Bowling Green Raps About Big Donors

Who knew that you could make a great rap about donors?

If you are subscribed to our Instant Fundraising newsletter, you probably read about Bowling Green State University's rap tribute to the donors to its new athletic facility, The Stroh Center.  Here are some of the highlights from the rap, which proves that you can make decent rhymes in the name of philanthropy:

In the case of Miles, he “gave cash in piles/Sportin Charles Taylors, rockin’ argyles/He knows the game ya’ll, he ain’t no amateur/back in the 50s he was the student manager.”

Frack “made cash in stacks – snap – he’s given some back/2 cold million. Mad Falcon support!/He’s laying it down for the Bill Frack Court.”

If you are like me, you probably wondered what the rap sounded like.  It's one thing to read the lyrics, it's another to hear them in action.  Well luckily for you, the video was posted on YouTube.  We now present it to you in all its glory.  Enjoy!
 

The Second Mile Settles Lawsuit

We posted an article yesterday about a civil lawsuit filed against The Second Mile, the charity founded by former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.  It's the first civil lawsuit filed in the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, initiated by St. Paul, Minn.-based Anderson & Associates on behalf of an alleged victim who is not one of the eight mentioned in the state Attorney General's grand jury report.  While that suit is ongoing, it was reported last night by MyFox Philly that the beleaguered charity has settled another lawsuit by an alleged victim of Sandusky.

The suit, which was filed by "Victim Four" in the grand jury report that laid out the charges against Sandusky, had sought to freeze Second Mile's assets in anticipation of a civil suit.  The settlement that was reached Thursday states that the charity must get court approval if it wants to transfer assets or shutdown.  The plaintiff also must be informed before any movement of funds.  The Second Mile has about $9 million in assets as of Aug. 2010, as we reported in our story yesterday.

You can read additional details about the settlement on MyFox Philly's website.

Jacksonville Jaguars Owners Stay, To Relief Of Charities

When does the sale of a football team rock the nonprofit world?  When the owners of said football team are major philanthropic figures in the community.

If you are a fan of the NFL, you are probably aware that the Jacksonville Jaguars sold the franchise yesterday.  You might not be as aware that the owners of the team, Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver, are the most visible and active philanthropists in Jacksonville.  In an article published yesterday in The Florida Times-Union, nonprofits reacted with relief that, despite the sale, the Weavers will be staying in Jacksonville.

Words like "Thank God" were thrown around by various nonprofit executives when The Florida Times-Union approached them with the news.  And it's not just because of the money they donated ($55 million to local causes since the mid-90's) that has Florida charities thankful; the Weavers changed philanthropy in the city of Jacksonville.  The couple donated $27 million to The Community Foundation in 2007, most of which went to agencies in need, but $11 million of it was used to create endowments for 22 local nonprofits.  Until the Weaver's gift, few Jacksonville nonprofits were endowed.

It's because of stories like that why nonprofits were excited to learn the Weavers will continue to be active in Jacksonville philanthropy through the Weaver Family Foundation.  Time will tell if the new ownership of the Jaguars will be able to turn the team back into contenders.  But with all this uncertainty, at least nonprofits know that their favorite football owners are staying where they are.

Make sure to read the full article on the Weavers at The Florida Times-Union.

The Future Of National Service

As you are probably aware, the Dec. 1 issue of The NonProfit Times was just released the other day.  Included in that issue was a special report entitled "2012: The End Of The World Or Nonprofit Renaissance?"  This report features six columns by major nonprofit personalities like Adrian Sargeant of the Center on Philanthropy and Ben Duda of AmeriCorps Alums. 

Duda, who works as executive director at the organization, wrote a piece about national service and volunteerism.  And sticking with the end of the world theme, he discussed what place they have in America in the future.  He argues that they will endure as long as citizens demand that they do.

AmeriCorps was kind enough to blog about the piece he wrote for us, which we are very grateful for.  You can read the entire article in his blog post, but here's an excerpt from it to whet your appetite:

I’m not buying the “end-of-days” hype. I’m fully confident the Mayan Calendar will join the list of dubious doom predictions, alongside Harold Camping’s end of the world timing in 1994 or May 21, 2011, no, wait, Oct. 21, 2011, the hysteria of the Y2K computer failures, and those classic National Enquirer cover stories from the supermarket checkout line. But since we’re talking predictions, here’s where I think we’re going as a sector and as a country.


There’s a new wave of critics on the value of national service, as the (Mayan) calendar turns to 2012, with some in the House of Representatives advancing a zero budget going forward for AmeriCorps. That is not a very good idea. Its not very good for our country, especially for a generation of young Americans who want to serve their nation, and who will one day lead this country.


Is it the end of the world? No, although it certainly feels like a re-run of a bad sitcom. National service will endure and we’ll be thankful it does as a generation of nonprofit leaders, elected officials, and entrepreneurs ascend with a common career arc that is rooted in volunteerism and defined by national service.


More than 700,000 Americans have served in AmeriCorps since 1994. For 1,700 hours in service to the country this year, a member gets $5,550 toward loan repayment or future education. That’s a good investment in our future workforce and future leaders. Best of all, it represents a $2.01 return in essential services for every federal dollar, nearly unmatched when analyzing government spending.

Gleason Gras Tackles ALS

Five years ago, Steve Gleason experienced one of the high points of his football life.

The former New Orleans Saints safety participated in one of the most dramatic moments in the NFL on September 25, 2006.  His blocked punt against the Atlanta Falcons highlighted the re-opening of the Louisiana Superdome, which had been closed since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.  Five years after that memorable game, Gleason announced that he had been diagnosed with ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease), a fatal disease that damages the nerves that control muscle movement.  There is currently no cure, but that hasn't stopped Gleason from trying to raise awareness.

A day before the Saints' 49-24 win over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, The Louisiana Hospitality Foundation hosted the first annual Gleason Gras, an all day festival featuring music, games, food, and other entertainment.  WWLTV covered the event, which raised $200,000.  That money will go to the Gleason Family Trust to help offset the costs of living with ALS.

Yet for Gleason, this was just the opening act.  He told WWLTV that the ultimate goal is to raise global and national awareness about ALS.  That's a big part of why he founded his own nonprofit, Team Gleason.  That organization has multiple arms, including the Gleason Initiative Foundation, which works to help other patients struggling with Lou Gherig's Disease.

History tells us that Steve Gleason will lose his battle with ALS, as many have done before him.  But maybe, just maybe, his efforts can pave the way toward a cure in the future.  To read more about Gleason Gras and Team Gleason, head on over to WWLTV.

Facts About Fundraising Staff

Cross-Posted From The Nonprofit Jobseeker

Staff turnover is a fact of life for any nonprofit manager. A very costly fact of life. This is even more of an issue when it comes to fundraising staff. Not only is the work they do very valuable, but finding a replacement can be very difficult and expensive. And to add insult to injury, the time spent finding a replacement can be a prime period for fundraising opportunities. That's why it's so important to improve the retention of your fundraisers.

The NonProfit Times attended this year's Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International Conference on Fundraising where Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus Applied Research, Inc., spoke on the topic of staff turnover. She said the key to retaining great fundraisers lies in knowing more about them. She shared some facts gathered through a survey of fundraising employees of nonprofits:

• Why they chose a fundraising career. Most fundraisers entered the profession “accidentally” (i.e., through other work they were hired to do), rather than intentionally. Some take an opportunistic view, coming into the field as leverage to other jobs in the sector.
• The profile of a loyal fundraiser (one who intends to stay). Key characteristics include a belief in the mission, having personal/family needs accommodated, being included/respected as an active participant in planning, creative discussion, working with a team.
• Why fundraisers left their last position. Salary or increase in salary is always the primary reason why fundraisers left their last jobs or intend to leave the current one. Flexibility on salary plus offering benefits that fit the times is a first practical step to lengthening their tenure.

Private Donations For Public Schools

Most cities or towns have multiple public schools in their district.  So is it right for one public school to receive an influx of private donations while others don't get as much?

That is the question raised in a recent article in The Los Angeles Times.  The idea itself doesn't seem too controversial.  If a group of parents want their students to enjoy higher quality learning, why shouldn't they donate money so they can buy things like new computers?  The situation becomes fuzzier when you consider that there are schools in the same district that lack many of these same amenities.

The Times piece offers the case of the Santa Monica-Malibu United School District as the poster child for this discussion.  PTA donations add up to more than $2,100 per student at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School in Malibu.  McKinley Elementary in Santa Monica, on the other hand, gets only an average $96 per student in donations.  Only 2% of the students at Point Dume are poor, and the school uses the money for, among other things, classroom aides, a reading program, and choral music.  About 46% of the student population at McKinley is considered poor.

The drastic difference in donations between the two schools has sparked a debate in the district, where the school board is considering some changes.  This includes creating a district-wide nonprofit that would collect donations for personnel and distribute them evenly amongst the schools.  Donations for supplies would stay with individual schools.  Under this system, half of the donations to Point Dume would be in the hands of the nonprofit.

Parents of children at wealthier schools argue that it's their money, and they should be able to do what they want with it.  But, as the article mentions, California courts have continuously ruled that there must be an equal distribution to all public schools. 

Read the full article in The Los Angeles Times, and chime in with your thoughts on the topic.  For additional reading, check out this article from NPT about public school foundations.

The NonProfit Times' Dec. 1 Issue Is Out!

Now that's Thanksgiving is over we can begin the countdown to Christmas.  Although it's not quite December yet, The NonProfit Times has an early present for everybody: The Dec. 1 issue has now been posted online!  In fact, you may have already received it in the mail.  But if you haven't, you can now have a peek at what's in the latest edition:

Special Report:

• 2012: The End Of The World Or Nonprofit Renaissance?: A series of experts from the nonprofit sector, including the Center on Philanthropy's Adrian Sergeant, discuss what they think is in store for nonprofits in 2012.  End of the world or not.

Articles:

• Kids' Charity Is Damaged By Penn State Scandal: Learn how The Second Mile, the charity founded by former Penn State Football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, has been affected by the fallout from the Penn State child sex abuse scandal.
• Bonuses For Performance And Longevity Boost Exec Pay: We take a closer look at the executive compensation at the organizations listed in last month's NPT 100.
• William Aramony Dead At 84: William Aramony, who turned United Way (UW) into the powerhouse fundraising charity that it is today, died of bone cancer associated with prostate cancer Nov. 11 at age 84 in Alexandria, Va.

Column:

• Pick One: Nonprofit volunteers are often put in positions where their own personal safety can be endangered or where they could pose a threat to others.  Learn how to manage these risks in this column by guest authors Ronald Taylor, Jeff Tenenbaum, and Thomas Strong.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving!  Since we will all be busy stuffing our faces with turkey and other great food, there will be no new blog posts until Monday of next week.  Enjoy the holiday!

Black Friday Activity Attracts Charities

Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year because of the huge sales available.  People all over the country wake up early so they can be the first to get in stores.  And now, as detailed in a story we just posted on The NonProfit Times website, charities are getting in on the action.

Many of the organizations getting involved this year are taking a technology-based route to their Black Friday activities.  For example, for every user that "checks in" using foursquare, a location-based social network for mobile devices, JC Penney will pledge $25 to The Salvation Army, up to $100,000.  The Alexandria, Va.-based organization will also allow donors to give money to their annual Red Kettle Campaign, which kicks off during halftime of tomorrow's Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game, via on-site smart phones in select cities.

JC Penney will also pledge $50 to The Salvation Army for every angel "adopted" via the Angel Giving Tree Online, where donors can be matched with items needed by those less fortunate.  The store, now in its third year, already has had 100,000 angels adopted.

The USO is taking a slightly different approach to Black Friday.  "The USO Wishbook," launched in conjunction with the holiday season, sells items for soldiers and their families on their website.  According to Kelli Seely, the organization's chief development officer, it's their first attempt at an alternative giving catalog.  The gifts available on the website range from the simple to the remarkable.  You can make a $25 phone call from a soldier or purchase $5,000 total entertainment system.  The USO plans to keep the Wishbook online throughout the year, adapting it for other holidays.

Given the popularity of Black Friday, it seems likely these programs will be met with a lot of success.  But we'll have to wait a couple of days to see their real impact.  Make sure to read the full story on this topic over on our website.

Nonprofit Jobs By State

Cross-Posted From NPT Jobs Blog

There are so many factors that go into finding great nonprofit jobs. Aside from the starting salary and relevance to your career skills, one of the most important of those factors is proximity to your current residence. Most job seekers would have a lot of hesitation working for an organization that requires them to travel long distances; even if it's the job of their dreams. Using The Nonprofit Jobseeker's Jobs By State Page, users can see the latest jobs in their area with only a click of their mouse.

Let's say you want to find a New York nonprofit job. All you have to do is go to our dedicated NY nonprofit job page and you will see all of the most recent positions posted in that state. The page is automatically updated with the latest jobs, so you can be sure you will be seeing a new job the second it is posted.

If our jobs by state page doesn't offer enough customization for you, the Nonprofit Jobseeker also allows users to filter search results by state. This will show you all jobs in that area, including ones that might not be as recent. Job hunters can also enter their zip code to make their search more specific.

We hope that you will enjoy using these features. Feel free to leave any feedback.

Free Webinar: Performing Risk Assessment And Designing Internal Controls

The NonProfit Times and Zurich are putting on another free webinar on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 01:00 PM.  The topic will be performing risk assessment and designing internal controls.  Being prepared with written policies and procedures to minimize risk is a vital part of a non-profit organization. Budget constraints may mean that an organization may not retain the highly experienced human and legal resources needed to manage their risk and compete with the ever-changing risk landscape.

This webinar will help you learn to recognize and identify risks your company may or could potentially be facing. We'll examine internal controls you can implement to mitigate risk and build solutions to manage them effectively.

Speakers include:

Peg Jackson is an author, consultant and nationally-recognized lecturer in risk management, business continuity planning and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. She earned a doctorate in public administration (DPA) from Golden Gate University in San Francisco and holds the professional designation of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). She is also a Principal with Adjunct LLC in San Francisco, Calif.

Susan J. Ellis is President of Energize, Inc., a training, consulting, and publishing firm that specializes in volunteer management. She founded the Philadelphia-based company in 1977 and since that time has assisted clients throughout North America (48 states and 6 provinces), Europe (10 countries), Asia (4 countries), Latin America (2 countries), Australasia (2 countries), and Israel to create or strengthen their volunteer corps.

Tom McLaughlin joined CCR in 2011 after 19 years as a nonprofit consulting specialist with two national accounting and consulting firms. Tom has more than 35 years of nonprofit experience as a nonprofit manager, trade association executive, and management consultant. Among his previous positions, Tom served as an executive with two major Massachusetts social service agencies and as Associate Director of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers.

Register today!

Sierra Club Chairman Carl Pope Resigns

Michael Brune has spent his career organizing small activist groups.  He now has a bigger challenge ahead of him: Reversing membership declines and changing the entire philosophy of San Francisco, Calif.-based Sierra Club.

Carl Pope, Sierra Club chairman, resigned over growing discontent with the direction of the organization according to a report in The Los Angeles Times.  He was replaced by Brune, who has pledged to focus on grass-roots recruiting of new members.  Pope, 66, had been a member of the organization for over 40 years before becoming chairman in 2010.  He had previously served as executive director for 17 years.

Although he played a huge role in the environmental nonprofit, Pope made decisions that angered some in the organization.  His multi-million dollar deal in 2008 to put the Sierra Club logo on Clorox's brand of "green" products comes to mind.  Pope described himself as a "big-tent guy" to The Times, saying that the Club wouldn't be able to accomplish its goals if it only worked with those who agreed with them.  He insists that Sierra Club board agreed that it was worth losing some flexibility to gain a major increase in clout.

There were also some in the organization who thought Pope had reduced the role of chapter experts in favor of paid staffers and attorneys.  They were also turned off by his work not only with corporations, but big labor and manufacturers.

Yet for all the controversy, Pope leaves behind some major accomplishments.  He led the Club's efforts to protect 10 million acres of wildlife, such as the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California.  He bought the organization closer to large donors, leading to major donations from powerful groups.  For example, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's charitable organization donated $50 million over four years to the club's campaign to shut down coal-fired power plants.  This was part of Pope's larger philosophy of shifting the Club's focus towards fighting climate change, and away from smaller campaigns to protect the wild.

It was the growing push to refocus on grass-roots campaigns that caused Pope to step down.  Under the new leadership of Michael Brune, the nonprofit plans to cut ties with Clorox and other corporations, and refocus its efforts on adding an "army" of new volunteers.  This will be music to the ears of those who were discontent with Pope's leadership.  These individuals believed he was abandoning them, though Pope  insists it is the Sierra Club is straying from the core principles of its founder, evangelist John Muir. 

It remains to be seen how the end of the Pope era will affect the future of the Sierra Club.  One thing's for sure, though: Brune has some big shoes to fill.

You can read more about this story over at The Los Angeles Times.  In addition, you can read more about issues of governance on The NonProfit Times.

Using Celebrities For Breast Cancer Awareness

It's not uncommon to see nonprofit organizations enlist the help of celebrities to generate buzz.  When they a cause is paired together with big names, it is often a recipe for success.  That has certainly been the case with the Los Angeles, Calif.-based Noreen Fraser Foundation's campaign for breast cancer awareness.

An article in last week's edition of The Times of Northwest Indiana highlighted how the organization has used celebrities in their recent Men For Women Now (M4WN) campaign, which provides a forum for men to support each other while helping their loved ones fight breast cancer.  The campaign has already garnered some big names in show-biz, like Russel Brand, Neil Patrick Harris, Zach Galifianakis, and Jack Black.

The campaign is notable for bringing some comic relief to a painful subject.  For example, Black appeared in an ad for M4WN to encourage women to get mammograms:

"All of us guys, dudes, and bro–imgos are getting off our lazy butts and making appointments for our beloved ladies to meet with this bad boy."

The campaign also partnered with Chicago, Ill.-based Threadless to create a t-shirt creation contest.  Artists were encouraged to submit their designs for a shirt that would raise awareness towards breast cancer using humor.  25 percent of the proceeds from the shirt, which will be sold by Threadless, would go to the Noreen Fraser Foundation in an effort to conduct more research on breast cancer.  The creator of the winning design is set to receive $750 in cash, a $250 Threadless gift card, and an iPad 2 prize pack.  Not a bad haul for a little bit of creativity.

Make sure to read the full article on M4WN on NWI.com.

NPT Jobs: Improving Fundraiser Retention

Cross-Posted From The Nonprofit Jobseeker

It's increasingly rare these days to find people who are not only successful at fundraising, but also have enthusiasm for it. That's why, if you hired someone with those traits, it's so important to do everything in your power to keep them. How do you go about improving fundraiser retention? It's a difficult task, no doubt, but it can be done.

The NonProfit Times attended this year's AFP International Conference on Fundraising. Speaking at that conference was Penelope Burke, president of Cygnus Applied Research, Inc. She had some ideas on how you can best go about keeping your most valuable fundraisers:

• Be flexible on your salary and benefits. If they are that good at what they do, they deserve to be rewarded. Doing this also means you can be even more insistent on bottom-line results.
• Allow your fundraisers to work independently. You should check in on them from time to time get updates on their progress, but make sure you are not breathing down their necks.
• Value their input. Taking a suggestion to heart is one of the best things a nonprofit manager can do to show your employees that they are being listened to. It's also a great way to make them want to continue to work for you.
• On a related note, make sure to publicly credit staff when they come up with a good idea.
• Looking for a new senior fundraiser? Consider promoting from within rather than hiring a brand new employee. This will improve employee morale and eliminates the need for extensive orientation periods.

Planned Giving Tips: Principles For Effective Stewardship

Baby boomers are aging and as a result, planned giving campaigns have picked up.  An important part of these campaigns is stewardship.  Nonprofits must know how to effectively steward baby boomer donors and their gifts. 

During the 2011 Association For Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) international conference in Boston, Mass., Katherine Swank, senior consultant at Target Analytics, offered her own principles for effective leadership based off of Kay Sprinkle Grace’s book Beyond Fundraising.  The NonProfit Times was there to record her tips, and here are some of them:

• Engage the donor immediately
• Don’t mix messages like sending a thank you with a gift ask
• Carve out a budget for stewardship
• Keep your stewardship in line with organizational image
• Determine what kind of involvement your planned donors want outside of making a donation
• Use current legacy donors to convey messages to potential legacy donors

You can read the rest of the tips on our website.

An Unfortunate Case Of Branding

File this one under unfortunate cases of branding.

You probably know by now that Jerry Sandusky, the central figure in the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, founded a charity called The Second Mile.  It's stated mission is "helping young people achieve their potential as individuals and as community members and providing education and support for their parents and youth service professionals."  Worthy goals, no doubt, but that mission has now been tainted by the charges against Sandusky.  As a result, a lot of people don't view The Second Mile in a very positive light.

In a recent article on The Huffington Post, we learn about the unfortunate effect the Penn State scandal has had on a Philadelphia-based organization called The Second Mile Center, a nonprofit thrift shop that helps ex-cons get back on their feet.  Although it shares a similar name to Sandusky's organization, they are in no way connected.  But given the similarity in the two names, people have confused the store with the scandal plagued charity.  Since the charges against Sandusky became public, The Second Mile Center has experienced a 30 percent drop in sales. 

Ron Lucas, who sits on the board of the nonprofit, told Weeklyxpress.com that they have received countless angry phone calls from people, most of whom hang up before they can explain that they have no connection to The Second Mile.  They have even put up signs on its door, one of which reads:

"We are not in any way connected to the Second Mile of the Penn State scandal. We are the Second Mile Center."

The Second Mile Center has been in existence for 30 years, while The Second Mile was formed in 1977.  It would be a shame if the negative attention towards that organization bought down this Philadelphia thrift shop.  In the mean time, Lucas and everyone else at The Second Mile Center can only hope people will start to learn the truth.

What Do The Occupy Wall Street Protesters Want?

In light of the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park in NYC, I thought I would bump up this post.

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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past month or so, you are probably aware of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that have been going on around the world.  You probably have at least a vague idea of what sparked the protests: Anger over a perceived unfair financial system.  A system that a few years ago led to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, a crisis from which the country is still recovering.  Given the bailout of big banks, and huge bonuses paid out to their executives, it's easy to understand why people are angry.  Who wouldn't be?

Yes, it's pretty clear what these large masses are lashing out against.  What's not as clear is what the end game is for the protesters.  We recently posted a column by editor in chief Paul Clolery, set to appear in our Nov. 1 issue, that articulates this question.  It tackles some interesting contradictions of the protest, like how Occupy Wall Street supporters rail against unfair bank practices while embracing Russell Simmons, who sells pre-paid bank cards with monthly fees to poor communities.  That's a practice that is at least as bad as the questionable practices of banks.

The column's biggest issue with the protest is its lack of organization.  All of the social change movements in the past had a clear goal in mind.  The civil rights movement wanted equal rights for all.  The protests against the Vietnam War wanted an end to a conflict that had no end in sight.  How do the Occupy Wall Street protesters hope to get the change they seek?  These protesters need help from the charitable sector and seasoned protesters to help make a real impact on important issues like wealth disparity.  Right now, as the column opines, "it’s just an opportunity to post to YouTube."

Conflict Of Interest With Sandusky Judge?

The Penn State child sex abuse scandal is already one of the biggest stories in the news these days.  And now another layer of intrigue has been added thanks to a potential case of conflict of interest.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported yesterday that the state attorney general's office, which has charged former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky with 40 counts of sex abuse involving eight children, had sought bond of $500,000 and electronic monitoring.  This request was not granted by Judge Leslie Dutchot, who set bond at $100,000 unsecured, which Sandusky later met.  Why is this of note?  It turns out that Judge Dutchot volunteers for Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile. 

According to the Post-Gazette article, this information was listed on the website of the State College law firm Goodell & Yurchak.  Judge Dutchot would make no comment on the apparent conflict of interest.

Challenges In A Merger

For all the benefits of a potential nonprofit merger, it brings along as many risks and challenges.  How will existing departments function under the new management?  What will be the fate of current employees?  How will the merger be announced to the public?  These are all questions that can cause lots of headaches for nonprofit managements.  It's enough to make you reconsider going through with the merger.  Luckily, there's help on the horizon.

During the 2011 Risk Management and Finance Summit for Nonprofits, Eileen Morgan Johnson of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP discussed the risks of nonprofit mergers and separations.  The NonProfit Times was in attendance for their tips, which included the following:

• Periodically review governing documents.
• If a potential conflict can't be avoided, make sure it is disclosed.
• Don't be afraid to request a legal opinion when the issue warrants it.
• Seek the advice of independent experts.
• Insist on thorough documentation. This includes board minutes showing discussion and reports, memoranda and other documents considered in decision making.
• Keep your employees informed of all new merger developments and provide ample opportunity for their feedback.  Nobody likes being kept in the dark.
• Make sure that your fellow directors get copies of all proposed agreements or summaries.
• Demand that board minutes accurately reflect votes.

Want to read the rest of the tips?  Read the full article over at The NonProfit Times.