power Steering: Get Ready for Crossroads
August/September 2008
- A Word from our Title Sponsor
- DISCover a Vehicle for Better Communication
- The New IRS Form 990
- Ahead of the Curve: Attracting and Retaining Intergenerational Talent
- Relationship = Relevance: Improving the “R” in CRM
- Is a Social Enterprise Right for You? Recipes for Success.
A Word from our Title Sponsor
By Kay Kirchner, Applied Materials
Applied Materials, like any corporate funder, has to make tough decisions each year regarding its philanthropic spending. There’s never enough money to support all the top-notch services that non-profits provide year-round. So why do we choose to support the Crossroads Conference as the title sponsor? After all, there is no direct impact to clients, few volunteer opportunities for employees, and event sponsorships are low on our priority list.
It really comes down to leverage, and the Crossroads Conference is a slam dunk as far as leveraging our investment dollars in the community. We did the math and our sponsorship actually breaks down to $60 per non-profit to deliver a day’s worth of professional development, capacity building, networking and training to more 200 Central Texas non-profits: a bargain by anyone’s standards. The information and connections shared during this brief 8-hour period energizes those that are feeling overwhelmed by their jobs, reassures ones that are uncertain about the challenges they face, and arms many with new ideas to take back and put into practice.
You might say that Crossroads is the much-anticipated mecca for non-profits to come together, hug each other and exchange knowing glances when speakers talk about the thankless work they are performing. It’s also a time of tremendous sharing of best practices, lessons learned, and available resources to service providers at all levels.
We take advantage of the opportunity to dialog with current non-profit partners as well as potential new partners (in one setting) around important community issues. We also support employees who want to attend the event in the hopes of inspiring them to serve as future volunteers or non-profit Board members.
According to a Greenlights study, Austin has more nonprofit organizations per capita of any city in Texas or in the southwestern United States. I can’t think of a better way to enhance the overall visibility and success of this large sector of our economy – and ultimately the quality of our community – than at an annual convening of its thought leaders.
We’re proud to support Greenlights’ mission of being a catalyst for extraordinary nonprofit performance through this unique and professionally-managed event.
DISCover a Vehicle for Better Communication
By Tara Kirkland, Greenlights
Sometimes I think you can tell a lot about a person by how they drive a car.
There’s the woman who constantly (and impatiently) monitors which lane of traffic is moving faster and zooms over accordingly. There’s the guy who moves along calmly at a consistent pace with plenty of space around his car, allowing for any eventuality. And then there’s the driver who absentmindedly misses a turn because she’s lost in thought, mulling over the next big idea. What happens when you throw all those drivers together on one crowded Austin highway? Well, we don’t have the space here to describe that kind of chaos and frustration.
We do have time to consider that sometimes working on a diverse team of nonprofiteers can feel like that stressful driving experience. Most organizations contain significantly different communication styles and expectations about behavior, all set to clash in any number of unpleasant ways. Only hopefully with less honking.
Drive smoothly with the DISC!
A great tool for addressing such workplace clashes is the DISC assessment. At Greenlights, we know that effective communication and “rules of engagement” are critical for any nonprofit. We help our nonprofit clients learn to understand and appreciate their own behavior styles using the DISC, so they can flex their communication approaches and get better results. The key to effective communication, we’ve learned, is that riff on the Golden Rule some call the Platinum Rule: treat others not as you want to be treated, but as they want to be treated.
The DISC helps us discover our styles and those of our fellow teammates so we can “do unto others” more successfully at work.
DISC at a Glance
So how does the DISC work? In brief, this assessment measures four dimensions of behavior, each associated with a behavioral style abbreviated D, I, S, and C:
Dominance = How you respond to problems or challenges
Influence = How you influence others to your point of view
Steadiness = How you respond to the pace of the environment
Compliance = How you respond to rules and procedures
It can be taken online in under fifteen minutes, which brings me to a unique opportunity for everyone who is planning to attend our 7th Annual Crossroads Conference. All Crossroads participants who pre-register can explore the DISC for themselves online for just $25! Heck, you can’t even fill up your gas tank for that price.
Communications Insurance
Once you complete your DISC, you’ll get a 20-22 page profile all about you and your behavioral style that you can print out immediately. And if you want to learn more about how to put the DISC to work for you, join me for my Crossroads session, The DISC Profile: A Practical Tool for Effective Communication. See you there—I’ll be the one impatiently zooming between attendees trying to get to my training room.
Beep, beep.
Tara Kirkland is the Director of Consulting Services for Greenlights, and is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst for the DISC assessment through TTI Performance Management Systems, Ltd.
The New IRS Form 990
By Sean Holcomb, Maxwell Locke & Ritter
The media and the public have become increasingly interested in the tax filings of nonprofit organizations. As a result, the Form 990 filed by nonprofits has moved beyond simply being a tax return filed with the IRS and is now viewed by some as more of a public relations document. In response to this and as a result of the numerous changes that have occurred in the nonprofit sector since the last major revisions were made to the 990 in 1979, the IRS overhauled the 990 in 2007.
The “new” 990 is in draft form and takes effect for the 2008 tax year. For non-calendar year filers, it is the organization’s operational year that begins in 2008. So, if your organization has a June 30 year end, it would be for the year beginning July 1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2009.
With year end just around the corner, now is a good time to become familiar with some of these changes and take any steps needed to comply. Some noteworthy changes and planning tips include:
Page 1 Highlights - The first page of the 990 contains key data previously found elsewhere, but also includes new information such as the number of volunteers who work for the organization and a summary of prior year revenues and expenses. New revenue and expense categories have also been added as well as new unrelated business income (ubit) questions. How to prepare? Determine whether this new information is already available through current processes and accounting records. If not, changes may be needed to capture this data.
Management and Governance questions - The 990 now contains a wide range of questions which go far beyond the previous form, including questions about officers’ compensation such as the process used to set compensation amounts and what fringe benefits are provided (a new Schedule J is focused solely on compensation of officers and other key employees). It also asks whether documentation is kept of meetings held by the governing body, whether they review the 990 before filing, how information is made available to the public, and what policies are in place regarding conflicts of interest, whistleblower, document retention and other areas. How to prepare? Review these new questions now to ensure there is time to evaluate these areas and respond to these questions appropriately.
Transitional Relief - The requirement to use the new 990 will be phased in based on the organization’s gross receipts and total assets to provide smaller organizations more time to implement these changes. Nonprofits may instead file the less cumbersome 990-EZ if they are below these thresholds:
Tax year |
Gross receipts |
Total assets |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | < $1 million | < $2.5 million |
| 2009 | < $500 thousand | < $1.25 million |
| 2010 and beyond | < $200 thousand | < $500 thousand |
Whether your organization is preparing to file the new 990 in 2008 or beyond, it would be beneficial to become more familiar with the new form. This article highlights a few of the changes, and draft copies of the forms, instructions and other useful information can be found on the IRS website. If you use an outside CPA for the preparation of your 990, you should also contact them with your questions or concerns in preparing for these changes.
Ahead of the Curve: Attracting and Retaining Intergenerational Talent
By Matt Kouri and Kimberly Caldwell, Greenlights
Ok, let’s do a quick review of your nonprofit co-workers. How many of them are younger than 27 (Gen Y’ers)? How many are Baby Boomers who are roughly north of 50 (don’t go ask them, just estimate)? And how well would you say members of each group communicate with each other, work together, support each other, etc.? And what about those in between (Gen X’ers) - are they ready to assume the mantle of leadership soon?
For the last five years, the nonprofit community has seen report after report documenting the exit of the baby boomer generation from their leadership positions. More recently, we have seen reports on the struggles of Gen Y’ers and why they are (or are not) choosing to work for nonprofits. We may not be able to change the retirement or career transition plans of the boomers, but we can find ways to better attract, retain, and prepare the next generation of leaders for our community.
This year at Crossroads, we will help you to prepare for your organization’s next giant leap by engaging all generations and their talents, creating a synergy that will improve your organization in the short-term and help you invest in your long-term success and sustainability.
Before we start the intergenerational conversation, it is important to make sure we are working from the same definitions. In his book Generations: The Challenge of Your Nonprofit’s Lifetime, Peter Brinkerhoff gives succinct descriptions of the four generations still represented in today’s workforce:
Silent Generation: Born 1925-1945
Key Values: Loyalty, self-sacrifice, stoicism, faith in institutions, intense patriotism
Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1962
Key Values: Sense of entitlement, optimism, cynicism about institutions, competition, focused on career, endless youth
Generation X (Gen X): Born 1963-1980
Key Values: Independence, self-reliance, desire for stability, informality, fun
Generation Y (GenY, G@, Gen Me, Millennials): Born 1981-2002
Key Values: Work-life balance, confidence, social commitment, complete comfort with technology, networking, realism, well-informed, superb time managers
Just looking at these values, the potential for conflict and miscommunication are apparent. Particularly, attitudes toward careers and work-life balance differ throughout all four generations. Addressing these issues and applying new and innovative practices can help you not only hire a talented, intergenerational staff, but retain that staff for years to come.
After all, today’s emerging leaders are tomorrow’s Executive Directors – and it’s up to all of us to prepare the sector for success. We’ll see you for more insights and learning at Crossroads on September 25th!
Relationship = Relevance: Improving the “R” in CRM
By Greg Smyth, Advanced Solutions International
Are you familiar with the business term “CRM system?” A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system tracks and uses information about a business’ customers. Nonprofit managers now use CRM (where C = Constituent) to refer to their donor and volunteer database systems.
But today’s nonprofit CRM is no longer just about recording names, addresses, donations, etc. The goal now is to help you actively cultivate a truly personal connection with each of your donors and volunteers. The “R” in CRM may officially stand for Relationship, but isn’t your goal really to have that “R” also mean Relevance?
Sarah Hoddinott, fundraising product manager for Advanced Solutions International (ASI), a company that has thousands of nonprofit CRM solutions installed around the world, describes the four latest “relevance-enhancement” strategies of CRMs today:
1. Put all constituent information in one place, easily accessed by staff anywhere. Ever heard the story about the elderly woman whose hard-to-read volunteer application was thoughtlessly declined by the new part-time employee…who didn’t realize the woman was also the organization’s largest individual donor? New CRMs put everything you know about your constituent (interactions, donations, volunteering, awards, participation in events, product purchases, etc.) in one place and make that information easily accessible to all staff from anywhere via the Internet.
2. Personalize your constituent’s experience of your online presence. Today’s CRM systems can now interact with your constituent data so that your e-newsletter incorporates automatically personalized information specific to each recipient, perhaps acknowledging again their latest donation, reminding them of an upcoming event in their neighborhood, or highlighting a particular volunteer opportunity that matches their interest. Links in the e-newsletter also bring the constituent directly to your website, but now that constituent will see content tailored to his or her particular individual interests and status with your organization.
3. Support peer-to-peer fundraising. Modern CRMs provide your supporters simple tools to create their own personal webpage in support of your organization and to invite their friends to join them. “A-Thon” type events can be launched and managed online far more quickly and with less overhead cost. In fact, many nonprofits now hold pure peer-to-peer Internet-based fundraising campaigns that completely eliminate the need to physically hold an event, and they encourage participation from far beyond your local reach.
4. Leverage the potential of social networking sites. Today’s CRMs can conduct a data screening of your donor and volunteer constituents to discover who is active on different social networking sites. This information can then be utilized to support and grow your organization’s own social networking program, such as creating a Facebook or MySpace group for different areas of interest and participation within your organization.
It’s all about giving your constituents more ways to connect with your organization in a highly personal way. Certainly these tools are already generating new waves of contributions and volunteer support for organizations. But the overarching benefit has been the increased depth of excitement and commitment by constituents and employee satisfaction at being able to connect with each donor and volunteer – personally!
Visit Advanced Solutions International at their booth at the Crossroads Conference on September 25th.
Is a Social Enterprise Right for You? Recipes for Success.
Contributed by Caritas of Austin
Take a strong mission, add the values of service, stir in some passion and a little bit of love, and Caritas of Austin launched Do Good Deli, a for-profit downtown lunch delivery service that will bring sandwiches, salads, cookies and drinks to your office. Best of all, 100% of the profits go to fund Caritas services, such as rent and utility assistance.
What ingredients do you need to consider before embarking on a social enterprise for your non-profit?
Two-Step Turkey (Smoked turkey and Emmenthaler Swiss on a French baguette. Served with red leaf romaine, tomato and herbed mayonnaise.)
Two steps? If only! You’ll walk away from this session with all of the key steps to keep you on track as you navigate your way through the decision-making process.
Greenbelt Greek Salad (Tossed greens, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, green peppers, feta cheese and Kalamata olives with Greek dressing.)
Have you done your homework about the type of industry you’re considering? You don’t want to be heard saying, “It’s all Greek to me!”
Glazed and Confused Ham & Cheese (Honey ham and Emmenthaler Swiss on honey wheat bread. Served with red leaf romaine, tomato and honey mustard.)
This process can leave you feeling glazed and confused. Discover what steps to avoid as you begin to launch your for-profit venture.
Rockin' Roast Beef (Roast beef on rosemary bread. Served with red leaf romaine, tomato and herbed mayonnaise.)
How do you keep your social enterprise rockin’? Learn how to involve the right people, recruit a focus group, and enlist your board members for support.
Groovy Tuna Salad (Tuna salad on honey wheat bread. Served with lettuce, tomato and sliced apple.)
Is your social enterprise concept on the same wavelength as your key constituents? Are your initial costs realistic? What about messaging? Hear helpful strategies that will get you in the groove to running a mission-focused business.
Capital of Texas Tuna Salad (Tuna salad on mixed romaine with tomatoes, onion, oil 'n' vinegar and sliced apple.)
To capitalize on your social enterprise, attend the Crossroads session Is a Social Enterprise Right for You? You’ll leave with a lot of food for thought. And you might even win a free lunch for your office from Do Good Deli.