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The University of Washington has a surplus warehouse from which they sell surplus university supplies, furniture, furnishings, equipment and other items. Nonprofit organizations are allowed to visit the warehouse to make purchases daily from 12:30 to 3:30. Property purchased by a non-profit organization MUST be for the expressed use of the organization and is designated not for resale. This can be a great way to bootstrap your nonprofit startup. Click here for more information.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
Founded in 1971 as the Association of Voluntary Action Scholars, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) is a neutral, open forum committed to strengthening the research community in the emerging field of nonprofit and philanthropic studies. ARNOVA brings together both theoretical and applied interests, helping scholars gain insight into the day-to-day concerns of third-sector organizations, while providing nonprofit professionals with research they can use to improve the quality of life for citizens and communities. Principal activities include an annual conference, publications, electronic discussions and special interest groups.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
I read this article recently, “Three Significant Trends in Nonprofit Financial Management.” The author, Dawn King, focuses on three trends currently occurring in the nonprofit sphere:
- Accountability – Nonprofits are being asked to be accountable for the financial management of an organization to local, state and federal authorities. Across the nation, new laws are taking effect as a reaction to unethical practices both in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.
- Public Donations are Down – In the current economic climate, previous donors are tending to make smaller donations and new donors are harder to find. Fewer donations can lead to a cut in programs and services, which makes the organization less attractive to new donors.
- Grand Funding is Down – Federal and state money has been directed to more economy-boosting programs and many private foundations have seen their endowments shrink as investments have underperformed, so they have fewer funds to grant.
What does this mean to existing nonprofit organizations and people starting a nonprofit? It means that you must take stock of your financial management policies, procedures and overall performance. Make sure you have the correct record-keeping in place and that you are complying with all the new regulations and reporting requirements. Ensure that your donors are kept informed as to your organizations financial status. It is vital now, more than ever, that nonprofit organizations practice sound financial management and remain accountable for how their funds are spent.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, however, the main requirements are just good policy for email use by any organization, nonprofit or otherwise.
- Use true and clear header information — Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information must acccurately identify the person or business who sent the message.
- Use true and clear subject lines — If the message is about requesting donations, don’t have the subject line say construction update.
- Identify the message as an ad — If you are sending true advertising (or some portion of the message is a paid ad), identify it as an ad.
- Tell recipients where you are located — Include a valid physical mailing address.
- Tell recipients how to opt out — Include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how to opt out of getting emails from you in the future. This should be either email or internet based.
- Honor opt-out requests promptly — You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days of the request being made.
- Monitor what others are doing on your behalf — If you use a third party to manage your mailing list, check up on them and make sure they are following your policies.
While the CAN-SPAM Act technically only applies to messages with a primary purpose of commercial advertisemetn or promotion of a commercial product or service, these guidelines are common sense ways to have good etiquette when communicating with your donors, volunteers, or client base by email.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
Recently, we attended an event by a relatively new nonprofit organization. At this event you could adopt pets that the organization cares for in foster homes, make a direct donation, or get on their mailing list. I talked to one of the co-founders for several minutes about their organiation, their mission, and their needs (currently they need more foster homes). I even put my contact information on their sign-in sheet. It’s now been over two weeks, and I haven’t heard a peep from them. Not an eMail, not a phone call, not anything.
It turns out that all the effort they put into arranging their event, the time they spent talking to people who attended, was basically for naught because of their lack of follow-up. At this point, I’m highly disinclined to donate either time or money to their organization because they gave me the impression that they are poorly run and disorganized — not the place I want to send my donations!
The moral of this story is to say, that while it is important to generate interest for your nonprofit organization, it is even more important to follow-up with the people you meet and follow through on any commitments you give.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
This recent article on MSNBC, “Building a Shoe Business Step by Step,” tells the story of the startup of the for-profit business, TOMS Shoes, and their decidedly “nonprofit” mission — putting shoes on the feet of every needy child. I think it is a great example of making a conscious decision to pick the business model that made the most sense to address the problem efficiently.
His business is based on a simple principle: For each pair of shoes that is sold, a pair is donated to a needy child. To date they have given away over 400,000 pairs of shoes, and their goal for 2010 is doubling sales, which would include giving away another 400,000 pairs.
At LaunchX we understand that sometimes the best idea is to start a nonprofit and sometimes the best path is a for-profit business. Whichever you choose, we have a complete startup kit to help you turn your idea into a successful organization.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
From the recent GrantStation Insider Newsletter:
The Snapdragon Book Foundation seeks to foster children’s literacy by providing grants to school libraries throughout the United States serving disadvantaged youth. In a time when many schools are reallocating their funds to technology and audiovisual equipment, the Foundation hopes to make sure that school libraries are still offering children good books to read. Last year grants ranged from $500 to $2,000; however, this year the Foundation anticipates having greater funds to disburse and encourages all K-12 private, public, charter, and experimental schools to apply. The application deadline is April 30, 2010. Application guidelines and forms are available on the Foundation’s website.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
Fiscal sponsorship is a special relationship between an existing nonprofit organization and a special project, fundraising drive, or new nonprofit organization that can be beneficial to both the existing nonprofit and the new organization. We’ve just posted three new articles about fiscal sponsorship on our website to provide information on the basics of these arrangements.
Fiscal Sponsorship — An Alternative to Launching a New Nonprofit
Models of Fiscal Sponsorship for Nonprofit Organizations
The Problems with Fiscal Sponsorship of Nonprofit Organizations
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
Xerox provides growing organizations with a professional quality color Phaser printer or multifunction printer for free through their FreeColorPrinters program — with no capital expense or lease payments. In return, members purchase their Phaser supplies from the Xerox online store at competitive prices for a 3 year period. It’s that simple!
Organizations that benefit the most from FreeColorPrinters print at least 2,000 color pages per month (4 reams) and spend at least $125/month on their business printing. Visit the Xerox website to find out more about the FreeColorPrinter program.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
From this weeks GrantStation.com Newsletter…
The Brookdale Foundation works to advance the fields of geriatrics and gerontology and to improve the lives of senior citizens. The Brookdale National Group Respite Program assists community-based efforts throughout the country in the development of social model Group Respite and Early Memory Loss (EML) programs for elders with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia, and their families.
This initiative awards seed grants to service providers to develop and implement new, dementia-specific Group Respite or specialized EML programs. Up to 40 agencies will receive grants for $7,500 in the first year. Grants are renewable at $3,000 in the second year, based upon evaluation of the first year’s activities and potential for future continuity of the program. The application deadline is July 1, 2010. Visit the Brookdale Foundation’s website to download the 2010 RFP application form and guidelines.
Starting a Nonprofit? Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com
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