Get Your Salary Structure In Order For 2013

As we head further into 2013, many people are already honoring (or breaking) their New Year's resolutions, while some others haven't quite decided what they want to change. If you count yourself among that last group, here's a good suggestion: Make better decisions with your organization's salary structure.

The NonProfit Times' 2012 Salary and Benefits Reports are great resources for nonprofit managers that have questions about whether their employees are being compensated at a level that is up to industry standards. NPT offers five reports that feature the most up-to-date information on salary and benefits based on responses from organizations from across the United States.

The most popular report is the 2012 Nonprofit Organizations Salary and Benefits Report. This detailed  report will give you the salary range for nearly 252 positions in the nonprofit sector, as well as the types of benefits these positions receive (flex days, bonuses, etc.).

The other four reports are:

• 2012 Nonprofit Organizations Salary Report: This one is useful for organizations that already have a handle on their benefits packages, but need information to create competitive salary structures.
• 2012 Nonprofit Organizations Benefits Report: Similar to the report above, this is the one to purchase if your nonprofit only needs help with creating competitive benefits packages for its employees.
• 2012 Nonprofit Organizations Top Executive Positions and Special Perks Report: Nonprofit executive compensation is so important to understand thoroughly. In order to attract the best people to be a part of a nonprofit organization, a very competitive environment, you need to make sure that you offer appealing compensation packages for hiring individuals who you wish to play an important role in your organization.
• 2012 Nonprofit Organizations New York State Salary and Benefits Report: Get the most current information available about nonprofit salaries and benefits in the state of New York. This report provides the latest and most complete salary information available on 170 nonprofit positions from entry level to the executive office including base salary, bonus practices, total cash compensation, salary increases, employee turnover, and more.

All five of these reports are available via our online store.

Nonprofit Manager Arrested On Theft Charges

The manager of a property operated by a nonprofit in Tallahassee, Fl., has been arrested on charges that she allegedly stole rent payments from tenants.

Latangee Hart, 45, turned herself in last Friday and was released on bail the same day, according to a report in The Tallahassee Democrat. She faces a charge of grand theft for allegedly depositing rent paid in cash and money orders into her personal bank account. The property in question, the Maryland Oaks Crossing housing campus, is operated by Good News Outreach, a Christian faith-based nonprofit. The property contains 48 rent-subsidized homes.

Brendan Popp, interim director at the organization, told The Democrat that no other employee was involved, and that policies were being put into place to prevent future incidents of this nature.

Police were tipped off to Hart's actions after a tenant complained in August that his rent payments were not being applied to his account. The property supervisor, Ed Laurienzo, investigated the complaint and found there were multiple rent payment discrepancies and that Hart was keeping poor records of payments. She was eventually fired on Aug. 17, four days after the initial complaint.

An audit later found that a bank account where Hart was allegedly keeping the money. Most of the payments were money orders with the "pay to the order of" portion left blank, where Hart, according to the charges against her, would fill in her name.

You can read the full story in The Tallahassee Democrat.

Payment Processing Basics

Credit cards have been around for a relatively long time, so you would think that payment processing wouldn't be that complicated. You would be wrong.

Processing credit card payments is far from the easiest thing to do precisely because the technology has been around for a while. There are many different ways to accept payments, all of which might require different types of hardware, software, and relationships. It's not realistic to shell out money for every single piece of technology out there, so the burning question out there is which are the best methods?

According to Laura S. Quinn, founder and executive director of Idealware, weighing your options requires a basic understanding of how credit card processing works. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as the information getting sent to you once the user swipes their card; it's a multi-step process that often involves a number of different vendors and entities.

Here are the three basic steps:

• Collect and enter credit card information. To process any payment, you'll obviously need to collect the credit card information from the person making the payment and transfer it -- whether electronically or manually -- to a service that can actually process the payment. This can involve anything from writing down the card information and mailing it to your bank, to typing it into an online system, to swiping the card through a specific kind of hardware.
•  Authorize and commit the charge. Once the payment information has been entered, it is transferred electronically to a payment processor, who checks to see that the credit card account exists and has enough money to cover the charge -- a process called "authorizing" -- and then actually charges the card.
• Deposit money to bank account. Once the card has been charged, you get to a critical step: actually receiving the money. The payment processor always deposits the money in a special kind of bank account called a merchant account. For most of the methods discussed in this article, you'll need to open your own merchant account, either through your own bank or one recommended by your payment processor.  

Now that you understand the basics of payment processing, you can start to figure out which methods work best for your nonprofit.

So, You Want To Be A Chief Executive Officer?

One of the most important roles of any nonprofit or business is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This individual is responsible for all aspects of the organization, and will have to make many important decisions during his/her tenure. Many of The NonProfit Times' readers hold this important position, but not all of them.

If you ever wanted to hold the position of CEO, our new featured nonprofit job from Homes for Children (HFC) will be of interest to you.

The chosen candidate for this position will be charged with oversight of fiscal and financial affairs, services provided, staff management, and the cultivation of community partnerships. As a strategic business partner reporting to the Board of Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer will reflect a value system that fosters leadership, integrity, and teamwork among staff and volunteers.

Other responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Providing vision and leadership to the organization;
• Providing direct supervision to the leadership and management team;
• Recruiting, training, developing, and mentoring staff;
• Developing fundraising strategies for the organization; and
• Overseeing and managing operational budgets and facilities.

It's no shock that being a CEO necessitates having a significant amount of executive experience. As such, HFC requires all applicants to meet the following requirements:

• An understanding and demonstrated knowledge of budget management;
• Ability to maintain and strengthen relationships with a wide range of constituencies, including internal staff, and external business, government, non-profit and community-based organizations;
• Entrepreneurial capacity to build community connections that will generate new programs and initiatives as well as expand extramural grants, contracts, and private giving to support the organization;
• The ability to advocate, articulate, and promote diversity and inclusiveness;
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational and communication skills; 
• Integrity and ethical qualities of the highest standards; and
• Evidence of strong managerial, administrative and supervisory capacity with staff and volunteer leadership;
• An entrepreneurial management style characterized by transparency and collaboration;

Interested in this job? Head to our career center for information on how to apply.

First Year Fundraising Campaign Goals

Fundraising campaigns are rarely completed in just a single year. The nature of a long-term campaign means the number the organization wants to reach will be quite high, meaning the time-frame can be as long as five years. All of the years are important in a campaign but, as M. Jane Williams explained, the first year carries the most weight.

Williams wrote in her book, "Big Gifts," that the first year of a fundraising campaign can determine the overall success of the project. A rousing first year will boost the morale of your fundraisers, whereas a lackluster performance will cause concern. To ensure you get off to a good start, Williams recommended making use of schedules. These will help organize your campaign so you know by when you need to accomplish certain goals (i.e., X amount of dollars should have been raised by X date).

For the first year of your campaign, Russell V. Kohr wrote in the “Handbook of Institutional Advancement” that the following goals should be accomplished:

• Complete the first draft of the long-range plan;
• Share plan with trustees and selected potential benefactors;
• Revise plan as necessary;
• Trustees approve plan and campaign goal;
• Development office prepares statement of gift opportunities;
• Development office drafts case statement that is then shared with key people in the organization, trustees, and selected friends;
• Survey various constituencies intensively;
• Research prospective donors of major gifts;
• Begin solicitation of major gift, corporate, and foundation prospects;
• Increase annual giving solicitation;
• A group -- such as the president, chairman of the board of trustees, and the chairman of the trustee committee on development -- enlists a national campaign chairman and members of the major gifts committees;
• Role of the president and other administrative officials in the campaign is determined; and,
• Begin solicitation of trustees.

Mass. AG Asks Nonprofit For Overdue Reports

A Dorcester, Mass., nonprofit faces civil penalties if it does not file a series of overdue annual reports in the next few weeks with state regulators.

According to a report in The Dorcester Reporter, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's office sent a letter to the New Vietnamese American Community of Massachusetts, Inc., on Dec. 20, requesting missing annual reports from 2008 to 2011. Nonprofits and public charities in the state are required by law to submit their annual accounting reports with the AG.

"As a result of the organization’s failure to file as required, the Division is authorized to bring an action to restrain the organization from transacting business in the Commonwealth,” wrote Amy Bryson, the compliance officer, in the Dec. 20 letter. "Furthermore, the Division will not issue a certificate of solicitation while your organization is not compliant with the filing requirements."

New Vietnamese's alleged lack of action regarding its annual reports has sparked concern among Vietnamese-Americans in Dorcester, according to the newspaper. Members of that community met at the offices of VietAID, a local development organization, to discuss whether they need to create a new organization to represent Vietnamese residents. The Reporter spoke with one resident, who said that others in the community had alleged the organization has not been transparent with them.

Diane Huynh, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's liaison to the Vietnamese community, acknowledged to the paper that New Vietnamese does not always share information with the city.

You can read the full story in The Dorcester Reporter.

The Fiscal Cliff Deal: How Does It Affect Nonprofits?

Politicians and the members of the media have been talking about the "fiscal cliff" -- the combination of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending cuts -- for so long, it almost seemed anti-climatic when the country tumbled off it yesterday.

Although the Senate had successfully passed -- 89-8 -- a bill that would have averted the cliff, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives declined to take up the bill, opting to consider it on New Year's Day instead. The bill was passed that evening, which closed the door on tax rates and delayed the spending cuts for another two months.

President Barack Obama campaigned on raising taxes on those making $250,000 or more and, though he wasn't able to get Congress to pass a bill with that threshold, taxes were raised on the wealthiest Americans (specifically, individuals earning $400,000 and couples earning $450,000). That is the main headline from the bill, but it also will have an effect on the nonprofit sector.

In an article on The NonProfit Times website, it was revealed that the legislation will cap deductions for wealthy itemizers. It also reduces the amount of itemized deductions by a fixed percentage for each dollar of income (AGI) above a specified amount (up to 80 percent of the total). In this case, it would be 3 percent above the threshold.

Does this mean the charitable deduction has been affected? Not yet, said Joseph Rosenberg, a research associate at the Urban–Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He told The NonProfit Times that since the cap is based on income, "it essentially operates as an income tax surtax, not a cap on itemized deductions (i.e., deductions retain the full marginal tax value for most taxpayers)."

That doesn't mean nonprofits are out of the woods yet. In a statement shortly after the bill was passed, President Obama expressed his desire to pursue further deficit reduction through a combination of spending cuts and increased revenue from tax reform, which could potentially place a cap on charitable deductions. The spending cuts could also impact organizations, depending on what government programs are targeted.

Stay tuned to the NPT website for more details on the fiscal cliff deal as they emerge.

Ring In 2013 With The New Issue Of NPT

Just in time for 2013, NPT Publishing Group has a New Year's gift for all of our readers: The new issue of The NonProfit Times. The Jan. 1 covers pressing issues impacting the nonprofit sector, including the impact of current hot topics such as Superstorm Sandy and the "fiscal cliff."

Here's a quick look at some of the major stories in the new issue:

Special Report

• Accounting Software: Installing new accounting software can be a real pain. This special report includes information on how to avoid a disaster installation, featuring tips from the leading experts in the field.

Articles

• Camp Fire Stokes New Image And Council Revamping: A mission statement doesn't mean much to a teenager. That’s why Camp Fire USA ditched it. Well, not entirely.
• Insurance Undertow For Flood Car Donations: The National Automobile Dealers Association in McLean, Va., estimated that as many as 250,000 cars were damaged or destroyed during super storm Sandy. But, the phones aren't ringing much at 1-800 Charity Cars or at the National Kidney Foundation.
• Hospital Wraps Employee Giving In A Gift Box: Ty the Giving Guy isn't a typical employee at the Atlanta, Ga.-based hospital system. But, he’s not supposed to be, either. He’s the mascot for Emory Healthcare’s employee giving program.

Columns:

• It's Simple Math: As the debate and acrimony in Washington, D.C. continues regarding the absurd notion that the federal charitable deduction plays an important role in the nation’s “fiscal cliff,” voices were raised in New York City. The voices were of hope and charity.
• Young Volunteers: The television news show "60 Minutes" aired a feature story this past November on “Children Helping Children.” It centered on Craig Kielburger, who at age 12 took action against child labor and exploitation in Pakistan, eventually recruiting his friends to the cause and founding Free the Children. Some 17 years later it is an international charity with more than 1.7 million youth involved in education and development programs in 45 countries.

After Newtown, Charity Scam Hits Victim's Family

After a tragedy the magnitude of last week's school shootings in Newtown, Conn., it is common to see charities emerge in an effort to help the victims. Yet another trend has emerged after these incidents that is not quite as uplifting: Charity scams.

The Huffington Post reported Wednesday that an individual was soliciting donations on behalf of the family of 6-year-old Noah Ponzer, who was killed during the shooting. The e-mail claimed they would send cards, packages, and money to Ponzer's parents, family, and siblings. A website was even set up, which used Noah's name as the address, and included links to petitions on gun control.

After finding out about the bogus solicitation Alexis Haller, Noah's uncle, alerted authorities to put an end to it. He was quoted in The Huffington Post article as saying "These scammers are stealing from the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy."

The website in question was turned over to the Ponzer family and its creator, who was identified as Jason Martin, reportedly told Victoria Haller, Noah's Aunt, who had replied to the original e-mail, that it was meant to honor Noah and promote gun control.

This isn't the first time, and it probably won't be the last, that bogus charities have emerged following a tragedy or some other disaster. For instance, after the the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., scammers contacted victims' families asking for credit card donations.

You can read the full story in The Huffington Post.

8 Nonprofit Conduct Policies

What's the first thing that happens when you are officially hired for a job? You usually have a meeting with the human resources officer, who informs you of the organization's conduct policies. It's basically a no-brainer to most people by know that it's unethical to steal office equipment, or other things like that. Yet sometimes it’s the little things that can really get you in trouble.

What was that about not sweating the small stuff?

Thomas Wolf, in his book "Managing a Nonprofit Organization," wrote that the little details relating to day-to-day work life should be properly explained to employees. Some of these relate specifically to in-office procedures, while some are more general.

Wolf listed eight examples of these policies that you should include in your employee conduct manual:

• Specific rules about how the staff is authorized to make purchases.
• Guidelines governing travel (such as per-diem limits, times when air travel is permitted, and mileage reimbursement rates).
• Controls on personal use of the office telephone.
• Rules governing the use and care of office equipment.
• Limits placed on the organization’s liability for personal property left on the premises.
• Guidelines governing outside work, such as whether the employer has first refusal on publications and whether the organization permits leaves of absences to do outside jobs.
• Intellectual property and confidentiality issues.
• Policies regarding working hours and conditions that address regular office working hours, flextime or overtime arrangements, and overtime compensation.

Featured Nonprofit Job: Communications Director

We have yet another featured nonprofit job to share with our readers today. This one comes from the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL), which is looking to hire a Communications Director.

The Communications Director will develop  content and prepare the layout and design of all association print and electronic publications, i.e., national print magazine, electronic newsletters, conference guides and programs, PowerPoint presentations, etc. The chosen candidate will also be responsible for the web site and communications with our members via social media, as well as multiple press releases and speeches.

The successful applicant for this position will meet the following criteria:

• Demonstrated expertise in InDesign, Photoshop, and Microsoft office products;
• Excellent editing, time management, and computer skills;
• Working knowledge of production and printing processes; and,
• Proficient in Web site content management systems and social media tools, along with a working knowledge of HTML.

You can learn more on this job, including information on how to apply, by visiting our career center.

Ex-Nonprofit Leader On The Lam

The founder and former CEO of a Naperville, Ill.-based nonprofit has allegedly fled the country amid allegations he stole nearly $200,000 from the organization for a film company he founded.

Robert Geniesse founded Our Children's Homestead, a nonprofit foster-care and adoption agency, and was CEO until the board of directors fired him in March 2011, according to a report in The Daily Herald. He was fired under suspicion that he was embezzling from the organization, and a criminal investigation was soon launched.

Geniesse was formerly charged this month with funneling over $200,000 from the organization to his film company, Reverse Momentum Films. Four days before the charges were filed, however, he fled to Hamburg, Germany, according to the FBI. It was also alleged that his wife, who runs the film company along with her husband, went to Germany one month before the charges were issued. Howe is not charged with any wrongdoing in the case.

Along with using the funds for production of documentary films, Geniesse allegedly used the agency credit card for hotel rooms, rental cars, and other expenses during filming in Kenya and the Philippines. Reverse Momentum Films produced at least one picture in 2009, "I Am You," a documentary about poverty in the Philippines.

Despite the alleged theft, Our Children's Homestead remains in a good financial state. Kurt Freidenauer, who replaced Geniesse as CEO last year, told The Herald that the organization has been able to maintain its daily operations. He gave credit to the board for firing Geniesse before any more damage could be done.

Should he be located, the FBI will seek to expedite Geniesse back to Illinois, where, if convicted, he faces a $100,000 fine and up to 15 years in prison.

You can read the full story in The Daily Herald.

Featured Nonprofit Job: Director Of Major/Planned Giving

Do you have a passion for both healthcare and fundraising? If the answer to that question is "yes," the newest featured nonprofit job on the Nonprofit Job Seeker should perk your interest.

The Abington Memorial Hospital (AMH) in Pennsylvania is looking to hire a Director of Major and Planned Giving. Under the direction of the Vice President and Director of Fund Development, this individual will be responsible for the direction, planning, implementation, and evaluation of all aspects of the planned and major giving programs.

While experience is needed to qualify for this job, it doesn't need to be significant. Below are the requirements that AMH listed in its job description:

• A minimum of three years planned giving/trust experience, preferably in a hospital setting.
• Extensive knowledge of planned giving instruments.
• Knowledge of computers and planned giving software programs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Bachelor's degree with course work/experience in fundraising.
• Advanced training in adjunct field very desirable, such as law, accounting, stocks and bonds, real estate, insurance, etc.

You can read more about what it takes to become a Director of Major and Planned Giving by visiting our career center.

Opinion: Charitable Deduction Must Be Protected

As the debate over the so-called "fiscal cliff" rages on in Washington, D.C., some in the government are setting their eyes on the charitable deduction. They argue that eliminating it will raise revenue for the government. In a new opinion column posted on our website, our editor-in-chief, Paul Clolery, wrote that this is exactly the wrong approach to take. Here's an excerpt from his piece:

***

Advocacy organization Independent Sector has statistics that its executives trot out, showing the benefit of a $350 tax break is actually $1,000. They have argued that itemizing households accounted for 70 percent of the $229 billion in charitable donations in 2008 and that 2 percent of taxpayers in the top bracket were responsible for 33 percent of all charitable giving that year.

Here’s the kicker: Only one-third of tax filers, the wealthiest Americans, itemized deductions that year. Congressional and White House officials argue that capping the deduction for the wealthiest Americans won’t really hurt that much, after all, charity at the highest levels is a competition for names on buildings and board seats at the opera.

The government officials probably didn't read a Bank of America study that showed 67 percent of wealthy households responded that they would somewhat or dramatically decrease charitable contributions if they received zero income tax deductions for their donations.

Government officials argue that the $16-trillion debt and $1.3-trillion budget shortfall has to be made up somewhere. They should start with cutting a budget few of them have probably even read.

The loud rancor of the debates has already affected how people spend, share and shelter their assets. Many more affluent Americans are already making early decisions around their income, deductions and possible tax implication now. That must also be affecting Sandy donations. That’s the simple math part.

The observation element is that giving to Sandy relief is lagging because those 1 percenters always being singled out as villains are spending their money putting their lives back together. It is estimated that 600,000 homes were damaged or destroyed across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Those rich guys working on Wall Street or with information technology or investing in real estate along the east coast do not have the cash to donate as they usually do. They are who is missing from the fundraising effort. If the deduction is taken away, they will stay away longer.

***

You can read the full piece on The NonProfit Times' website.

Exempt Magazine -- Fall 2012

The sister publication of The NonProfit Times, Exempt Magazine, is the perfect publication for those in the sector whose forte is finance. The magazine is released quarterly, and the time has now arrived for the release of the latest edition.

The Fall 2012 issue of Exempt tackles a number of topics, from inflation to social media. Let's take a look at some of the content you can expect to find within the pages:

Articles

• Hedging Against Inflation by Diversifying Investment Income: Some of the nation’s largest nonprofits are complex businesses, generating income from donations but also via fundraising events, program service revenue or membership fees, as well as investment income.
• Managing Risk In The New Normal: As you prepare to flip the page on your old-fashioned paper wall calendar and toast the New Year, are you thinking about risk? What adventures await your nonprofit in 2013? What risks will pay dividends, and which will you be regretting at this time next year?

Column

• Finance And Fundraising: Are you are asking this question about social media: “How do we know this investment of staff time in social media will pay off?” If you are getting answers from staff like this: “We have 10,000 fans on Facebook,” hit the pause button and work on defining what success means. (Also check out this chart on social media metrics).

This is not all the content in this quarter's edition of Exempt. To see the whole issue, sign up for a digital or print subscription via our website.

State Connection Examined In Nonprofit Probe

A federal and state investigation into an Albany, N.Y.-based nonprofit turned its attention to the state level, as investigators examined the circumstances that led to a former assemblyman from Brooklyn being added to the organization's payroll.

According to a report in The Albany Times Union, details emerged Thursday that investigators were looking into how former Brooklyn assemblyman William F. Boyland Sr., came to be on the payroll of the Altamont Program, the parent organization of Father Peter Young's network of services for the homeless. The date of Boyland Sr.'s addition to the organization came shortly after he and his son, William Boyland Jr., arranged grants to the organization. The grants, known as member items, totaled at least $1.2 million over four years beginning in 2006.

That wasn't the only grant Boyland Sr., helped procure for the Altamont Program. He and Assemblyman Speaker Sheldon Silver secured a $300,000 community project grant for the organization in 2004. After he left office in 2006 his son, Boyland Jr., secured three successive legislative grants from 2006 to 2009. Those funds were managed by the state's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, according to records.

The Altamon Program was originally under investigation for allegations that Dennis Bassat, a director at one of the Program's offices in Troy, embezzled funds and misused its credit card. There are also questions about the nonprofit's use of its grant funding and payroll expenditures.

Bassat was fired two years ago after officials at the Troy location discovered he had allegedly issued checks from a business account to fake employees and then took the money for himself. Officials said the checks were written in amounts of less than $600 to avoid detection.

The investigation expanded into the Boylands' role in the organization on Thursday, when state investigators and FBI agents obtained a search warrant for the Troy offices. Financial records were seized by investigators, and employees were questioned. A source told The Times Union that one employee at the organization questioned exactly what Boyland did and whether he was provided with a credit card.

You can read the full story in The Times Union.

12-12-12 Concert Rakes In Cash For Sandy Relief

Yesterday was a special day for a number of reasons. First, it's going to be a long time before we see a date, day, and year (12/12/12) like that again. More importantly, it was the date of the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Our editor-in-chief, Paul Clolery, was in attendance for the six-hour long show, and has a summary of the night's events on our website. The concert featured legendary performers including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Rolling Stones, and Sir Paul McCartney, in addition to contemporary artists like Kanye West, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and Alicia Keys, who closed out the night with a rendition of her hit song "Empire State of Mind" alongside McCartney.

Yet the big story of the night was money raised for Hurricane Sandy Relieft. Donations went to organizations serving victims of the storm through the Robin Hood Relief Fund. Before an act even took the stage, the concert raised $37 million. A final donation tally was not available as of this writing.

Individuals who called in through the night to make a contribution had the chance to speak to a host of celebrities who were working the call center. These included big names such as Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Buscemi, Naomi Campbell, Tony Danza, and James Gandolfini.

One of the highlights of the night came when McCartney, one of the last two surviving Beatles along with Ringo Starr, helped front a reunion of the '90s grunge band Nirvana. The band was headed by the late Kurt Cobain, and McCartney filled his role by performing a new song written by the surviving members of Nirvana called "Cut Me Some Slack."

The 12-12-12 Concert was broadcast to a worldwide audience of nearly two billion people through television feeds, radio, and online streaming sites. The show was reminiscent of the first benefit show for charity, the Concert for Bangladesh, also held in Madison Square Garden, in 1971. That show was organized in part by legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar, who passed away this week at the age of 92.

You can read the full overview of the concert on the NPT website.

Tampa To Review Deals With Nonprofits

The city council of Tampa, Fl. has called for a review of contracts with the city's nonprofits to determine how many are falling short of their obligations.

The review was ordered after Councilwoman Lisa Montelione discovered that the Steward's Foundation had fallen short of the terms of the 25-year lease it originally signed with Tampa in 2003, according to a report on  Tampa Bay Online. In exchange for paying $1 a year to use 3 acres in Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, the organization was to teach rowing to high school students, host competitions, and provide a training area for out-of-state college teams.

That end of the bargain was fulfilled, but the Foundation still has not built the $2 million boathouse the city ordered it to construct after a 2007 renewal of the lease. A temporary structure for the boathouse exists, but the lack of permanent structure lead to the Foundation defaulting on its agreement with the city.

The Council voted 5-2 to send out a formal default notice to the organization, which gives it 60 days to correct the problem or face eviction. Mayor Bob Buckhorn has so far decided to let Steward's continue its work in Riverfront Park while the city works out its future.

Steward's Foundation president Tom Feaster told Tampa Bay Online that the reason the boathouse has not yet been constructed is because the organization has been unable to find donors for the project, due to uncertainty about the city's plans for the park.

According to public tax filings, the Foundation spent about $100,000 on its rowing programs in 2010. Feaster has maintained that other than the issue with the boathouse, his organization is fulfilling its mission, putting over 250 students a day on the Hillsbourough River to learn teamwork and improve their fitness.

Montelione will begin reviewing the agreements with the other city's nonprofits, and suggested to the Council that they may have to end support for them if they are unable to meet their obligations.

You can read the full story on Tampa Bay Online's website.

Opening Of New YMCA In Coney Island Delayed After Sandy

Coney Island, a community and a perennial tourist attraction in Brooklyn, N.Y., was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy, but the damage done won't stop the YMCA from opening the area's first center.

The new location is on track to open, though it will likely be delayed by at least four months, according to a report in Crain's New York Business. The new Y is scheduled to open sometime during the second half of next year. The 44,000-square-foot facility will be designed to fit the needs of the area, and will include two swimming pools and a gym and fitness area, both which residents hope will combat the high rate of diabetes around Coney Island.

Plans for the new location are part of a decade-long effort to revitalize Coney Island, which might be best known for its oceanfront amusement park.

Presently, the closest Y location is in Park Slope, 16 subway stops from Coney Island. Jack Lund, CEO of the YMCA of Greater New York, told Crain's that construction of the new location will employ 125, including part-time positions. These new jobs will be a boon to a community that has an unemployment rate of 51 percent, six times the average of Brooklyn. 

The Coney Island YMCA facility will be located on Surf Avenue and 29th street, where it will be exclusively focused on the residents of the community. It is expected to draw 15,000 members, two-thirds of whom will be children.

You can read the full article in Crain's New York Business.

5 Best Practices For Selecting Software

The trends are always changing in the world of technology. Who would have thought just a few years ago that tablets would become more desirable than laptops? Yet that's exactly what has happened, with major developers like Microsoft developing innovations meant for that device.

Most nonprofit managers would love to bring the latest "must-have" software to their organizations, but that's simply an unrealistic proposition. To be successful in today's rapidly changing world, it is imperative to decide which technologies best fit your organization.

In "Nonprofit Management 101," Holly Ross, executive director of Portland, Ore.-based Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), wrote that the key to selecting new software is understanding and documenting your needs. This would seem to indicate a length process, but it can actually be done by following five best practices:

• Identify your top needs. If you are looking for graphics software, for example, will you be making graphics primarily for the Web or for print?
• Can your existing software already do it? Before you head out into the software selection process, be sure to evaluate existing software to see if it can get the job done.
• Find out what your peers are using. Referrals can be the best way to find the right piece of software for your organization.
• Identify some scenarios and test. Most software packages and vendors allow you access to a demo or trial version.
• Decide whether this software will meet your needs. You should look for software that will best meet your critical needs.