Post from: EveryJoe

Notes, Follow-Ups, and Reminders | Nonprofit Tidbits from the Last Week

These are misconceptions that hinder the growth of the organization and become obstacles to achievement of the organization’s mission. The nonprofit organization must be run as if it were a serious business if it is to be successful and continue to exist in a competitive market. To do this, the notion that a nonprofit group should not make a profit needs to be dispelled.

Saunders goes on to conduct that dispelling with five points that make the case for a business-oriented outlook for the sector. With respect to the paragraph above, these two points from his column bear repeating here:

• Dependable and knowledgeable staff must be paid livable salaries and benefits.
• Money must be spent on resources that help meet the organization’s mission.

It’s worth reading to digest all of Saunders’s points and to absorb his pragmatic, forward-thinking worldview. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

The Myth of Bake Sales as a Viable Fundraising Tool

Joe Browne, the N.F.L.’s executive vice president for communications and public affairs, said league lobbyists had not yet found a Congressional sponsor for their proposal.

“I’ve been here 40 years,” Browne said. “I finally get to the point where I’m making 150 grand, and they want to put my name and address on the form so the lawyer next door who makes a million dollars a year can laugh at me.”

He added, “A hundred and fifty thousand here is not the same as it is in Dubuque, Iowa, or West Texas.”

I’m sure schoolteachers and nurses in Dubuque and Midland are very sympathetic to Mr. Browne’s plight.

Anyway, I had no idea the NFL was classified as a nonprofit. It considers itself, according to the New York Times, a “trade association” funded by its various teams, whose owners have access to the league’s salary information, and so its proposal to Congress is to exempt it and other trade associations from disclosing paycheck data. Ah, but here’s the rub:

The league benefits from tax-exempt status by being able to sell hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds at a reduced rate that are then lent at cut rates to clubs building new stadiums.

Throw in the many, many millions of dollars that the league and its teams earn from television deals, merchandising and licensing, corporate affiliations, and the like, and you’ve got a situation soaked in chutzpah. Major League Baseball, faced with the same dilemma, last year threw up its hands and changed its status to for-profit. Don’t be surprised if the NFL punts and does the same thing. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

The NFL Gets Thrown for a Loss by the IRS

Federal and provincial governments in Canada are now considering bringing nonprofit law into the digital age, and not a moment too soon.

That change is needed is accepted by all parties, [William Pashby, partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP,] says, noting the current process of simply registering is vaguely defined and encumbered by a series of policy statements which are out of context with the law as written and subject to dispute.

The plan, says his colleague Bonnie Freedman, is to streamline the process, bring some transparency to operations in line with current corporate-governance thinking, and set out clearly what directors’ responsibilities and liabilities are and what members’ rights are.

Currently, she says, the process is cumbersome and lengthy, requiring four to six weeks to complete, compared to a for-profit incorporation, which can be done in a matter of minutes.

Times change, of course, and especially these days, when technological and commercial advances happen at lightning speed. Kudos to the Canadians for trying to modernize the law — and a small slap for taking so long to do so. For nonprofits in other countries, the question is this: Does your nation’s governance reflect the current reality regarding your sector? If not, by all means tell your government relations types to start working the phones. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

Up North, Tossing Snowballs at a 90-Year-Old Nonprofit Law

Cutting jobs is a sad necessity, but IBM, anticipating a day when the large salaries and health-care burdens of its aging Boomer workforce will cause it to ready the pink slips, is trying in advance to help those folks and society at large. Big Blue recently announced that it would join with the nonprofit strategy firm Bridgespan Group “to address the shortage of leaders in the nonprofit sector by helping interested IBM employees transition to second careers in nonprofits,” according to a company press release.

IBM and Bridgespan’s Bridgestar initiative … will build a program and online platform to help IBM employees and retirees understand the transition into the nonprofit sector. The program will include access to tools and content that help users assess their readiness for the transition, identify potential opportunities and skills required, apply for available job opportunities with nonprofits, and receive mentoring. After the pilot with IBM, the tools and resources developed will be made available for other nonprofits and corporations to start similar initiatives.

Nobody loses here. IBM gets to trim its workforce with a clear conscience, its employees get prepped for a fulfilling new phase in their careers, and nonprofits get some help with the pending, and much-publicized, leadership crisis. Kudos to IBM for such forward, socially conscious thinking, and to Bridgespan for getting in bad with those evil corporate types for an initiative that benefits its primary public. | 501(c)

(Hat tip to Andrew Charlesworth at vnunet.com)

Post from: EveryJoe

A Big Blue Ribbon for a Nifty Nonprofit Initiative

Post from: EveryJoe

Notes, Follow-Ups, and Reminders | Nonprofit Tidbits from the Last Week

Like a venture capital firm, Jumpstart identifies companies to invest in and advises them on their next steps.

But unlike a venture firm, Jumpstart relies on charitable donations, many of them from the private sector, for its financing and does not return a share of profits to those who provide the investment dollars. The return comes as satisfaction for elevating a region’s economic standing.

I love this kind of partnership, but my cynical side tells me that the private funders are in it for something more than regional pride. The kind of start-ups they’re funding attract talented workers, people who like to spend money. Economically strong regions are able to command higher real estate prices. Entrepreneurs who don’t have to kick back a percentage of their funding look positively on their funders. You get the idea. Like I said, it’s a cool notion, but while the funding organizations are nonprofits, many of their donors most certainly are not — and they’re the kind of people whose motivation isn’t the warm-and-fuzzies. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

Nonprofit VC Firms Look to Turn Around Struggling Regions

Nonprofits in St. Louis, where Anheuser-Busch’s headquarters are located, are worried that the brewer’s new owner, InBev, may not provide the kind of support they’ve come to depend upon over the years.

Anheuser-Busch gave $13 million to charitable causes in the St. Louis region last year. At least 70 local organizations got money from A-B. Carlos Brito, the chief executive officer of InBev, has said his company would maintain a St. Louis civic presence.

As indifferent as I am to who owns a brewer whose products I find to be watered-down, flavorless excuses for beer, 13 million bucks is nothing to sneeze at. And with TWA long gone, I’m hard-pressed to identify a corporate titan who can provide St. Louis with the charitable presence it’s come to rely on. It just might be time for the city’s suds drinkers to switch to Miller High Life. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

St. Louis Nonprofits Fear This Bud Is No Longer for Them

First, Wasserman notes, having to link with CBS’ flagship newsmagazine dilutes Pro Publica’s brand, and second, at almost the same time that the 60 Minutes piece was airing, the Washington Post was running a nearly identical story, a troubling fact given that Pro Publica is supposed to be digging up the stuff that the corporate media types are too hamstrung to publish. Then there’s the fact that up to now, Pro Publica has been little more than an aggregator of investigative stories running elsewhere.

It’s important for Pro Publica to get its brand out there, but jumping into bed with 60 Minutes to do a story it likely would have done anyway — and a story that the Post did do anyway — makes you wonder exactly why the organization is needed in the first place. Big-corporation journalism is producing fewer of these necessary pieces around the country, and Pro Publica’s mindset and resources are desperately needed. But if it’s merely going to “subsidize” corporate pieces, as Wasserman put it, and run stories that are already being covered, what’s the point? | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

Missing the Mission | Nonprofit Journalism’s Maiden Voyage Trawls Well-Traveled Waters

Post from: EveryJoe

Notes, Follow-Ups, and Reminders | Nonprofit Tidbits from the Last Week