Nonprofits Hurt By New Postal Rules

This is an article that appears in the newest edition of our NPT Weekly eNewsleter. For more stories like this, subscribe to it for free on our website.

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Six of the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) new workshare discount rates, that took effect yesterday, are shallower for nonprofit mailers than for commercial mailers, and unfairly discriminate against nonprofits, contends the Association of Nonprofit Mailers (ANM), based in Washington, D.C.

Three of the new discounts -- high density letters, high density flats, and automated 5-digit flats -- are higher than the old rates, two categories (high density plus letters and high density plus flats) are new and the discount for non-automated 3-digit flats is slightly lower than the old rate. But the key issue is the discrepancy between the nonprofit and commercial rates.

According to ANM Executive Director Tony Conway, worksharing discounts are provided when mail is prepared in certain ways, such as presorting it by ZIP code, effectively taking some of the burden of sorting and transporting off the United States Postal Service (USPS). The goal is to create incentives to drive the most efficient mailing behavior.

The difference is less than 4 percent or $0.003 per piece for four of the categories (high density letters, high density plus letters, high density flats and high density plus flats), with auto 5-digit flats being 8 percent or $0.007 per piece and a 13.5 percent difference, or $0.007 per piece, for non-automated 3-digit flats.

“We saw that for certain types, nonprofits are receiving a lesser discount than commercial counterparts,” said Conway. “We called the Postal Service on that, raised the issue with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) and filed comments (in November) saying the discrepancies are not allowed by law.”

Section 403(c) of U.S. Code Title 39 prohibits discrimination among mail users when it establishes fees unless it has a reasonable justification. The USPS claims it cannot equalize the nonprofit and commercial rates “without setting the nonprofit base rate higher than would be most efficient and preferable from a policy perspective,” according to PRS Docket No. R2013-1. Conway said the USPS’s argument boils down to setting rates being a complicated process for everything to work perfectly all the time. That argument does not hold water, said Conway.

“So the PRC, unfortunately, instead of pushing back on the postal service, chose not to do that and told the postal service they could implement the new rates,” said Conway. “From a nonprofit standpoint, they’re doing the same things commercial mailers are doing, and to be provided a lesser discount, that’s just blatant discrimination for no good reason.”

Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector in Washington, D.C., said, “Independent Sector has long worked to ensure that nonprofit organizations receive equitable treatment under the law relative to their counterparts in the for-profit sector. The proposed worksharing discount is another example of the disparate treatment of nonprofit organizations that should be rejected.” Independent Sector was a signatory along with eight other organizations on a letter of protest that was sent to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Issa has previously helped to block legislation that would eliminate the nonprofit rates.

Conway said his organization is prepared to fight the new rates in court, but he hopes that will not be necessary. When the PRC produces its annual compliance determination report in the first quarter of 2013, Conway said he believes it will recognize and correct the oversight. “It appears it was just sloppy work by the postal service in designing new rates and inattention to the argument we raised,” he said.

That is in contrast to two other cases where Conway said the USPS deliberately kept the nonprofit sector out of worksharing discounts. The first time was 1980, when worksharing discounts were established. The USPS said the discounts were only available to the commercial sector. The organization Easter Seals took the USPS to court and won, and from that case ANM was born. In 1996, the USPS again tried to discriminate against nonprofits, said Conway. This time, ANM was the plaintiff and won the case.

If the PRC continues to accept the USPS’s explanation for why some discounts are lower for nonprofits, Conway said ANM will again go to court. “We hope to get it straightened out through the regulatory process, but we’re geared up to go to court and I’m confident we will prevail,” he said.

If the new workshare discounts are allowed to stand, said Conway, that would “drive more inefficiency and send the wrong signals.” It’s not so much a question of revenue foregone, he said, as it is not allowing discrimination against the sector. “We’re not talking about monstrous overpayment, but it’s the principle,” said Conway. “To not (correct the mistake), be called on it and just blow it off is wrong,” he said.

5 Tips For Communicating With The Media

People love to hate the media. Whether it's one of the countless athletes who criticize the press after being "taken out of context," or a politician blasting the "mainstream media" to score political points, journalists are hardly the most popular people in the room.

Yes, you may not want to talk to a reporter, but the media still remains one of the most effective ways of getting your message to the public.

This is especially true for nonprofits that are trying to spread the word about a project or an upcoming special event. In the book “Five Good Ideas,” Carol Goar acknowledged that the media can do a poor job of covering the sector, but that doesn't mean it’s all on them. Goar listed five things nonprofit employees should remember when talking to the media to ensure there are no slip-ups:

• Before you make a phone call or send an email to a member of the press, ask yourself: Why does my message matter to the public?
• Don’t confuse journalists with publicity agents. If your objective is just to sell tickets to one of your events or promote your brand, you aren't going to get a very favorable story.
• Get to know who in the local or national media covers the nonprofit sector. Read the publication or listen to the broadcast you intend to approach.
• When telling your story to the media, talk about the difference you’re making in people’s lives, not about who you are or how your organization functions.
• Remember that reporters ask probing questions, they delve into areas that you might not want to talk about, and they don’t follow anybody’s script.

Moody's: Outlook Not Good For Nonprofit Hospitals

Originally Posted on The NonProfit Times

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Moody's Investor's Service announced Tuesday that the outlook for nonprofit hospitals in 2013 continues to be negative, despite revenue growth remaining positive.

The negative outlook means it will be harder for these organizations to access the capital market.

Moody's, the bond credit rating business of New York City-based Moody's Corporation, declared that a variety of outside pressures continue to restrict growth of hospitals, including federal cuts to medical spending and limited reimbursement increases from insurers. All of these factors lead the credit agency to continue its negative assessment of the industry.

"Our sector outlook has been negative since 2008, reflecting the lasting impact of the recession on patient volumes, significant challenges facing the industry resulting from changes in how hospitals are paid, and heightened pressure from businesses and all levels of government to lower the cost of healthcare services," said Daniel Steingart, a Moody's Assistant Vice President -- Analyst and lead author of the report entitled "US Not-for-Profit Healthcare Outlook Remains Negative for 2013."

The report also explained that the nonprofit hospital industry is already facing more than $300 billion in reductions to Medicare payments through 2019 as part of the Affordable Care Act. While the recent fiscal cliff deal did not include any major spending cuts to healthcare, the upcoming budget negotiations in Washington are likely to focus on those, as both Congress and the White House believe something needs to be done to address the rising costs of healthcare.

While the overall outlook is negative, the report indicates it could have been worse if not for some positive developments. The most notable of these has been the fact that hospital performance, including revenue growth, has remained optimal.

"Operating margins and leverage metrics have not deteriorated in recent years, despite negative headwinds, because management teams have successfully managed expenses in light of weak patient volumes and less robust revenue growth," said Steingart.

Moody's noted that their outlook expresses the expectation for credit conditions over the next 12 to 18 months. You can read the full report on their website.

Nonprofit CEO Faces Fraud Charges

The CEO of a nonprofit that aids disadvantaged youth and families in Cincinnati, OH, was indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges of tax and mortgage loan fraud.

Regina Shields, who is the head of Free Truth Enterprises (FTE), faces, among other charges, four counts of filing false claims for federal income tax refunds, and one count of wire fraud, according to a report in The Business Courier. She is currently free having been released on bond.

According to court documents, Shields allegedly filed federal income tax returns claiming that she received significant W-2 wages and witholdings from FTE. As a result of those deductions, Shields was paid $61,315 in salary from 2007-2010. The indictment goes on to allege that FTE did not have significant receipts or engage in charitable activity.

Shields also faces charges regarding an alleged mortgage fraud scheme involving a property at the address 2985 Timbercrest Drive. The indictment states that she allegedly wrote a $164,000 check through the name Property Negotiation Group for the property during a sheriff's sale. That check was subsequently returned after the bank account it belonged to was revealed to have insufficient funds.

You can read the full story in The Business Courier.

Special Event Planning Rules

The concept of a special event is great: A night of fun and celebration partnered together with increased publicity and revenue for your organization. What's not to like? Nothing, really, except for the fact that it takes a lot of work just to plan the event.

This might not be a problem if your nonprofit already has a large number of volunteers at its disposal, but this isn't the case for all organizations. As Thomas Wolf wrote in his book, "Managing a Nonprofit Organization," agencies that fall into this category must come up with new plans to ensure their event runs as smoothly as possible.

Wolf laid out nine rules that will help make things more practical:

• Set a dollar goal early and stick to it. Too many event planners get off course by confusing public relations functions with fundraising;
• The secret of success is net income, not gross income. What counts is how much the organization has left over after all the expenses for the event have been paid;
• Plan an event that people will enjoy. It is easier to get people to participate if the event itself is a drawing card as well as the organization sponsoring it;
• Establish a committee with a strong chairperson to work on the event. The chair (or co-chairs) often determines the success of an event;
• Exaggerate the number of volunteers and dollars you will need to make the event a success. It’s better to have too much help rather than too little;
• Allow plenty of planning time. Things always seem to take longer than expected, and there should be plenty of margin for error;
• Build in plenty of ancillary ways to pick up money in conjunction with the event;
• Involve local merchants; and,
• Attempt to find a type of event that works for the organization and stick to it for several years.

Education Grants -- Elmer’s Teacher Grant Program

Education is a big topic of discussion in today's society. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rated our country as "below average" in science and math compared to other developing countries, and programs like No Child Left Behind have been criticized for being too punitive and putting too much of an emphasis on test scores, and less on growth and progress for students and teachers.

It can be tough being a teacher in America, which is why the Kids in Need Foundation will be starting its third annual teacher grant program on Feb. 14. Sponsored by Elmer's Products Inc., the program will award 270-300 grants, ranging from $100-$500, to teachers across the nation. The money will help teachers conduct classroom projects from the Kids in Need Guide to Award Winning Projects, a catalog of project plans previously funded by the Foundation.

To be eligible for these grants, applicants must:

• Be a certified K-12 teacher;
• Apply for the Elmer’s Teacher Club; and,
• Use the Kids in Need Guide to Award Winning Projects as a basis for their teaching plans.

Grant award totals will be based on financial needs and how well the chosen projects meet the educational needs of the applicants’ students. Special priority will be given to first-year teachers.

You can find out more information about the project starting Feb. 14 at http://www.kinf.org/

If you are interested in finding more grants, visit our Grant Finder page.

7 Ideas For Website Content

One of the age old battles of the Internet is whether a website with bad design but great content is better than one with amazing design but weak content. This battle is still raging on with no clear end in sight, but one thing is clear: You do need some content on your page to remain relevant.

The textbook definition of a great website is one that the user wants to come back to every day. For that to happen, the site has to have constantly updated content, and not just anything will do the trick. As Robbin Zeff explained in “The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet,” your content needs to be interesting, relevant and, most importantly, new.

There are many different forms of content, and it’s up to you and your webmaster to determine what needs to be on your site. Zeff suggested starting off with the following 7 ideas:

• Identity: Who you are – your mission statement, a listing or profiles of staff;
• Programs and Services: What you do – your programs, projects, meetings, seminars, conferences, etc.;
• Contact Information: How you can be reached – address, e-mail, telephone numbers, office, hours, etc. If you have chapters or member organizations, list how they can be reached;
• Available Resources: What material you have for free or for sale – newsletters, magazines, publications, t-shirts, posters, etc.;
• Current activities: What information you want to highlight – press releases, news reports, etc.;
• Links to related sites; and,
• Help requests: What your needs are – donations of time, information, or money.

Recognizing Your Board Members

Nonprofits often honor their volunteers and for good reason. There is good reason for this -- after all, they play an important role in the successes of an organization. Yet too often, the hard work of board members is left unrecognized.

The fact of the matter is that board members are volunteers as well and, as such, deserve to have their accomplishments honored. In his book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Recruiting and Managing Volunteers,” John L. Lipp listed 10 unique ways you can recognize the hard work your board members do for your organization:

• Write a short feature story about individual board members in your eNewsletters.
• Provide board members with nametags they can wear to special events that indicate their role on the board.
• At board meetings, take the time to recognize individual members who have a birthday that month or are celebrating other personal milestones.
• At special events, take the time to publicly introduce any board members who are in attendance.
• Consider giving out an annual Outstanding Board Member award.
• Nominate outstanding board members for leadership awards.
• Start each board meeting by going around the room and acknowledging one special thing that each member has done that month to support your cause.
• Put framed pictures of your board members in the lobby of your organization or in the board room.
• Publish brief bios of your board members on the “About Us” page of your web site.
• Serve snacks at board meetings.

Featured Nonprofit Job: Director Of Major Gifts And Planned Giving

Two of the more important sources of fundraising for organizations are major gifts and planned giving. These jobs are usually headed by separate individuals but this is not the case with our latest featured nonprofit job.

Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is looking to hire a Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving. This individual is responsible for developing and implementing a major and planned gifts development plan, building a high-performing team, to achieve fundraising goals, managing a portfolio of donors, and serving as the primary liaison with financial advisors, attorneys, and other partners in the promotion and acquisition of gifts.

This job requires exceptional relationship-building skills, excellent organizational and communication skills, knowledge of nonprofit fundraising, excellent understanding of estate and gift planning, and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite products. Applicants should also have at least a Bachelor's Degree and a minimum of five years experience in planned giving, major giving, or related financial planning work.

It is not required, but a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) is greatly preferred.

You can find out more information by visiting our career center.

Obama Launches Advocacy Nonprofit

This article was featured in the latest edition of NPT Weekly. Sign-up for this free eNewsletter by visiting our subscription page.
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The organization behind President Barack Obama’s two successful election campaigns will become a nonprofit, using its massive database of supporters to advocate for the president’s agenda.

Jim Messina, head of what was once called Obama for America, wrote in an email to supporters that the organization will transform into a nonprofit called Organizing for Action (OFA). It will be a 501(c)(4), meaning it is tax exempt as long as it does not directly involve itself in election activities. OFA will immediately begin advocating for the president’s second-term agenda, with issues such as gun control and immigration set to be discussed.

“If we can take the enthusiasm and passion that people showed throughout the campaign and channel it into the work ahead of us, we will be unstoppable,” said Messina, who will be OFA’s national chairman, in the email to supporters.

Jon Carson, director of the Office of Public Engagement at the White House, will leave the administration to become OFA’s executive director, according to a report by The Associated Press. The organization’s board of directors will include several former White House and campaign aides, including former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, and top campaign officials Stephanie Cutter, Jennifer O’Malley-Dillon and Julianna Smoot.

Supporters of the organization hope that this incarnation of Obama for America will see more use than the post-2008 election version. The organization renamed itself Organizing for America when Obama first took office, but remained a part of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The organization did play a big role in the fight to pass what would become the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to an article dated Oct. 20, 2009 on The Huffington Post, OFA exceeded its goal of 100,000 calls to lawmakers to encourage them to support health care reform that day, eventually reaching 300,000 calls.

Yet aside from that effort, the administration made little use of OFA’s extensive database of supporters. For instance, OFA remained largely silent in 2010 during the debate over whether Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy should be extended; many on the left believed rates on the wealthy should return to Clinton-era levels. All of the rates were eventually extended for another two years. Rates did return to those levels for those making more than $400,000 following the recent fiscal cliff deal.

Messina and the rest of OFA believe things will be different this time around, as he pledged the organization would be driven by supporters, and would follow the Obama campaign’s principles of “respect, empower, and include.” Since the organization will be a nonprofit, it will no longer be associated with the DNC.

“We'll continue to support the President in creating jobs and growing the economy from the middle out, and in fighting for issues like immigration reform, climate change, balanced deficit reduction, and reducing gun violence,” said Messina.

The switch to a 501(c)(4) organization puts OFA in the same category as conservative organizations such as Republican operative Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS. The President and Democrats have routinely criticized those organizations for refusing to disclose its donors. In the announcement, it was revealed that OFA will accept financial contributions from individuals and corporations, but will refuse donations from lobbyists or political action committees (PACs).

A call to OFA to find out whether they plan to release the names of their highest contributing donors was not immediately returned.

Since the election ended in November, the OFA campaign list has been used to rally supporters around the president’s original “fiscal cliff” plan, which called for increases in tax rates for the wealthiest Americans, and a “balanced” deficit reduction plan that included a mix of spending cuts and revenue raisers. The campaign included a Twitter campaign to pressure lawmakers to extend Bush-era tax cuts on individuals and families making $250,000 or less, using the hashtag #My2k to inform lawmakers why the tax cut was important to them.

When OFA was first created for the presidential election 2008, it was a groundbreaking development in grassroots organizing. It collected information from its many backers and, for the first time, linked supporters together through the Internet. It helped produce record turnouts for the election, using the data they collected to identify new voters and ensure they showed up on Election Day.

The 7 Sins Of Grant Seeking

It's said that breaking any of the seven deadly sins will doom you to a life of eternal damnation. That's probably not going to happen if you break any of Alan Silver's seven sins of grant seeking, but you will probably lose out on that funding you want.

In his book "How to Win Grants," Silver described each of the "sins" grant seekers often commit in their quest to get funding for their organization. He wrote that, by avoiding these sins you will instantly improve your grant funding chances. His seven deadly sins are:

• Don’t ask for money from people who will never give it to you;
• Don’t shotgun cookie-cutter proposals to long lists of funders;
• Don’t contact funders until you have learned about their funding priorities, types of projects and grantees, geographic preferences, and all other things you can find out about them;
• Don’t ask for funding before you know exactly what you need;
• Don’t submit a grant proposal without having another person read it for meaning, content, and style;
• Don’t talk too much about your project and write too little about it; and,
• Don’t give up too soon. If you have a good idea and you refine its presentation, it’s increasingly likely someone will fund it – maybe even the funder who originally rejected your proposal.

Have you ever committed any of these sins? Let us know in our comments section which one(s) you committed, and how you learned from it in future proposals.

The Nonprofit Jobs eNewsletter

There are many options to find nonprofit jobs, whether it's browsing our career center, networking, or simply calling up organizations to ask if they are hiring. One other emerging trends is to sign up for eNewsletters that contain information on the latest available positions and career advice. By subscribing to The NonProfit Times' free Jobs eNewsletter, you can get all of that information and more.

Delivered every Wednesday, the NPT Jobs eNewsletter contains the following information:

• A listing of the number of jobs by state on the Nonprofit Job Seeker;
• Three featured jobs of the week; and,
• A career advice article for job seekers.

The current edition of the eNewsletter is being sent to subscribers right now, but you can view a sneak peek of the current issue by clicking here. Here are three positions that we have featured in this issue:

President & CEO: Pittsburgh, PA
Click to view complete job and to apply

Director of Development: San Diego, CA
Click to view complete job and to apply

Assistant to Executive Director: New York City, NY
Click to view complete job and to apply

If this eNewsletter looks like something that would be of interest to you, head over to our sign-up page and get your copy today.

Featured Grant: Gun Violence Prevention

President Barack Obama will announce his proposals to reform the United States' gun laws tomorrow, nearly one month to the day of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings that claimed the lives of 20 children and six staff members. While these new proposals will likely be welcome news for gun control advocacy groups, members of these organizations know they still have to educate the public on their position.

For nonprofits that are looking to build awareness about gun violence in America, we have a new opportunity available on our grants page. The Joyce Foundation's Gun Violence Prevention Grant seeks to fund organizations which are looking to educate the public, policy makers and the media about common-sense policies that improve public health and safety.

Applications will be accepted from any nonprofit that actively engages in public policy advocacy. The board of the Joyce Foundation meets every April, July, and December, so all applications must be submitted four months prior to those meetings; Letters of inquiry are due six to eight weeks before the deadline for proposals.

More information on this opportunity can be found on the Joyce Foundation's website. If you are interested in other categories of grants, make sure to visit The NonProfit Times' Grant Finder.

6 Ways To Assemble A Grant Proposal

Chances are you've probably taken a look at some of the opportunities we have posted on our grants page. There's an even greater chance you are interested in securing one of these grants for your organization. That's great, but you have to do a little bit of prep work before you fill out that application.

According to Barbara Floersch, director of The Grantsmanship Center in Los Angeles, Calif., “The quality of the process you use to put the proposal together directly affects competiveness." In other words, filling out a grant application without a solid plan of what you want to say will diminish your chance of winning the funding.

Floersch suggests mobilizing a "team of people invested in the project, assign a leader, lay out a timeline, and assign tasks." The demands of the proposal will dictate some tasks, but here are six that should always be included:

• Gather Letters of Commitment: Get a letter from each substantive collaborator documenting the role they’ll play;
• Assemble Attachments: Be sure documents are updated, and get them into the required format, usually electronic;
• Finish the Research: Find information to fill remaining blanks. You might need a few more statistics, a couple of quotes, or even a literature review of the project’s approach;
• Develop the Budget: The narrative and budget must be perfectly synced. Be sure the financial person and writer work hand-in-hand;
• Draft the Narrative: When several people contribute sections, you’ll need one writer to pull it together to ensure cohesiveness and give it one voice; and,
• Have Others Review the Entire Proposal Package: Accept that you’re too enmeshed in the work to review it objectively. Have a couple of people critique the package. Does it respond exactly to application guidelines? Are all elements clear and convincing? Does each element support the others? Allow time for corrections.

Wanted: Director Of Foundation Relations

Are you a nonprofit professional that has significant experience with foundations? If you answered "yes" to this question, the newest featured position from the Nonprofit Job Seeker might be of interest to you.

The North Shore Animal League of America (NSALA) is looking to hire a Director of Foundation Relations to lead the effort to build and sustain relationships with national foundations and to leverage resources of the foundation community to help NSALA’s reach its organizational goals and grow its new national initiative. This will be done with a number of methods, including  identifying new prospects and cultivating and stewarding relationships with program officers at regional and national foundations and corporations.

Other responsibilities include:

• Research and contact foundation and corporate contribution prospects;
• Prepare proposals as well as written research reports;
• Identify new donor prospects;
• Oversee prospect screening;
• Be the lead grant writer and liaison with institutional funders; and,
• Work closely to align grant sources to key strategic initiatives.

The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years of relevant leadership experience in successful corporate and foundation relations and be recognized for significantly expanding support for key initiatives. A demonstrated ability to plan, execute and successfully develop partnerships that lead to transformational support is essential. Confirmed knowledge of, and top-level contact with, major sources of corporate and foundation funding is required. Candidate must have a proven track of authoring successful proposals to foundations and corporations for grants of at least $100,000.  

You can find more information by heading to our career center.

New Grant Opportunity: Families

We are continuing to get more opportunities for our Grant Finder page, which lists available funding sources from across the Internet.

As the new listings come in, we have found that we have to create more categories than we originally started with. That was certainly the case with this newest opportunity from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation. One of its primary areas of concern is helping underprivileged families, so we created the Families category. Here is the first grant available in this new section:


Type of Grant: Families
Grant Name: Family Economic Success
Agency: Walter S. Johnson Foundation
Closing Date for Applications: None


Description:

The Walter S. Johnson Foundation seeks to help establish a financial foundation for families that are “asset poor.”

Eligible Organizations:

Organizations whose work qualifies as charitable, according to IRS definitions, in northern California and Washoe County, Nev. Initial contact should be made to the appropriate staff member. Unsolicited proposals are not accepted. Interim and final reports are required.

You can find more information at: http://wsjf.pfs-llc.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

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You can check out our other available grant opportunities on our website.

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.