Free Training Opportunity for Nonprofit Board Members

The State Board Training Consortium (SBTC) is a collaborative effort between five state agencies to improve governance of state–funded non-profits by providing a comprehensive series of trainings to board members of these organizations. SBTC trainings are conducted by the New York Council of Nonprofit, Inc. (formerly the Council of Community Services of New York State Inc.). NYCON offers 12 different trainings tailored to meet the unique needs of board members. Topics covered include: duties and responsibilities of board members; legal obligations; fiscal accountability; nonprofit accounting basics; human resource issues; quality assurance; board recruitment and retention; strategic planning; and ethics.

SBTC is pleased to announce that NYCON will offer the following workshops in Buffalo on June 11th & 12th, 2009

June 11th - Buffalo

• The New Form 990: A Focus on Board Governance 9:00am – 12:00pm
• Developing a Fiscally Accountable Nonprofit Board 1:00pm – 4:00pm
• Duties & Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards 5:30pm – 8:30pm

June 12th – Buffalo

• Nonprofit Board Member Responsibilities for Governance of Medicaid-Supported Programs 9:00am – 12:00pm
• Recruiting, Developing & Retaining a Motivated Board of Directors 1:00pm – 4:00pm
• Fund Development for Nonprofit Boards 5:30pm – 8:30pm

Buffalo Location:
Holiday Inn
1881 Niagara Falls Blvd
Amherst, NY 14228

To register: Please visit http://www.nycon.org/ and click on the “State Board Training” logo on the homepage.

Questions? Please contact the New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. at (800) 515-5012 ext. 126 or email jmontalvo@ccsnys.org

$10M fund to help entrepreneurs create new companies

A recent article offers some food for thought concerning a group of foundations partnering together to support new ways to respond to the present economy:

The New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation are expected to announce Monday afternoon that they have formed a partnership to be based at TechTown to help spur entrepreneurship and create 400 new companies each year in Southeast Michigan.

On Thursday, the board of directors at the NEI, made up of 10 private, mostly Michigan-based foundations, approved the initiative and more than $9 million in funding to begin several economic development programs.

It is expected that TechTown, the technology park and business incubator affiliated with Wayne State University, will receive about $4.5 million of NEI’s second-round funding over three years to scale up its entrepreneurial support projects.

Shorebank, a Chicago-based bank that focuses on community development and has a branch in Detroit, will receive about $1.5 million to provide seed funding for new companies, and minority auto suppliers will receive about $3 million.

“Our programming is definitely coming to Detroit,” said Joy Torchia, director of communications for the Kansas City, Mo.-based Kauffman Foundation. “We’re coming because NEI has asked us to help with their initiative.”

With an endowment of nearly $2.1 billion, according to its Web site, the Kauffman Foundation is one of the 30 largest foundations in the U.S. and regarded as the world’s largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship. It will become an 11th member in the New Economy Initiative, contributing expertise in entrepreneurial training. “Over the next three years, we are setting out to establish…new companies, and to do so we will utilize every resource — Wayne State, the Henry Ford Health System, Wayne County, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Spark, Michigan State and Automation Alley,” Randal Charlton, TechTown’s executive director, said on Friday.

“The details have yet to be worked out, but the building blocks are in place and the work starts tomorrow.”

Launched in 2007, the New Economy Initiative is funded by contributions from 10 local and national foundations: Detroit-based Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Southfield-based Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, New York-based Ford Foundation, Detroit-based Hudson-Webber Foundation, Battle Creek-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Troy-based Kresge Foundation, McGregor Fund in Detroit, Flint-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Skillman Foundation in Detroit.

“I am absolutely delighted to see the Kauffman Foundation bringing their program on urban development to Detroit,” said Tom Anderson, a senior vice president at Troy-based Automation Alley, who was on a conference call Thursday afternoon when the NEI spelled out details to local economic development officials, including Mike Finney, president and CEO of Ann Arbor Spark and Turkia Mullin, Wayne County’s assistant county executive and chief development officer.

“It’s a wonderful thing NEI is doing, deciding to make this significant commitment of resources to transform the community through entrepreneurial resources,” said Finney. “It’s great they are basing it at TechTown. It puts it absolutely at ground zero."

Report on Next Generation of Board Members

A new report is available from BoardSource, which focuses on the next generation of board members and their impact and benefit on board governance. The report found that the next generation often display strong passions that inspire other members, have a drive to produce results, open doors to new networks and donors, and provide a fresh perspective on old problems, according to a new BoardSource report based on interviews with 50 nonprofit chief executives and senior staff leaders

The report, part of BoardSource's Next Generation and Governance project, is designed help nonprofit leaders explore the benefits of and strategies for including members of Generations X (born 1965-1979) and Y (born 1980-2000) in nonprofit governance. View the complete report.

There are four common ways younger members benefit organizations, according to the report:

• Passion for the mission. “Our younger board members are passionate about what we do and it gets the rest of us excited,” said Sandra Timmons of A Better Chance. “They are bringing energy, enthusiasm, and freshness to our work. It’s inspiring to our other members.”
• Results-oriented thinking. Younger board members go beyond being motivated by the mission. They connect passion with a need for real outcomes.
• Access to new networks and donors. Chief executives say younger board members are not hesitant about asking for money on behalf of the organization — particularly when they use online tools.
• Fresh perspective on old problems. Generation X and Y members are not afraid to ask why or challenge assumptions. Their perspectives and experiences often serve as a reality check for boards and lead to more informed decision making.

The report also covers the following questions:

• In the past, what has kept your organization from adding younger generations to its board?
• How did you know it was the right time to add younger generations to your board?
• Once on board, do you prepare or orient younger generations differently?
• What are the top three to five skills or qualities necessary for a young person to add value to your board?
• If younger generations were added to the board, what three to five skills or qualities would the board need in order to work well with them?

Blumner: Fat cats of the not-for-profit world should go on diet

The following editorial by Robyn Blumner appeared in the The St. Petersburg Times. Blumner relates that:

Everyone knows that Wall Street financiers and the nation's corps of CEOs are paid too much. We see CEO pay at 275 times that of average workers, and executives on Wall Street awarded seven-figure bonuses even when their investment firms are dead men walking.
But what has been bothering me recently, as the economy has soured and more people are in need of charitable services, is the pay of a different sort of CEO. The people who run many of our nonprofits, such as hospitals, educational institutions and social service charities, are also hugely overpaid.

These leaders run organizations that reap substantial tax savings because they engage in socially valuable enterprises. But too many of the dollars they raise seem to be going into their own pockets. Read more here.

Is this kind of reaction a growing trend? How can the majority of nonprofits, who don't have this level of compensation work, to address the perception issue raised here? Share your opinon here.

States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable

The NY Times featured an article about how a large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets — often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time.

President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package is helping to alleviate some of the pain, providing large amounts of money to pay for education and unemployment insurance, bolster food stamp programs and expand tax credits for low earners. But the money will offset only 40 percent of the losses in state revenues, and programs for vulnerable groups have been cut in at least 34 states, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a private research group in Washington.

New York State is using stimulus money and a tax increase to avoid most of the large cuts in child care, nurse visits to inexperienced mothers and other services that were originally proposed. But if revenues keep falling by the billions, “all bets are off,” said Karen Schimke, president of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy in Albany, which studies child and family issues. Read more here.

The New York Council of Nonprofits wishes to extend its sincerest sympathies to the victims and families of the recent tragedy in Binghamton, NY. We commend the Binghamton nonprofit community for their immediate and compassionate response to this event. To learn more about the nonprofit and community response in Binghamton and how you can help, please click here.

MCF media coverage summary

Minnesota Council of Foundations offered the following roundup of media coverage of the world of philanthropy and nonprofits.

Economy:
Financial Safety Net of Nonprofit Organizations is Fraying, Survey Finds
The New York Times: Only 12 percent of nonprofits surveyed expect to end the year with an operating surplus.

Foundation Giving in ‘08 Defied Huge Asset Decline
The New York Times: Foundation giving for 2008 fell by just 1 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis.

Downturn Thinning Ranks for Charity Walkathons and Other Events
The Chronicle on Philanthropy: Pledge-based fundraising events are attracting fewer participants who fear they won’t meet pledge-collection commitments.

Silver Lining of Downturn: Pro Bono Aid
onPhilanthropy: Many law firms are increasing pro bono legal programs, which is good for nonprofits.

As Detroit Struggles, Foundations Shift Mission
The New York Times: Faced with declining resources and exploding need, foundations are picking winners and losers.

National:

National-Service Bill Clears Final Major Hurdle, Winning Senate Approval
The Chronicle of Philanthropy: U.S. Senate adopts Serve America Act.

Analysts: Giving by Wealthy Would Decline Slightly Under Obama Budget Proposal
The Washington Post: Under Obama’s proposal, the tax deduction for those with incomes over $250,000 would be capped at 28 cents on the dollar.

Senate Measure Seeks to Spur Foundations to Give More
The New York Times: Senators introduce legislation encouraging foundations to give away more of their money.

Giving Less but Leading More
onPhilanthropy: It’s vital to showcase foundations’ value beyond dollars and cents.

Community Foundations Increase Funding for Human Services
Dayton Business Journal: Fifty-one percent of community foundations are increasing funding for human services assistance in 2009.

Council Tells Lawmakers 28% of Donor-advised-fund Grants Went to Social Services
The Chronicle of Philanthropy: More than a quarter of grants support basic social services.

Pay at Nonprofits Gets a Closer Look
The Wall Street Journal: Nonprofits bracing for scrutiny of their executive pay practices.

YouTube Ads Earn Nonprofit $10,000 in a Single Day
Watching TV Online: YouTube launches “Call to Action” feature.