How to Prevent Burnout in Your Nonprofit
In many nonprofits, burnout is the emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion of employees due to prolonged stress.
Tag Archive for: nonprofit
What to Look for in a Nonprofit Accounting Partner
Finding the right accounting partner for your nonprofit is essential to the financial success of your nonprofit organization.
The Ideal Nonprofit Accounting Tech Stack
Known as a tech stack, building a comprehensive system from multiple tools is essential to successful technology use.
Comparing Your Nonprofit Budget to Actual
One of the best ways to get a quick read on your organization’s financial health is to compare your nonprofit budget to actual performance.
How to Fix Your Nonprofit Accounting
An effective nonprofit accounting system helps your organization stay transparent, manage funds wisely, and build trust.
Can Nonprofits Use QuickBooks?
Explore the benefits of using QuickBooks Online for your nonprofit and explore how to get the most out of the program.
Nonprofit Leadership: Using Data for Better Decision-Making
Leveraging data for strategic decision-making has many benefits–from improving your efficiency to increasing the success rate of strategies.
When You Should Consider Merging a Nonprofit
Many nonprofits use merging to strengthen their organizations. Nonprofit mergers can help an organization better fulfill its mission.
What is Financial Forecasting and Why Does it Matter to Nonprofits?
Having a sense of what your finances may look like in the future is crucial. The best way to do this is through financial forecasting.
Why You Shouldn’t Start a Nonprofit
If you dream of devoting more time to a cause you believe in and taking it to the next level, you might ponder starting a nonprofit.
How to Properly Record Revenue for Nonprofits
While the nature of a nonprofit means you’re focusing more on your mission than making money, bringing in revenue is still essential.
Volunteer Management: What Every Nonprofit Needs to Know
Volunteering is an essential piece of any nonprofit. Some nonprofits can’t function without the help of their volunteers.
Provide a ‘WOW’ Experience in your Nonprofit Marketing
About David
Welcome everyone to A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. Today, we explored the importance of websites, nonprofit marketing, and how to bridge the gaps between departments to achieve digital success.
When we think marketing, we think of getting the word out and expressing the mission behind the help non-profit organizations (NPOs) provide. In 2023, this goes much deeper than we could imagine. There are many tools and resources that can be utilized to enhance NPOs, especially online.
We invited David Pisarek of Wow Digital, Inc. to give us a behind the scenes look at SEOs, attracting and retaining visits to websites, digital marketing and much more!
David started Wow Digital Inc. with the goal of providing effective websites, branding and design for Canadian based charity organizations. With over 20 years in the nonprofit sector, passionately working to revolutionize it one website at a time. An expert in design and programming, he’s also an educator at the college level. With a track record of 240+ complete projects since 2016, David and his team are the go-to experts.
We welcome David to the show!
Continuous Improvement
We engaged in an in-depth conversation with David, where we unraveled a series of questions regarding nonprofit website redesign and the importance of web analytics.
- When should nonprofits consider a full redesign on their website?
- What does that process look like?
- What should it include?
- How often should a NPO consider a redesign?
Of course, there is much to learn about in each of the posed questions. David stresses that websites are not something that are sat and forgotten about. Or ‘one and done’ as he calls them.
They need constant love and care. A part of that care comes from measuring analytics. A free tool that can help organizations achieve this is Google Analytics. It’s important to note that Google Analytics 3 is the system that has been used for years. And as of July 20th, 2023, this was updated to GA4. So, if analytics are the next move for business, make sure GA4 is the system used.
GA isn’t just for tech-nerds; it’s a great tool that can help businesses identify what consumers, donors, or website searchers are looking for and take them back to the website over and over again. Keep an eye on:
- What keywords are being used?
- Which call to actions are listed?
- Where are consumers landing on the business website?
- Are they navigating 3 to 4 pages in order to find what they are looking for?
All of these are key questions that businesses should be asking when it comes to analyzing their web traffic.
David makes a great point regarding website analytics. The word ‘conversion’ is a data point that can be measured. So for example, on a for-profit’s page this may mean that a conversion leads to an eventual sale. This has a different definition for NPOs. A conversion data point may indicate converted volunteers, donations, or simply subscribing to an email or newsletter.
Not only is it important to understand what data points to pay attention to, but also how they differ from business to business.
Revamping a Website
Before Tosha and David take a deeper dive into the topic of SEOs, David compliments Tosha’s question about a website revamp.
He and his team did an audit that lead to 5 indicators for revamping a website:
- Is the page layout unique or common in comparison to other websites?
- How old does the site look?
- Building more off of this point, how does the website look on a smartphone? Is it compatible? Google will rank the site lower if it isn’t mobile friendly – certainly something to consider.
- Is your mission and purpose clear as day on the website?
- Is the website accessible?
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a website that creates accessibility guidelines. For example, when defining accessibility is the website accessible for an individual that may be physically impaired? The tiny detail that goes into naming a photo on a website could play a huge role in this consideration.
- Finally, how identifiable is the business contact information?
Number 5 may seem like a small task in the big scheme of things, but this is actually a great segway into the SEO conversation. Even if your organization is completely remote, putting a PO Box on your website can do wonders. Why? When people search for things near them (like volunteer opportunities), Google uses their location to find the best match.
In most cases, each device holds an IP address that gives Google some idea of your location. Because of this, when searching for ‘volunteering opportunities’ while the IP is in, let’s say the St. Louis, MO region, then Google can direct individuals to a website associated with that area.
Measuring Frequency
Piecing the conversation together, NPOs are a different breed than for profit businesses. They still require constant measurement and effort, but the data points that are studied are much different. How this plays into the website traffic and SEO conversation, is what makes all the impact.
For example, revenue may increase in the winter months because of a historically associated ‘giving season’. Therefore, measuring data on a quarterly basis may be more effective when it comes to the NPO’s website as opposed to week over week or month over month analytics.
NPOs also work on a conservative budget basis, meaning that they can stretch a dollar.
With this, they may not be able to pay an individual, group, or department to only analyze data points for their website development. Looking at the numbers on a quarterly basis can help whomever lands this task a better window for analysis and time management.
Want to connect with David and his team? Email him at [email protected] or check out their website, wowdigital.com. His team also works with NPOs and website development by providing templates and website management through a website called, Mighty NPO. By using the coupon code charitycfo, this may qualify your business for a lifetime discount up to 70%.
To hear the full story, listen to our podcast here.
You can also find Tosha and The Charity CFO team on Youtube or our website, thecharitycfo.com!
Using AI to Maximize Impact for Nonprofits
Savvy nonprofit leaders will be able to harness the power of AI to maximize their impact on the causes that matter to them.
Understanding the Job of a Nonprofit Operations Manager
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There are more than 1.54 million nonprofits globally. To ensure that a nonprofit runs efficiently, several people work behind the scenes to make things much easier, and one of those people is the operations manager.
The operations manager might be the secret weapon of the most successful nonprofits we know. By taking charge of getting things done, an operations manager helps executive directors focus their energy on the strategic big-picture that will move their mission forward.
If you’re looking to enter the world of nonprofit organizations with a background in operations management, you might be wondering how your skills can help you. Or, if you’re a nonprofit founder or an executive director, you might be wondering how an operations manager can help make your organization ruthlessly efficient and highly effective.
Read on now to find out what the job description of a nonprofit operations manager might look like.
What does an operations manager do?
A nonprofit operations manager, or director of operations for a nonprofit, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization.
They oversee the administrative staff and make sure that the office runs smoothly. They also develop and implement operational procedures and systems and manage budgets and financial reports. In short, they ensure that the nonprofit runs like a well-oiled machine!
Now, if that sounds like they do a bit of everything, it’s because that’s true!
An operations manager, by definition, is a manager. They don’t necessarily need to be an expert at any one thing. Still, they need to be able to be proficient enough at many things to manage a highly productive team to get results for their organization.
Here’s how Krysta Grangeno described her day-to-day tasks in operations for a nonprofit organization:
Who reports to the operations manager?
And who do they report to?
It depends on the organization, but generally, any department is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the entity. That may include
- Finance Department
- Fundraising Department
- Program directors
- Human Resources
- Information Technology
- And more!
You can see that, depending on the size and structure of your organization, the ops manager will have to oversee a large number of departments.
In turn, your operations manager will either report to the Director of Operations, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), or directly to the CEO or Executive Director. They may also have some direct interaction with the Board of Directors, although the board isn’t technically their supervisor.
What are the job responsibilities of a nonprofit operations manager?
As mentioned above, their primary role is to supervise and organize the efforts of the departments under their responsibility. Here’s a breakdown of what duties a nonprofit operations manager will be expected to handle:
Ensure the Office Runs Smoothly
The administrative staff is responsible for keeping the office organized and running smoothly on a day-to-day basis. The operations manager will make sure that they have everything they need to do their job effectively and that they are meeting all deadlines.
An operations manager must be exceptionally well organized, as they’ll be responsible for creating systems and processes that ensure every department is meeting its expectations. Often, they’ll also need to be aware of all legal or reporting requirements that the organization may have in executing their programs.
Implement Budgets and Oversee Financial Strategy
The operations manager will be responsible for spearheading the budgeting process for the organization and ensuring that the accounting department delivers timely and accurate financial statements for the board of directors or other stakeholders. You’ll also need to be intimately familiar with these statements as well and review them proactively to identify potential issues before they become problems.
As the operations manager, part of your role is to ensure that the financial department runs effectively. This includes ensuring that checks and balances are in place and that employees in the financial department are adequately trained to do their jobs.
The operations manager must also be acutely in-tune with the organization’s budget. Because their role is so wide-reaching, they need to be aware of how shortfalls in one area (like fundraising) may impact the ability to execute in others (like executing programs or meeting payroll).
That doesn’t mean that the operations manager needs to be an accountant. Generally, they’ll oversee the accounting team or work as a liaison with an outsourced accounting firm. But ultimately, they are responsible for ensuring that the accounting work is done correctly and on time.
Supervise Human Resources
Ideally, the operations manager’s role in human resources is limited to supervision, but that’s not always the case. In some smaller nonprofits, HR may get put completely onto the ops manager’s plate, but we’d recommend against it.
Human resources is a specialized field that requires experience and specific knowledge. You need to comply with employment law, collect the correct information, withhold taxes appropriately, and onboard and train new employees.
A knowledgeable HR professional should establish the policies and procedures for the human resources department, but many nonprofits can’t afford a full-time HR coordinator. That’s why many nonprofits choose to outsource their HR to external firms as well.
Even if you’re working with an external firm, the operations manager will probably need to be involved in many day-to-day items related to HR—like searching for employees to hire, interviewing, training, counseling, and terminating employees.
Manage Technology Integration
Technology is a massive part of the work that nonprofits do. Almost every person in your organization depends on technology. And the networks and systems that keep those people aligned take organization, security, and maintenance.
Depending on your mission, you may even be dealing with highly sensitive personal information that you have a legal responsibility to protect, even in digital form. As the operations manager, you’ve got to make sure the appropriate technology systems and controls are implemented throughout the business.
Not utilizing the proper systems could mean the loss of crucial data needed in the future. Or it could mean a crumbling IT infrastructure that can’t support the business model being implemented.
Nonprofits often don’t need, or can’t afford, an internal IT department. And relying on someone’s husband or nephew to fix problems isn’t an acceptable solution. Instead, many organizations outsource their IT department to a service provider. In this case, it’s the operations manager’s job to liaison with the IT provider to ensure the office gets the support it requires.
Ensure Compliance and Organization
Records need to be kept in order within any business. There are several reasons for this, but compliance is an important one for many nonprofits.
Your organization needs to comply with accounting regulations, legal restrictions, employment rules, and other industry-specific regulations. And the operations manager is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the company is prepared to prove its compliance when audited.
Not only does record organization help when something needs to be located, but it also speeds up business efficiency. Instead of wasting time hunting for something, it will be easy to access the record database. All you’ve got to do is type in some information and locate the data needed.
How to evaluate performance and further development
Whether you’re building the leadership team to include an operations roles, or you’re currently in an operational leadership role — it’s important to regularly evaluate performance as well as work on developing to further improve your work.
If you’re evaluating your ideal candidate, after they’ve been in the position for a certain period (a year, for example), it’s important to compare their achievements to the job description. For self-evaluations, read resources (like this one) to find usable knowledge to help improve your performance.
Key areas to concentrate your efforts include:
- Purposeful communication: In operations, too much communication is nearly as problematic as not enough. What you say, how you say it, must be as useful as possible. That’s where developing purposeful communication tactics come in handy.
- Organizational processes: As someone who ensures compliance and handles intricate areas of a nonprofit, the ability to develop processes takes precedence over nearly every other aspect of your role.
- Continuing certifications: There are a number of nonprofit certificate programs available for leadership teams. Those instructing the programs often have robust experience in the sector. Taking these programs helps you find the additional knowledge to improve your performance.
A Note on Outsourcing Professional Services:
We’ve mentioned outsourcing a few times here, related explicitly to bookkeeping/accounting, human resources, and information technology. That’s because this is an emerging trend we see gaining steam in the industry.
Traditionally, many nonprofits had a scrappy, do-it-all mentality when it came to these areas. So, an operations manager or financial director frequently ended up having responsibility for everything— from making bank deposits and firing employees to troubleshooting network issues.
But this approach causes more problems than it solves. Having trained professionals handling complex tasks that are outside their area of expertise is hugely inefficient. And it’s just asking for mistakes.
Yet most organizations can’t afford a full-time accountant, HR coordinator, and IT professional. And that’s where the operations manager comes in.
When organizations outsource these 3 functions and have the operations manager work directly with each team, they can get the full professional support of each team without paying a full-time salary. Often, these teams are more talented and efficient than an internal team member would be.
We believe this is the operational business model of the future for successful mid-sized nonprofits in the $1M to $15M/year range. If you’d like to talk to us about outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting to The Charity CFO, send us a message to set up a free consultation.
What Qualities Make a Good Operations Manager?
Let’s turn to Krysta again, to offer a first-hand perspective on what skills an operations manager needs:
What A Nonprofit Operations Manager Does: A Recap
A nonprofit operations manager has many responsibilities, but their primary role is to coordinate all the various departments to ensure that business runs smoothly.
The operations manager will oversee the finance department, human resources, information technology, programs, fundraising, and more. And they must grasp how each department impacts the other to ensure that the entire organization runs harmoniously.
By doing their job well and assuming responsibility, they free up each department to focus on what they do best, rather than overlapping tasks or getting tied up in work that’s unrelated to their department. They also help free up the directors to focus on strategy rather than the day-to-day minutiae of each department.
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How to work with your donor’s financial advisors to create the greatest impact.
On this week’s episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, CEO Tosha Anderson invites David Foster, CFP®, CAP® as her guest. David Foster is a financial advisor at Gateway Wealth Management of our client.
David speaks about, “How to work with your donor’s financial advisors to create the greatest impact”. He gives advice to listeners on should development officers ask for specific dollar amounts why or why not? He also hits on whether or not development officers should be afraid to ask about planned giving and how to be direct when asking about planned giving? Should you ignore your donor’s team of professionals, CPAs, Attorneys, Financial Advisors, when asking for large gifts? Or should you offer to reach out and get to know your donor’s professional advisors? You may think that getting a donor’s professional advisors involved will increase the time you spend and reduce the size of the gift you ultimately “bring in.” What are the three reasons the opposite is true?
These are just a few questions David answers, this episode is an interesting conversation with to experts in their fields.
This episode is a must listen.
Follow David’s career and reach out for any help with all nonprofit donor questions and more.
Here is how to get in contact with David Foster.
Website: gatewaywealthstl.com
Click on Talk with David
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 314-349-2711
The most effective ways to expand visibility and maintain funding in your business.
On this week’s episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, CEO Tosha Anderson invites Eric Ressler as her guest. Eric Ressler is the Founder and Creative Director at Cosmic, A Social Impact Creative Agency. Eric Ressler expresses his opinions and expertise about, “The most effective ways to expand visibility and maintain funding in your business.” Why do so many social impact organizations struggle to find, grow, and maintain funding? Eric breaks this question down and gives listeners tips to implement in your own processes. What does the future of social impact fundraising look like? Eric goes into the importance of your digital footprint and doing it in an authentic way. We cover why does social impact organizations invest in their digital strategy and platforms? We also hit on why should social impact organizations concern themselves with their brand when it seems like there are more important things to focus on? Finally why is the overhead percentage the wrong metric for assessing a social impact organization’s effectiveness? This episode is a wonderful conversation and a must listen.
Reach out to Eric Ressler @ [email protected]
Website: designbycosmic.com
Nonprofit Fundraising Strategies: Tips for Running an Effective Campaign
Are you looking to raise more money for your nonprofit and bolster your fundraising strategies?
When you run a nonprofit, knowing how to get money from your supporters should consist of one of your chief goals. Many nonprofits become born out of care for certain needs in the world, yet they can’t exist without a solid marketing plan. You need effective fundraising strategies to get the money you need to continue your initiatives and keep your talent.
So, how do you go about getting the proper funding? We’ll go into nonprofit fundraising strategies below. Keep reading to bring in more money for your cause today!
1. Use a Professional Mass Email Service
You may have a great mission, but you won’t attract many donations if your emails don’t look professional. Even if you run a small nonprofit, professionalism inspires confidence in you and your organization.
In turn, this prompts less hesitation about giving. When people believe you operate in a professional manner, they may trust you with more of their funds.
But how do you ensure your emails maintain a professional appearance? Get a mass email service. These platforms allow you to store your contacts’ information and even provide templates you can edit with your own text. This gives your emails a professional look.
2. Use More Than One Platform
If you just advertise your cause via email, you likely aren’t getting the most money you can. Instead, you should seek to get funds from other platforms as well.
You should start out by having a donation page on your website. Make sure people can navigate to this page from any other page on your site. Your donors should have the ability to find it without much effort.
You can also put donation buttons on each of your blog posts or news updates. This encourages people to give to causes after reading about them.
Some people even advertise their causes on social media. To do this, create posts targeted to raising money for specific causes and include links to donate.
3. Create Nonprofit Fundraising Strategies
You shouldn’t create random fundraising opportunities. Instead, fundraising works best when it gets planned out in detail. As such, you should dedicate much of your marketing endeavors toward creating nonprofit fundraising strategies that work for you.
How do you customize your own strategies? A lot of it involves doing research on how well different types of strategies work with your donor base. Any time you try something new, make sure you look at how well people received your new endeavor by viewing your analytics. The best working attempts will result in more donations, shares, or donor interactions.
Then, once you have an idea of what works well, incorporate it into your fundraising strategy.
4. Plan Out Fundraising Campaigns
Fundraising campaigns should comprise a lot of your fundraising strategy.
But what is a fundraising campaign? Think of them as a multi-component attempt to raise money for a specific cause. Fundraising campaigns harness the power of sending email messages to highlight your mission and the initiatives you want your donor base to give to.
For these, you shouldn’t send out one message. Rather, plan out several that build upon each other and encourage your donors to give.
To get the best results, you should start out with a soft launch of your campaign. These launches target only your committed donors. Ask them for feedback on the campaign and pay attention to the issues they raise. Then, you should implement these changes to your campaign before you send it to the rest of your email list.
You should also create thank you notes to send out to people who donate!
5. Know About Prime Fundraising Seasons
Did you know you can maximize your profits by launching campaigns at certain times of the year?
In particular, people like to give before the end of the year because they can claim their donations on their tax forms. Giving Tuesday kicks off this season. It lands on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, when people follow Black Friday and Cyber Monday with an opportunity to give. You should always start your end-of-the-year campaign on Giving Tuesday.
Then, send messages throughout the month of December. Finish the campaign with a last chance message toward the end of the month, and then follow up with a thank you statement in January.
You can also run fundraising campaigns around holidays.
6. Use Specific Stories
People connect to stories. A well-told story pulls on the heartstrings of your audience and convinces them that they should spend their money giving to your cause.
The more specific the story, the better. Telling the story of one specific beneficiary of your services shows people the impact a donation to your organization can have. These stories also encourage people to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, encouraging empathy and furthering their dedication to your cause.
7. Get Reviewed by a Nonprofit Financial Organization
People want to make sure their money goes to the cause to which they intended to give. Most nonprofits manage their money well, but some don’t, and so it becomes important to have documentation to show how you spend your donations.
To do this, get reviewed by a nonprofit financial organization. These companies focus on reviewing the finances of nonprofit organizations and making this information public for any potential donors. Then, when potential donors contact you asking how you spend your donations, you can send them to the organization’s website so they can view the information for themselves.
This gives your donors confidence in your ability to handle money well and not use it for purposes other than your cause.
Need Nonprofit Financial Services?
Nonprofit fundraising strategies become the crux of many nonprofit organizations. They enable them to raise money for the different initiatives they run and help them keep their lights on.
But you shouldn’t just fundraise and not manage your money. If you need financial assistance for your nonprofit, we offer a full team of accountants who can help you manage the funds you receive. Request a meeting today!
A Guide to Nonprofit Risk Management and Cybersecurity
A Guide to Nonprofit Risk Management and Cybersecurity
We are living in an age that is characterized by risk. Every decision a company makes needs to take various risk factors into account. If you fail to properly consider risks through a risk assessment and risk management, it could be disastrous for your company.
One area in which non-profit organizations frequently miscalculate risk is cybersecurity. This article explains how you can secure your organization against various cyber threats.
What Is Risk Management?
Essentially, risk management involves trying to foresee what could go wrong for your organization. You then take measures to mitigate the risk. Of course, organizations don’t take measures against every conceivable risk. Instead, they evaluate each risk based on perceived likelihood and expected damage.
For example, consider an event such as a meteor hitting your office. The damage from this kind of event would be catastrophic, but it’s very unlikely that it would ever happen. Therefore, a risk management analysis would conclude that there’s no need to take measures against a meteor strike.
On the other hand, events like a fire happening on the premises are much more likely, and the damage from such an event could be just as severe. Therefore any reasonable risk management strategy would take fire into account.
Risk management looks at both intentional harms caused by malicious actors and accidental harms.
Cyber Risk Management
Some of the biggest risks you’ll face in nonprofit security are cyber threats. These kinds of threats involve harms caused by computers and computer network systems. Most organizations have robust and sensible risk management approaches when it comes to “real life” threats such as fires and earthquakes, but their approach to cyber risks is often lacking.
This is because digital technology has progressed so quickly in the last few decades. Risk management approaches have not had time to catch up. It doesn’t help that many people in management positions are not very knowledgeable about computers and the internet.
Unfortunately, this means that many nonprofit organizations take a reactive rather than a proactive approach to cybersecurity. You can’t afford to take this kind of approach to cybersecurity as threats like data breaches could have a devastating impact on your organization.
Data Security
As a nonprofit organization, one of the biggest cybersecurity threats you face is a breach of your data. Quite often, if data is stolen from your organization, it will mean you’re in violation of data privacy regulation. This could result in fines or other legal action against your organization. It could also have a negative impact on your reputation.
Your risk management strategy should involve reviewing your cybersecurity. This should be on the hardware and software level. For example, all employee workstations should have antivirus and firewall software installed. If you don’t have dedicated IT support staff at your company, you might consider working with a managed IT company.
Two-Factor Authentication
One of the best and most efficient ways to protect yourself against a data breach is to use some form of 2-factor authentication. Basically, this involves using a second device to verify your identity.
The most common form of 2-factor authentication is using a cell phone to verify who someone is who is attempting to log in. This is an effective security measure because it means a hacker who has the password of an employee still won’t be able to log in.
Consider setting up such a system to protect yourself against a data breach.
Consider Social Engineering
One mistake that organizations often make is that they focus all of their risk management on software protection. This is certainly important, but many cyber-attacks involve using social engineering to breach a system.
Social engineering involves using trickery and manipulation in order to breach a system. A firewall or antivirus software won’t be able to protect you against this kind of attack.
An example of a social engineering attack might be an attacker calling up someone at your company. They might then and convince them to give out their password. It might sound implausible, but it’s a lot easier than you might think.
Security Culture
Sadly, there is no straightforward solution for dealing with social engineering attacks. If you want to protect yourself against this kind of risk, you need to create a strong security culture in your organization.
This means that everyone in your organization takes security seriously and knows how to recognize cyber threats. A common way to achieve this is through seminars, presentations, and other activities.
With that said, you can’t just host a seminar on cybersecurity risks and call it a day. Cybersecurity is a constant process. To achieve a true security culture, employees need to have security on their minds at all times.
It helps to have a dedicated member of staff responsible for investigating potential cyber threats. Staff should report and all suspicious activity to this individual. This should be encouraged, even if the majority of reports are false positives.
Consider Shadow Security
Security culture is important, but pushing security too much can actually make your company less rather than more secure. When you implement excessive security policies, this results in what is known as shadow security.
Shadow security is when workers find the official security policy too restrictive. In response to this, they may adopt their own unofficial security methods.
This is problematic because most of your workers are probably not security experts. This means that they may inadvertently do things that could cause a data breach or some other threat.
To avoid this kind of behavior, you need to have an open dialogue with your employees. People may feel like the official policy is interfering with their ability to get work done. you may need to modify the policy to avoid workers taking matters into their own hands.
Risk Management Is Crucial
As you can see, risk management is crucial for running a nonprofit company. You need hardware and software solutions to keep your digital environment safe. You also need to develop a strong security culture in your organization.
If you want to learn more about running a nonprofit organization, check out our FAQs page.
Modern Fundraising: Community Centric Fundraising Movement
Your community is where your donor base resides, so it’s time you start understanding it more. Listen to our podcast to find out how!
Scaling Your Nonprofit: Moving from a Solo Operating to a Team with Travis Johnson
Your nonprofit organization is only as strong as its weakest link. And if your nonprofit was previously a solo operation, and now more recently evolving to a team, then you need to know the importance of scaling.
Every nonprofit will have to determine what and when they need to scale itself as an organization. When expanding your organization, you need to consider important points like its infrastructure, budget, team members and even strategy as it relates to your mission. These are so important!
However, “scale” can mean many things. To ensure that you can grow your nonprofit through the most successful way possible, you need to ensure that your organization has certain structures in place that will make for a long-term future you can be proud of.
If you want to learn all there is about scaling your nonprofit, then you need to listen to this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. In this week’s episode, Travis D. Johnson of the Nonprofit Architect Podcast joins forces with Tosha Anderson of The Charity CFO for an in-depth discussion geared towards board members, charity leaders and aspiring nonprofit professionals.
LISTEN TO TRAVIS AND TOSHA DISCUSS HOW TO SCALE YOUR NONPROFIT HERE.
On this episode, the two converse about important questions such as:
- What do nonprofits need to scale so they can get paid?
- What processes need to be in place in order for this to happen?
- What is holding nonprofits back from taking these steps?
- Does this process work for solo operations?
- And more!
Travis Johnson is this week’s guest on A Modern Nonprofit Podcast!
It’s a great episode for any listener wanting to learn more about reaching your organizational growth goals and how scaling will effectively manage your expansion, if done correctly. You shouldn’t take on the challenges of the nonprofit sector alone! And fortunately, you don’t have to.
Here’s how podcast listeners like you are tackling challenges within the nonprofit sector
We’ve had many new listeners request a free consultation with Tosha and her team of expert, certified public accountants at The Charity CFO after recognizing that their organization’s structure and bookkeeping were in desperate need for improvement across a variety of areas. Our team performs outsourced accounting work for hundreds of nonprofits and we want to walk alongside your nonprofit to help you save money, modernize and truly achieve its mission. Check out our services here.
Aside from Tosha, Travis Johnson is the current host of The Nonprofit Architect, which is the only nonprofit podcast dedicated to giving you the actionable steps needed to build a stronger nonprofit. He has interviewed tons of nonprofit leaders, business leaders, and consultants in order to help you say no to more work and say yes to more donations. Check out his podcast series here.
Lastly, make sure you subscribe to both A Modern Nonprofit Podcast and The Nonprofit Architect! Hear something that stood out to you in this week’s episode? Share your thoughts with A Modern Nonprofit Facebook Group, which you can request to join here. There’s hundreds of nonprofit professionals conversing about topics and challenges they face across their organization. It’s one big, exciting think tank. Don’t miss out!
How Do We Classify Charities?
How Do We Classify Charities?
You probably know that there are many different charities with many different causes. In fact, you might be the founder or part of the leadership team for a nonprofit yourself!
Nonprofit organizations have a lot of causes and missions. But, we can get even more specific than that.
What Qualifies as a Section 501(c)(3) Organization?
Under Section501(c)(3) and the IRS, there are three main types of charities:
- Private Foundations
- Public Charities (most common)
- Private Operating Foundations
Private Foundations
According to the IRS, the difference between a private foundation and a charity has to do with the financial support it receives. Private foundations usually have a smaller donor audience and generate income from invested endowment funds. Then, they rely on this income to distribute grants to advance the nonprofit work of other organizations. An example of well-known private foundations include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Public Charities (most common)
The most common type of 501(c)(3) is a public charity. Public charities can accept donations. These donations are tax-deductible. In fact, one can donate up to 50% of their income, while corporations/businesses may donate up to 10% before being taxed. Typically, pubic charities are governed by board members. Now, take a second to reflect: are you/are your board members working too hard on your accounting and bookkeeping? Are you, or someone on your board, trying to teach themselves accounting practices and specifics? You shouldn’t be trying to overwork yourself, nor feeling distracted from your mission. We encourage you to view our services and plans for outsourcing your nonprofit on our website, which can be found here.
Examples of public charities include churches, animal wellbeing agencies and educational organizations. What type of organization do you oversee? Share in the post comments of this article!
Private Operating Foundations
The last, and least common 501(c)(3) organization(s), is what we call a private operating foundation. Many see private operating foundations as a hybrid between a public charity and a private foundation. Both private foundations and private operating foundations aren’t criticized as much as other charitable foundations because donors have close ties to charities.
What Current/Future Board Members Need to Know about Charities
Board directors and other nonprofit leaders must be aware of specific laws that they might navigate alongside, or against, when working in the nonprofit sector. An insightful article from Nonprofit Hub outlines some key things your nonprofit shouldn’t do!
Next Steps for Charity Leaders
If you are ready to enhance, or begin, your nonprofit journey, we encourage you to check out A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, which is a weekly podcast series that The Charity CFO generates to help leaders, like you, maximize your mission. Also, make sure to check out A Modern Nonprofit Facebook Group, a community of leaders and professionals who converse about relevant topics every single day.
Strategic Planning vs Scenario Planning
Recognizing potential situations and environments your nonprofit may encounter in the future, and determining how your organization should react, are important towards its long-term success. To build a successful nonprofit, one must learn the importance of nonprofit strategic and scenario planning.
While these two terms sound similar, they are fundamentally different. Quickly, strategic planning typically focuses on identifying and/or describing likely futures, then developing a plan that allows an organization to succeed. Similarly, scenario planning process tends to explore the uncertainty involved in analyzing a long- term future.
But, you shouldn’t just rely on the short paragraph above as your information, or all that you need to know for your nonprofit.
You should rely (and listen) to the latest episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast if you want to learn everything you need to know about strategic and scenario planning.
LISTEN TO EMILIE AND TOSHA DISCUSS NONPROFIT STRATEGIC AND SCENARIO PLANNING ON A MODERN NONPROFIT PODCAST HERE!
On this episode, Dr. Emilie Socash, CEO of Nonprofit Help Center, to talk with Tosha Anderson, founder and CEO of The Charity CFO, to review this important topic. Some questions covered during the episode include:
- What’s the difference between scenario planning and strategic planning
- What’s unique about the scenario planning process for nonprofits (vs. for-profits)?
- What does the scenario planning process look like? Is there just one way to do it? Does it require a specific skill set?
- Can you give an example of how a nonprofit has effectively used scenario planning?
- And more!
Make sure to subscribe to A Modern Nonprofit Podcast and share our episode to your nonprofit, professional network to get the word out about the helpful tips and tricks shared during this nonprofit-oriented series!
Dr. Emilie Socash is the CEO of Nonprofit Help Center, and also joins Tosha Anderson on A Modern Nonprofit Podcast!
So, you’ve listened to A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. Now what?
Nonprofit organizations—and the people who lead them—bring unique value to our communities, particularly during times of challenging change. The Nonprofit Help Center delivers a leader-focused suite of services that are grounded in organizational and leadership psychology, delivering transformational and long-lasting change where it’s needed most. Is your organization looking to build itself into an organization that can truly succeed? Become a NHC member today, which includes full access to all live and pre recorded webinars, special member resources, and a discount on coaching!
Visit the Nonprofit Help Center Website to learn more.
And if you want to build your organization, you need to focus on the work that matters. That means you shouldn’t have to spend your nights and weekends completing financial paperwork, performing bookkeeping tasks or learning nonprofit accounting jargon. You need to outsource your accounting, and ensure you have a team of certified public accountants who actually know nonprofits.
If this sounds like your nonprofit and your own needs, then you should consider us, The Charity CFO. Discover what bookkeeping and accounting services we can provide your organization, then schedule a free consultation with us to start your journey.
