Executive Issues

NEW HAVEN — Watching Michael M. Kaiser, the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, speak to arts executives, as he did during two recent swings through New England, is like watching Jack Welch talk to business students.

The executives pay rapt attention, take notes and nod their heads. They ask questions, some of which begin with a heartfelt, “Thank you, Mr. Kaiser, for being here and speaking to us.” Standing ovations are routine, as are the crowds who hover hoping to shake his hand.

Many not-for-profit leaders ask whether temporarily and permanently restricted net assets should be included in determining an organization’s reserves. Operating reserves — funds that are available to support an organization’s day-to-day operations — are the appropriate measure to consider. This was one of the key findings of Grant Thornton LLP’s not-for-profit practice white paper entitled Maintaining Sufficient Reserves to Protect Your Not-for-Profit Organization.

The Budget will place a huge burden on charities and voluntary organisations, third sector umbrella bodies have warned.

They were reacting to the principal measures announced by the Chancellor, George Osborne, which include a 25 per cent cut in the budgets of government departments other than health and international development over the next four years.

In a press release, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced the hire of Donna Firsby-Greenwwod as program director for Philadelphia. The foundation also named private equity and business expert Benoit Wirz director of business consulting, a newly created position.

Social Solutions, the leading provider of performance management software for human services, announced today that its board of directors has named Jay Love to serve as the company's Chief Executive Officer starting on June 23, 2010. After a national search for candidates, Love was unanimously selected by the Social Solutions Board and Senior Management team. A proven leader with over 25 years of experience, Love has been successful at helping clients fulfill their mission more efficiently and effectively by bringing technology to the nonprofit world. With a customer-first approach, he values a corporate culture of philanthropy, honesty, professionalism, respect, and fun.

Fundraisers across the country earned a median of $66,000 last year, a 4-percent increase from last year and the first rise in pay since 2007, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

April 23, 2010, Chronicle of Philanthropy — The Internal Revenue Service is not backing away from its controversial efforts to promote good governance by charities, according to its top nonprofit regulator.

The federal tax code does not explicitly set out governance standards for the IRS to enforce, but the tax agency in the past two years has been keeping an eye on charities' governance practices -- a move that has drawn criticism from some observers.

Here, a few notes on the new look of business rules, presented by Tom Gaffny, principal at Tom Gaffny Consulting, and Mary Beth McIntyre, president of Win-Win Giving, in the session "Running Your Nonprofit Like a Business" at the DMA Nonprofit Federation 2010 Washington Nonprofit Conference.

Before you begin any fundraising program you need a plan to guide you along the way.

A good fundraising plan is a roadmap to success and shows you how to allocate your precious resources of time and money.  It can also help keep you out of crisis mode and help you control the flow of work in your office.   This is a shift from being reactive to being proactive. When you’re proactive, you’re organized and focused.  You raise more money.

Lynn Edmonds, president, L.W. Robbins Associates
Loyal donors are being conservative but holding on. Since the spring, we have seen a slight increase in giving in some audiences but not all. And in certain cases, we have been able to reactivate lapsed donors by decreasing the gift asks.