You’ve seen the news. You know it’s tough out there. Just this morning I saw the following headlines on my Chronicle of Philanthropy RSS feed: “Charitable Donations Fell by Nearly 6% in 2008”, “Ford Foundation Offers Buyouts to One-Third of…
Occasionally, you have to protect people from themselves. Even those with the best of intentions can mess things up so badly that it can jeopardize what they are trying to accomplish. In the nonprofit world, there are best practices, good…
Once upon a time, there were two websites, each belonging to a different charity. Our tale follows the adventures of these websites. The first website…we’ll call it “the good site”…was considered a real asset to its owner. While not fancy…
The headline for this article is not really “new” news. The Internal Revenue Service has been stepping up enforcement of its regulations governing nonprofits for several years now. Those who have been keeping up with the changes to the Form…
In last week’s blog post, we looked at a set of core principles that are critical for nonprofit organizations needing to raise financial support. If you haven’t read it yet, check that one out before diving into this one. It…
It is the burning question of every nonprofit organization: “How do we get funding?” With the economy in the dumps, and recovery looking like a distant hope, this question screams for an answer. In fact, we get more requests from…
If there is one constant in life, it’s change. And most people don’t do “change” very well…even the IRS! The new 2008 Form 990 is a complete, top-to-bottom overhaul of the form (as we’ve discussed in previous posts). As we…
In this tough economy, nonprofit organizations are needed more now than ever. More and more people are finding themselves in difficult circumstances and, according to all available evidence, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Despite all the…
On January 24, 2009, National Heritage Foundation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court. Is this the end for NHF? Read the Forbes story here National Heritage Foundation, NHF, was founded by J. T. “Dock” Houk as a…
Sounds like scary stuff, doesn’t it? The decision to start a nonprofit organization is difficult in the best of circumstances. But in a downright frightening economic climate, does it make any sense at all? Some experts are predicting that this…