The Boston Globe (Khazei OK’d hiring brother at nonprofit, 8/22/2011) reported that Democratic primary Senate candidate Alan Khazei, former president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit, Be the Change, approved a consulting contract for his brother, Lance Khazei, a Hollywood writer, for his Be the Change work on media strategy.  According to the article, Lance Khazei received $50 per hour to work on establishing a Los Angeles office. Alan Khazei, stated that the compensation was “such a[…]

How much pressure is too much? I am aware of churches and other faith based organizations that include a list of those families who have made financial commitments to the congregation in each week’s bulletin or order of service.  This may or may not feel like too much pressure, but surely many of us would bristle over the idea of listing all the individuals or families that haven’t made pledges to the financial health of the organization—as a kind of charitable black listing. So how do we ensure[…]

One of my friends once told me that she was never upset when she had to pay library fines because she supports and loves her local library.  Perhaps it is a very small price to pay for the ability to borrow such a variety of great books and not have to actually purchase these books and publications.  This is completely appropriate as long as my friend does not incorrectly assume that she can actually take a tax deduction for the library fines she’s paid.  Certainly, she can make tax deductible[…]

It is possible to implement Best Practices for your organization’s management and governance.Six months into 2011, the gyms that were so packed by well-meaning individuals with lofty New Year’s resolutions for getting in shape are now back to normal attendance levels. Many of us may also feel the year is now “old hat” and that we’ve lost the window of opportunity to start the exciting new initiatives and resolutions that are often geared toward the new year.I’ve had the great opportunity this[…]

With the airing of 60 Minutes investigative report on Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and CEO of Central Asia Institute, a recognized 501(c)3, we are once again confronted with controversy in the nonprofit sector. Here is an organization with a very compelling and important mission - building schools and educating girls in impoverished central Asian communities - and charitable contributions that would be the envy of the vast majority of the nonprofit sector. It is unfortunate that[…]

The Standards for Excellence Institute has always encouraged nonprofits to have a clearly written list of expectations for board members.  One of the most important responsibilities for every nonprofit board is the responsibility “to assure that adequate . . . financial resources (earned income, government contracts and grants, and charitable contributions) are available. . ."  (Source: Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector).But don’t take our word[…]

In a recent column, the Baltimore Sun’s Jay Hancock slammed the relationship between nonprofit organizations and for-profit fundraisers.   He had received a telephone call on behalf of an organization to which he had previously donated, and after some digging, discovered that the nonprofit had only received 51% of the funds collected the last year from this same for-profit telemarketing company.  Outraged by this discrepancy, Hancock wrote, “Your reaction, however, ought to be the same. Ignore[…]

As I write this post, the special extended deadline for small nonprofits to file their Form 990s has just passed.  As the story goes, Congress passed two small laws back in 2007.  These laws require all nonprofits to file a Form 990, and if a nonprofit fails to file for three consecutive years, then it would lose its tax-exempt status.  The IRS applied this law by creating a new and truncated version of the Form 990, called the Form 990-N (“e-Postcard”).  This new form is for the smallest[…]

What’s your worst volunteer horror story?  Well, if it can top the Maryland SPCA’s current situation, then your story must be bad indeed.  From news reports last week, we learn the story of Derrick Chambers and the Maryland SPCA.  Chambers was arrested and charged with four counts of animal cruelty by Baltimore City.  Because of an apparent lack of evidence, the lawyers and judge reached an agreement.  Chambers would serve 50 hours of community service with the SPCA.  The only problem, no one[…]

A new report, “The Importance of Ethical Culture- Increasing Trust and Driving Down Risks” just  released by the Ethics Resource Center shows that organizations with strong ethical cultures find few employees feeling pressure to commit misconduct (4 % versus 15 % in organizations not found to have strong ethical cultures).  In addition, the report shows the rate at which employees observe misconduct by co-workers is nearly twice as high in weaker cultures (76 %) as it is in stronger cultures (39[…]