From the President's Office
Dear Friend:
The night sky and the nonprofit world ... What do we do, and why do we do it?
What got me thinking about these questions was a recent editorial by David Brooks in the New York Times. Brooks took time off from the grind of reporting on the presidential campaign to share an essay written by Michael Ward found in Books and Culture. The essay points out that "while we moderns see space as a black, cold, most empty vastness," those in the medieval ages found the heavens "rippling with signs and symbols ... anthropomorphic life, dancing, ceremonial, a festival not a machine." Brooks observes that our modern perspective tends to create a world of "all fact and no meaning." We see "economics and politics as the source of human motives."
Today if your day is anything like mine, you'll be thinking about money, and people, and operational challenges. ... Read more
Back to Basics: The New Web Site Essentials
Navigation, page length, and site organization still matter in our Web 2.0 age.
Almost every organization today, from the small one-person nonprofit to the private-sector independent contractor, has a Web site. A Web presence is essential and has been for years. And just like anything that has been around for a while, every now and then things need to be revamped and reevaluated. ... Read more
The Fired-Up Board:
Preparing Your Board Members for Fundraising
If you want your board members to embrace fundraising, you need to get them excited about your mission.
Just think, how much could your organization raise if you had all your board members engaged in fundraising? If we want to fire up our board members for fundraising, we first need to fire them up about our organization and the good work we are doing in the world. ... Read more
Leadership: It's Everyone's Journey!
A hot summer's day, an even hotter box car that needed unloading, and a lesson in leadership by example that has lasted a lifetime.
In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the renowned mythology scholar Joseph Campbell describes "the hero's journey," whereby an ordinary person endures extraordinary hardships, becomes transformed in the process, and achieves the status of hero. According to Campbell, this story is so fundamental to human existence that it pre-dates Greek mythology and to this day continues to be told again and again. ... Read more
IRS Updates, May 2008: Intermediate Sanctions,
Instructions for Filing the New Form 990, and More
Get the final regulations on intermediate sanction, let the IRS know what you think of the instructions for the new Form 990, find out how to get a nonprofit's 990-T, and check out the updated Form 990-N FAQs.
Final Regulations on Intermediate Sanctions: If your organization is still struggling to understand fully the definition and implications of excess benefit transactions, take note. The IRS has issued its final regulations on intermediate sanctions, the penalty imposed on nonprofits that are deemed to have overcompensated CEOs, board members, and other "disqualified" individuals specified in the regulations. ... Read more
Clarification
Several readers asked about a couple of statements in last month's article on employee benefits. Here's a clarification.
Author's correction: In an article published in the April 2008 Guidestar Newsletter, "Carrots or Karats: Rethinking Benefits for Nonprofit Employees," we noted certain aspects of employee benefits that are required by all organizations, such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and workers compensation, and health insurance. To clarify, this information was unintentionally specific only to Massachusetts, the state in which the article was authored. ... Read more
GuideStar on the Road
GuideStar staff will be at the following event this month. Click here to learn more: GuideStar events calendar.
- May 4-7: Council on Foundations Leadership Summit, National Harbor, Md.
- May 9: Oregon Society of CPAs Not-for-Profit Conference, Portland, Ore.
- May 29: 2008 Cause Marketing Forum Conference, Chicago, Ill.
In This Issue
Back to Basics: The New Web Site Essentials
The Fired-Up Board: Preparing Your Board Members for Fundraising
Leadership: It's Everyone's Journey!
IRS Updates, May 2008: Intermediate Sanctions, Instructions for Filing the New Form 990, and More
