1. List Your Priorities of Programming Ideas
2. Elements to Use in Action Steps/Approaches/Strategies (Working Together)

• Strategic Planning (What, where, when and why baseline)
• Maximizing Assets: People, Organization, Effort, Space, Allocation of costs, Labeling, Cost allocation plan, Assignment of job function.
• Referral and Intake Systems
• Cross Pollination: Using resources already available and maximizing capacity.
• Whom do you serve: Geography, community, age and service type. (Who shows up in the Service Plan or the Strategic Plan?)
• Reality Check on ability to serve
• Equal Access Goal (Where are the cases? Where are the resources?) Geo coding for allocating resources. (Transportation weight to consider. How do you manage yourself to complete all of your daily tasks?)
• Low Lying Fruit
• 20-40 Minute Rule
• Day Job Syndrome (Capacity to change, evolve, develop vs. the day to day job) (Capacity to change, evolve, develop vs. the day to day job)
• Investment Risk Scale of Capital (Can what I am committed to doing be used for something else if I am wrong?)
• Management Choices for change vs. Institutional Choices for change
• Defining Outcomes
• Branding: Ownership, reporting, sharing, confidence and leadership
• Communication: web, telecommunicating, Co-location, transparency, team responsibility, and risk
• Continuous Quality Improvement (How do you learn?)
• How do you compete? Niche vs. General and Narrow vs. Broad. What does your mission allow?
• Who are my Funders?

1. 1. Donors
   2. Foundations
   3. State
   4. Federal
   5. City/Town
   6. Community
   7. Individuals
   8. Your Organizations Assets

If you are interested in overcoming barriers check out the previous post:

http://mynonprofitwebsite.com/blog/2008/04/30/nonprofits-evolution/

Do you want to changed the business environment of your organization? Try the outline below.

1. List Your Barriers and Challenges

2. Evolution of the Non-Profit Business Environment (Supporters Working Together) List supporters.
   1. Donors
   2. Foundations
   3. State
   4. Federal
   5. City/Town
   6. Community
   7. Individuals
   8. Your Organizations Assets

3. Successful Approaches and Innovative Strategies

• Strategic Planning (Why do you exist? Whom do you not serve? Why do you not serve them? Why do you do things the way you do? Whom do you consider a competitor? When was the last time you asked a person you served what’s missing?)
• Whom do you serve: Geography, community, age and service type. Who shows up in the Service Plan?
• Day Job Syndrome (What is the organization’s capacity to change, evolve, develop vs. the day to day job)
• Maximizing Assets (Review your people, organization, effort, space, allocation of costs, labeling, cost allocation plan, assignment of job function, etc)
• Systematic Evaluation at Intake (How is it done thorough out the organization?)
• Cross Pollination of Expertise
• Continuous Quality Improvement
• Thinking Out of the Box
• Defining Outcomes
• Branding
• Co-location of Programs

It is important for a nonprofit to plan on how it is going to raise money or support for its organization. To help nonprofits in their outline of the planning the process I have provided 6 questions below.

1. Do you have a Strategic Plan?

2. Do you have a Development Plan?

3. Is the Development Plan incorporated into the Strategic Plan?

4. Can you describe for your nonprofit each outcome in three sentences or less?

5. Is each outcome for the nonprofit something that can be publicize?

6. Do you know what it costs the nonprofit to deliver each outcome?

If you answer no to any of the six, your nonprofit needs to improve to be more successful in raising money.

Bulking up does not necessarily mean an organization needs to get bigger itself, merge, or be acquired. A low cost to getting the best price is to pool resources. A cooperative allows you an equal voice and control. A cooperative provides you with the benefit of not giving up control over your organization and gaining the benefits of the economics of being part of a larger entity via the cooperative. Your organization is independent but united in one voice.

The power of one large group allows you to compete and get pricing that is more affordable and brings more benefits.

If you have an interest and would like more information feel free to contact me at robert.guinto@npcm.com .

Photo by RT156

Photo by Discoverblackheritage

Photo by public.resource.org

To keep the USA out of a Depression economy government policies need to be fair, smart and forward thinking. The melt down of the financial market was due to government allowing practices that were unhealthy to the national security of the USA.

Food, shelter and clothing are the basic needs to survival. Reading the newspaper, watching the news I am observing in the USA hundreds that are not making it. Yet, the USA is sending billions over seas. There is one new observation happening this year that could just change government policies. It is participation in the election process by minorities, poor and youth. These votes if they continue to participate thorough out the election process will change the direction of government policy. Whether the policy is in college loans and the price of education. Whether the policy is access to affordable health care. Whether the policy is the availability of fuel and food.

The struggle each day to put food on the table, keep warm and stay healthy ultimately increases the burden that all when costs just make it impossible. The Living Wage is not a new buzzword or a fade; it is about survival in the USA. Depending upon where your located the Living Wage is different because costs are different. Government policies base on averages does not always work. The minimum wage goes much further in some parts of the country than in certain urge areas. The minimum wage provides a floor, so that wages are leveled at a calculated level of fairness. However, it is encumbered upon all organizations in a geographic setting to realistically compensate its employees a wage to adequately cover their living expenses.

This would require the government paying the appropriate costs for those services they purchase. In the education of government to have a policy of paying sufficient sums of money to have salaries at levels sufficient to be a living wage I caution both sides to set the formula cover all aspects of the service. For too many years I have observed organizations and government shifting costs away from personnel each time there is turnover or decreasing units of service.

The best avenue is to tie salaries to a percent of the government employee pay scale for all positions including those in administration. The same percent should be tied to all other costs on what government contracts pay for a service, commodity or rent. It would make a system of accountability that is fair to all parties. It also allows any government negotiated procurement system of the government to be the base for future costs. I would propose that each states procurement division set these costs and be called Government Contract cost corridors. This would provide for organizations that have certain type of costs savings to utilize the costs to have higher costs in other categories.

Therefore, in negotiations with government use their own standards to show what is the fair amount to pay for each category. Most government employees do not want to shown to have two separate standards. Go prepared.

The use of tax credits and the economic might of the USA to improve the lives of the America people should not be so hard.

The reason for Tax Havens is the motivation not to pay taxes. Therefore, create zones of tax havens in the US where unemployment is the highest. Create the incentives to be in areas of the economy where there is the greatest needed to create new industry. Today the greatest need is energy independence. This is an area of National Security that has long been ignored.

Whether the country begins in Michigan or Ohio, two former power houses of manufacturing and industrial production or in Appalachia, jobs allows an individual to put food on their table, clothing on their back and a roof over their head.

The federal government has the largest amount of Research and Development money spent in many fields. Target the money to be spent in locations that meet economically depressed zones. Let anyone apply but require a minimum 51% of the money has to be spent to employee people who come to work in the designated zone. The money is intended for the economic development of the area targeted, any attempt to subcontract the work or any work around to companies outside the zone should be view as not in good faith.

This is the best way for public policy to work. It brings business, government, organizations and the community together in a coordinated effort.

Singing is something that’s in your soul. It’s a tradition of your own culture. It’s in your heart. Kids, parents and neighbors can all have fun doing it.

You can do it anywhere.  Be part of something.

Nationwide unions have the ability to set up their own unionized nonprofits and compete.

There is a major lack of childcare units and access throughout the USA. Childcare and after school programs are funded with government funds and private pay. Early Childcare education has been shown to be important for every child.

There is a major lack of affordable housing. The unions have all of the necessary trades and the training systems to bring about a fundamental change in the number of units available.

The unions have been great advocates of a living wage. Housing costs and medical costs are two of the biggest factors effecting the amount of salary necessary to meet a living wage. Unions are used to running under contract standards. Thereby creating a work force that is credentialed and has a training program in place to apprentice individuals.

Is it true that the Gates Foundation’s dominance in malaria research will stifle the diversity of views of many scientists? There has been written objection that the newly created Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington will mirror the core tasks of the World Health organization.

I agree with the mirroring of the tasks but with one exception. The pressure of members’ countries will not influence it. It is an independent Institute free from a country’s financial control.

Control and influence is dependent upon the amount of outside financing.

The Gates Foundation’s 105 million grant very much allows for the setting of the standard without the politics.

Dancing is something that you don’t think about. It’s some form of self expression that no one can ever take away from you.

Help kids to dance, its not violent.