constant Contact: A low cost email service for making your organization professional and able to keep donors and interested parties in the know and up to date. You can create and send professional email newsletters, fundraising appeals, renewals, and event updates.
Another feature offered is Survey by Constant Contact, where you can easily and cost-effectively get feedback and evaluate programs to report to your donors and interested parties. Click on the link below that best describes your organization or call 1-866-876-8464 .

http://www.constantcontact.com/market/nonprofits/index.jsp nonprofits

http://www.constantcontact.com/market/associations/index.jsp Associations

http://www.constantcontact.com/market/religious/index.jsp religious organizations

Example of pricing:

Your Email List Size		Your low monthly fee
		Email Marketing		Survey*		Bundle*
0-500		$15		$15		$30 $22.50
2,501-5,000		$50		$50		$100 $75.00
10,001-25,000		$150		$150		$300 $225.00

An Association is usually incorporated as a 501 (c) 6 organization. It works on behalf of its members. The strength of an Association is based on its membership. The larger the membership, the more success the Association will have in producing greater results. A nonprofit or individual should pay a membership to join an Association if there are clear and measurable benefits to being a member.

The most simple measure is, “Will my organization save money or obtain additional funds by the actions of the Association?” Group purchasing is the quickest and easiest way to see results immediately. These actions create more funds by decreasing costs.

Property insurance, health insurance, dental insurance, visioin insurance, utilities, billing services, retirement plans, human resource services, accounting services, consulting services, development services, office supplies, security, bottled water, food, equipment, web services, information technology services, banking services, audit services, construction, and employment assistance programs are just a few examples where group purchasing can decrease costs.

The other part of an Association’s effort is lobbying and clearly educating elected officials. A key role they play is providing a clear voice on the economic impact of their member organizations and the criticial areas of concerns.

So take advantage of Associations where it makes sense. Make sure you never pay more than it costs your local, state or federal government for a service or product.

1. Identify the true costs of providing the services to obtain the outcome objective

2. Describe the specific services that costs are covering

3. Do not blend services that require a different outcome or rate

4. Know what your peers are charging for the services

5. Know what capacity the configuration of expenses will support

6. Know what percent of billable units each staff person has generated

7. Create a private rate and public rate

8. Utilize a sliding fee schedule for programs

9. Track all free care units

10. Track all services provided by volunteers

11.  Have a mixture of purchasers

12.  Have a single point of intake to maximize referral to services

The Wall Street Journal reported this week six banks will pay more than 5% on six month, one year CD’s or money market accounts.

AMTrust Direct

6-month CD: 5.36%

1-year-CD: 5.31%

E-Money Market: 5.31%

Capital One

6-month CD: 5.00%

1-year-CD: 5.00%

Money Market: 5.00%

Countrywide Bank

6-month CD: 5.5%

1-year-CD: 5.5%

Savings Link Account: 5.5% (on balances of $10,000)

IndyMac Bancorp

6-month CD: 5.25%

1-year-CD: 5.5%

On line Money Market: 5.75%(on balances 25,000 plus)

ING Direct

6-month CD: 5.15%

1-year-CD: 5.15%

Washington Mutual

6-month CD: 5.5%

1-year-CD: 5.1%

On line Savings: 5.0%

How’s that for giving you a safe return on principle during the turbulent market?

See if your local Bank will match the return.

In your cash flow management it may be prudent to take advantage of these types of six and 12 month CD’s. For financial Institutional Management and Retirement Plan Management I refer you to Fisher Investments which I previously mention in an earlier Blog. I would suggest John Wasiejko at Fischer Investments john@fischerig.com 603-361-4540