Running Your Organization

Overview

Running your organization

Practical information and tools to successfully manage a nonprofit organization.

Overview

Advocacy & Lobbying

Advance your cause and mission by educating government officials, organizing community support, and influencing public policy.

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Fast Facts about Advocacy & Lobbying

Advocacy
Advocacy is a broad term covering a range of activities that seek to bring about systemic social change. Advocacy often seeks to address the root causes, as well as the symptoms, of social and economic problems. Advocacy by 501 (c)(3) organizations may include community organizing, public policy and lobbying, litigation, or nonpartisan voter engagement.

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Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest
Comprehensive information on nonprofit advocacy and lobbying.

The website includes a Training Resource Center with “one-pagers”and tutorials on lobbying strategy and laws as well as success stories about nonprofits lobbying for their causes

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Alliance for Justice Nonprofit Advocacy Project / Foundation Advocacy Initiative

Alliance for Justice’s comprehensive program provides information and training on the legal parameters of nonprofit and foundation advocacy, plain-language legal guides to refer to as advocacy campaigns are planned, and real-time technical assistance to answer questions about advocacy projects as they are implemented.

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California Local Lobbying

In addition to complying with federal tax law and California state law regarding lobbying activities, organizations must know that certain cities, counties and special districts have separatelaws regulating lobbying activities.

Overview

Boards

The board of directors oversees the activities of a nonprofit organization, and is accountable to its owners, the public.

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What’s the Right Size for the Board?
from Board Cafe

You’ve hit upon the single most common question asked of experts on nonprofit boards: What’s the right number of people to have on the board?

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Board Contracts
Help insure that your board members understand their responsibilities

Call it a contract or an agreement, it’s an excellent idea to have a written statement outlining your board members’ responsibilities and legal duties. 

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Board Meetings
Agendas, minutes, parlimentary procedures, and other issues

One of the most effective ways to accomplish productive meetings — and strong governance — is to carefully design an agenda and then closely facilitate to that agenda.  At All About Boards you’ll find valuable information and samples of agendas, minutes, consent agendas, meeting management and parliamentary procedure.

Follow this link to an excellent article on board meeting minutes.

General information

Fast Facts About Boards

Unlike private businesses, nonprofit organizations are not “owned” by anyone. Instead they are “owned” by the community: chartered by the government to serve a public purpose. The board of directors represents the community’s interests. The board, acting as governors or trustees, is charged with protecting the nonprofit organization’s public purpose. Nonprofit boards and boards of private corporations are similar in that both are responsible for the organization’s success.

Overview

Evaluation & Outcomes

Evaluation covers both program and organizational effectiveness.

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PerformWell
Helping practitioners deliver more effective programs

PerformWell is a collaborative effort initiated by Urban Institute, Child Trends, and Social Solutions. PerformWell provides measurement tools and practical knowledge that human services professionals can use to manage their programs’ day-to-day performance.

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Leap of Reason
Managing to outcomes in an era of scarcity

Leap of Reason, a collaboration between Venture Philanthropy Partners and its longtime strategic partner McKinsey & Company, presents a compelling case that we must rise to meet the difficult challenges of our times with management approaches that complement heart with head, passion with information.

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The Center for What Works
Tools, training and resources for nonprofit evaluation

The Center for What Works and The Urban Institute recently completed the initial phase of a research project to provide the first sector-wide framework for nonprofit program outcomes and indicators for success.

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The Logic Model

The Logic Model is a versatile tool for planning and evaluating your programs. Here are some resources you can use to develop your own Logic Model.

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Financial Management

Skillful financial management is essential to a viable organization. 

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Internal Controls
Prevent fraud and assure accurate reporting

“Controls” is what accountants and others call policies and procedures that are designed to prevent fraud and assure accurate reporting on the affairs–mostly the financial affairs–of organizations.

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Websites, eNewsletters & Blogs

National Council of Nonprofits Financial Management Basic background on financial management of nonprofit organizations

Not-For-Profit Accounting a wealth of information from an accountant passionate about accounting

Nonprofit Finance Fund A community development financial institution that offers loans,  financing, consulting and education.

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Financial Policies & Procedures Samples

The Nonprofit Assistance Fund offers a great selection of tools and templates to help you  manage your organization’s finances.

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10 Resources to Increase the Financial Literacy of Board and Staff

The National Council of Nonprofits offers these 10 resources to increase the financial literacy of your board and staff.

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Hiring a Consultant

Nonprofit managers must be cautious when hiring consultants. The first step is to determine whether the organization needs help from an outside expert. Next are decisions around carrying out the search process, consultant selection and relationship negotiation. Any organization can do this but it is helpful to get some guidance about this process. On this page you will find links to several useful resources to help you with this process.

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HR to Go Legal Snapshot 2012
New labor and employment laws

The 2011 legislative sessions in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. have yielded significant developments for labor and employment law.  Some of the new laws have created new duties for employers and may expose employers to liability for older claims.  Additionally, there are bills still pending that show important policy-making trends in labor and employment law.  Overall, the national employment law trends reflect the political changes in Washington, including the increase in legislative influence of labor unions.

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What You Need to Know About Nonprofit Executive Compensation

This report outlines what the IRS permits in setting nonprofit executive compensation, the consequences of failing to comply with the regulations, how nonprofit board members can protect themselves and the organizations they serve, the kind of data compensation decisions should be based on, and the importance of reporting compensation accurately in annual IRS filing.

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State Charitable Solicitation Statutes

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have charitable solicitation statutes that generally require nonprofits soliciting contributions and, in most cases, their for-profit fundraising professionals to register prior to soliciting contributions or providing fundraising counsel services.

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New IRS Search Tool: Select Check

The IRS recently launched a new online search tool for information about charitable organizations.

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Sales and Use Tax Requirements for California Nonprofits

Yes, nonprofits do have to occasionally pay taxes.  Here are some links to help you understand when your organization must pay a California state tax.

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Tax credit available for health insurance premiums
For nonprofits who meet these criteria

With the President’s signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010, all qualified small employers – both nonprofits and for-profits – can claim a full or partial tax credit when they pay for at least half of the health insurance premiums for their employees.

Overview

Marketing & Communications

Strong communication and marketing are essential for a healthy nonprofit organization.

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The Nonprofit Social Media Policy Workbook

A good social media policy will provide clear guidelines as to what staff should and shouldn’t do when posting and interacting with the community on a day-to-day basis.

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2012 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report
Learn how nonprofits are succeeding with social networks

2012 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report.  4th annual report on nonprofits & social networks.

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Social Media Toolkit

The New Media Toolkit is a curated collection of online tools, tutorials and resources is designed to help nonprofits and ethnic and community news organizations navigate the often intimidating and ever-evolving new media landscape. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you will find valuable information on the technologies and best practices you need to tell a community’s stories in compelling ways; engage new audiences; optimize your website; and measure online impact.

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Is Your GuideStar Report Up To Date?

Watch GuideStar’s video about the new and improved design of their nonprofit reports.  Based on what donors want to see it focuses on impact and transparency to help people who research nonprofits make better, more educated, and more confident decisions.  For an example of this new format, visit GuideStar’s own nonprofit report

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Organizational Management & Planning

Nonprofit management supports continuous improvement of individuals and their organizations to better serve their communities.

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Daring to Lead
A national study of nonprofit executive leadership

Daring to Lead 2011: A National Study of Nonprofit Executive Leadership

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Websites, eNewsletters & Blogs

All About Management Management refers to the activities involved in these four general functions: planning, organizing, leading and coordinating of resources.

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Data Resources

Looking for data to plan or evaluation your programs?  Or to support your grant proposal? Need to better understand the community you serve or would like to serve? There are many excellent local, regional, statewide and national data resources available to you. 

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The Community Research Lab Toolbox from Healthy City
Make data meaningful and relevant to your work and your community

Are you interested in using online tools for community-based research?
Can research support your work in a specific neighborhood?
Are you interested in how to collect data from communities and map it?

Toolkits on Community Research, Participatory Asset Mapping and a Short Guide to Community Based Participatory Action Research are now available at Healthy City.

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Risk Management

Risk management helps identify, assess and control risks that may be present in operations, service delivery, staffing, and governance activities. 

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Technology

Technology supports greater social impact by increasing organizational capacity, enhancing effectiveness, or reaching new audiences.

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10 Free Tools To Make Infographics

MakeUseOf offers a list of tools and tips for creating infographics,  a great way to share information with visuals.

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Weave
Web-based Analysis and Visualization Environment

Weave is an interactive web-based software system that links multiple visualizations (maps, charts, graphs, etc.) and computational tools (statistics, data mining, modeling and simulation). It was designed to provide easy access to existing datasets or simple upload of local data, allowing anyone to visualize any available data anywhere.

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Unleashing Innovation
Using everyday technology to improve nonprofit services

Can nonprofits take better advantage of available technologies to improve the services they deliver and the ways in which they deliver them?

MAP for Nonprofits, which provides management consulting and services and board development aid to Minnesota nonprofits, hired Idealware to conduct a detailed survey of Minnesota human service organizations about how they were using technology and then interview more than two dozen staff members from organizations that were using it in effective or interesting ways.

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A Few (More) Good Online Donation Tools

The GuideStar donation button is a simple, inexpensive place to start with online donations.  But if your organization is ready for a more sophisticated approach, this article from Idealware is a great place to learn more about what is available. 

Overview

Volunteer Management

Volunteers are the heart of many nonprofits and are often vital to an organization’s success. 

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Websites, eNewsletters & Blogs

Energize Inc.  Energize, Inc. is an international training, consulting and publishing firm specializing in volunteerism.  Their information rich website aims to connect leaders of volunteers with resources, information and ideas generated from around the world.

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Tracking Volunteer Time to Boost Your Bottom Line
A Complete Accounting Guide

Tracking volunteer time: sounds like another chore? Actually it can help you meet match requirements, improve your financial statement presentations, and reduce liability. In this article from Blue Avacado, CPA Dennis Walsh of North Carolina explains why and how to include volunteer time in your budgets and financials.

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