February 23, 2012
Buy Local Office Supplies for your Nonprofit
One of the highest expenses in running any business is office supplies. When you start to price office supplies, remember to check the following:
- Price check multiple stores for the best deals?
- What are their delivery charges?
- Will they price match their local competitors?
- Do you need to have a minimum order for shipping?
Knowing the answers to these questions will help you plan your upcoming office supply purchases and decrease the expenses at the same time.
February 21, 2012
Good Governance in Your Nonprofit Organization
So the IRS is cracking down to make sure good governance guidelines are being followed. What do they want from us anyway?? They want us to meet the best practice standards. We need to start off by having the Nonprofit Organization board engaged and informed because they are more likely to provide financial support and expertise. This means the board needs to know about financial transactions. The size of the Nonprofit board of directors and committees is important to remember because a large number can lead to clumsy decisions. Policies for all finances and spending with documentation should be reviewed to help avoid fraud. Remember to follow your policies and procedures and stick to your mission!
February 17, 2012
5 Steps to a Balanced Work & Life Mix
A balanced work and life mix is pretty difficult thing to come by. If you have a job it is natural to want to impress your boss or do some work on the weekends but it is also important to have time for yourself and your family so how do you balance that? Here are a few steps to get you on track for a better work-life balance:
- Establish and implement your own priorities. If you need to spend some more time with your family or pets, say no to overtime at work.
- Seek out a mentor. If you know someone who has a good work-life balance, they probably did not start out that way, so ask them for some pointers.
- Use your gadgets wisely. It’s not 1950 anymore, gadgets were created for our convenience so use them if you have an emergency at work, you do not always have to step foot in the office to solve the problem but don’t overuse them.
- Build downtime into your schedule. Not everything should be written in a calendar, you should have time to watch a television show, take a nap, or bake a cake. Just relax!
- Get good night’s sleep. This is essential to your health and your mood. After all, if you get sick your work and your life are at a halt for a while.
One thing many people forget about nowadays is themselves, we need to make money to live of course, but our life should not be work 24/7. Do this for you!
February 16, 2012
Procedures in your Nonprofit Organization
Creating procedures is a vital part of the processes when a Nonprofit Organization is first planned, designed, and launched. Too often, procedures are long forgotten after the Nonprofit Organization is up and running and volunteers start to deter from their procedure manual. When volunteers and employees stray from the procedures set forth for them, the Nonprofit Organization can suffer some financial hardship from increase in costs and decrease in efficiency and productivity.
What does this mean for your Nonprofit Organization?
It is time to implement a NEW procedure! Start auditing your procedures and the volunteers methods of completing tasks. Set aside 2 hours per week where you can “shadow” a volunteer or employee. Take notes and answer the following questions:
- Are they following the published procedures?
- Is their procedure costing the Nonprofit Organization more money?
- Is their procedure saving the Nonprofit money?
- Would this method be beneficial to the overall culture of the Nonprofit Organization?
Once you start to audit procedures in your organization, you will be able to pinpoint extravagant costs and determine where there is room for improvement and cost savings.
February 15, 2012
Special Event Liability for Nonprofits
Is your non-profit organization hosting a charitable fundraiser? Will alcohol be served at this event? Does your liability policy cover liquor liability? These are all questions that should be answered prior to hosting a special even t that involves alcohol. If you opt to hold a function that involves alcohol there is no reason to be concerned. Contact your insurance agent and let them know that you need to obtain special event liability for an event you will be hosting.
Special Events liability will cover intoxicated or underage attendees, the actions of those selling/serving the alcohol for you, if someone trips and falls at the event, property damage to the place the event is being hosted at, or medical expenses incurred by those who may have suffered food poisoning. Why pay hundreds-of-thousands to resolve an incident that occurred at your special event when you can purchase coverage for a few hundred?
February 14, 2012
Unmasking the Discipline of NonProfit Risk Management
There is not a specific formula for dealing with risks because the management is based on preparing for uncertain circumstances in your Nonprofit Organization. Luckily, three strategies have been developed to help keep us on our feet when we are tripping over the idea of how to manage certain risks. The first is to create goals for Nonprofit Organization risk management, so there is a target to aim form. (Ask “why” and “what”?) The second is to develop a committee (“who”?) involving people from all levels of the organization with diverse perspectives. Finally, a Nonprofit risk management plan with goals and objectives should be made.
February 10, 2012
5 Tips to Paying Your Bills On Time
Nothing is more unpleasant than seeing a huge pile of bills on your table and knowing that you have not paid one of them. Let’s be honest, we are busy almost every second of our life either working, going to school, taking care of the children, cooking meals, exercising, sleeping, and doing it all over again the next day, so it’s no wonder our bills keep piling up, there’s no time for them. Here are 5 tips that will put you on track for paying your bills on time:
- Designate a time to pay bills each week. This will give you a chance to review your bank balance and pay the bills.
- Set up an automatic payment and pay bills online. This may save you some money and it will save you the time it would take to go to the post office.
- Process your bills immediately. It may be tempting to just let your bills sit in the closed envelope and relax for the night, but if you open your mail at least every other day then it will not be that difficult to pay the bills.
- Prepay your bills. This will only work if you are not living from paycheck to paycheck because of the fact that your bills may fluctuate throughout the year.
- Reduce unnecessary bills. If you do not use your direct TV, then cancel your subscription, there is no need to have extra bills that do not have a use to you.
It is absolutely worth it to take this advice and pay your bills on time, rather than putting it off so long that you have another fee for unpaid bills. If you follow these simple steps you will not be drilled for being billed.
February 9, 2012
Is your Car eating your $?
Does it make sense to replace your Nonprofit Organization’s gas guzzler with a hybrid or electric vehicle? Well, that depends on your volunteers driving habits as well as your attitude towards burning oil. We’ll leave the second part of that argument to you, but on the cost side there’s a straightforward financial calculation to do: home much you’ll save on fuel cost versus the higher price tag of the vehicle.
Fortunately, someone’s already done the hard work by putting together an online calculator where you just key in the numbers. In fact you’ll find several online but a good example is at http://tinyurl.com/hybrid-calc because it allows you to add in any state of federa; tax incentives that happen to be in force.
Even without buying a hybrid or electric car, you can reduce your fuel consumption, and therefore save money for your Nonprofit Organization, just by improving your driving habits and vehicle maintenance. The US Department of Energy reckons you can save up to a third of your fuel cost this way. For example:
- Follow your auto’s recommended maintenance schedule will keep the engine running at peak efficiency.
- Staying within the speed limit, and braking and accelerating gradually rather than sharply
- Removing heavy stuff you don’t need from the trunk or elsewhere. (Hold on, don’t throw the kits out – joke!)
- Using cruise control and overdrive gears if available.
- Minimizing the amount of idling, especially in larger vehicles.
- Car-pooling and combining trips – arranging multiple visits on one journey.
For most helpful hints, visit the Energy Department’s www.fueleconomy.gov website.
February 8, 2012
Proper Insurance Protection for your Nonprofit
Risk Management begins with the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks. After identifying potential risks it is important to brain storm ideas on how to prevent these risks from occurring. The majority of insurance carriers and agencies provide risk management tools to aid in the prevention of unnecessary claims. Some of these tools include sample documents that will help you maintain proper documentation of incidents should a lawsuit arise. Other tools include implementation of workplace practices, procedures, and recurring evaluations.
You can visit our online Nonprofit Research Center to see what policies, procedures, and sample documents you may be able to utilize in your Nonprofit Organization.
February 7, 2012
What’s the Big Deal?
The IRS has created a whirlwind for nonprofits by adding the new IRS Form 990 and establishing regulations with penalties for excessive compensation for CEO’s and charity tax exemptions. Needless to say, the boards are being watched closely and need to look into how well they are communicating their good governance practices. If you chose “no” to having a governance policy on the New 990, you are likely to be audited, however if “yes” is selected you must clearly explain how the policy is put into practice. What is good governance practice according to the New 990? You should include a mission statement, a description of executive compensation, review the 990 before filling it out, create a conflict of interest policy, and have the 3 most recent 990s on hand.
