The word “leader” conjures up a variety of images: your old Little League coach, a military general, your boss…even the president of the United States. Regardless of who (or what) comes to mind, there is the common thread of someone who leads. But what does leadership really mean? Certainly it means more than just being [...]
Nonprofit Unrelated Business Income
There are few topics that generate more confusion to nonprofit managers than unrelated business income (UBI). It is also one the areas than can cause the most problems for your organization. It can cost you money…even your tax exempt status if not properly handled. In this issue of our newsletter, we will shed some needed [...]
IRS News for Nonprofits
It’s the beginning of another new year. And along with everything else that comes with a flip of the calendar, the IRS has several things up its sleeve for nonprofits in 2011. Let’s take a look two of the most crucial. Audits of nonprofits to increase. As if the IRS didn’t have enough to do [...]
Nonprofit Bylaws – The Dos and Don’ts
Bring up the subject of a nonprofit’s bylaws and you are sure to get an interesting response. For many nonprofit’s, their bylaws are just some forgotten document, full of legalese, gathering dust in a file cabinet somewhere. No one on the current board of directors knows who prepared them, nor what any of the provisions [...]
Of Nonprofits and Copyrights Part II
In our last post, we examined the hypothetical example of Jane Doe, Executive Director of Money University, a 501(c)(3) organization that teaches lower income people the principles of money management. To recap, Jane is a founder, board member and primary instructor. Jane is also an author who has written a number of books that Money [...]
Of Nonprofits and Copyrights Part I
The Foundation Group works with up to 1,000 nonprofit startups each year, so we get the opportunity to deal with many complex issues. Few are as complicated and confusing as copyright and royalty questions. My goal with this post is to give you some ideas of how best to deal with your intellectual property concerns. [...]
Questions Other Nonprofits Are Asking
If you are operating a nonprofit organization, chances are good that you have questions…lots of questions. And, it probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that your contemporaries in other nonprofits have lots of questions, too. Here at The Foundation Group, we get questions everyday. Many come from current or prospective clients who call or write. [...]
The Efficiency Trap
Ok, it’s confession time. As a lot of preachers do with their sermons, this article rises of out some self-evaluation I’ve been engaging in since I picked up Timothy Ferriss’s book, The 4-Hour Workweek. While my goals are certainly different from Tim’s (I’m not shooting for a 4-hour week…not yet anyway!), the theme running through [...]
Is Your Nonprofit Repelling Donors?
Every nonprofit in existence needs money. Your ability to pay the bills depends upon it, not to speak of your ability to accomplish your mission. But do you really understand what it takes to be attractive to donors? Is your organization truly fundable? Or, have you inadvertently created an atmosphere that repels givers? In this [...]
Thoughts on Nonprofit Leadership Part II
Posted on March 1, 2011 by Greg McRay in Commentary, Managing a Nonprofit
This is installment #2 in our ongoing series on leadership. Our first installment was more of an introduction. In this post, we are going to explore the concept of governance vs. management. Governance and management: For many, these are interchangeable terms. They shouldn’t be. And in far too many nonprofits, the leadership fails to understand [...]