NonProfit Pro

Obamacare’s startup health insurance plans are flirting with financial distress, as all but five of the 23 nonprofit companies had negative cash flow from operations in the first three quarters of 2014, Standard & Poor’s said in a report Tuesday. The startups, called Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, or co-ops, were created with $3.4 billion in federal loans as a counterweight to established health insurers. One of the largest of the companies, West Des Moines, Iowa-based CoOportunity, has failed already and is being liquidated by the state.

Saying thank you more than please, celebrating the joy of giving and helping donors fulfill their needs are all vital efforts and strategies. Just be sure that, at the end of the day, you are truly advancing relationships and being appropriate stewards of the culture and resources of your organization.

Wounded Warrior Project’s Steve Nardizzi, the Tandon Institute’s Atul Tandon and Miami Children’s Health Foundation’s Lucy Morillo are successful nonprofit executives who know what to look for in leadership. Here are their insights on finding strong nonprofit leaders.

(Press release, Feb. 11, 2015) — Innovairre Communications, a world leader in fundraising, introduced Innovairre e-­Receipts software technology today. The e-­Receipts platform enables nonprofits to convert donor transactional and CRM data from any channel (including Web, email, mobile, text, social, direct mail, events and call center) into a highly personalized email acknowledgment that links to a secure, personalized tax receipt. The technology is designed to provide a unified but personal experience for donors, so nonprofits can simplify operations and increase donor engagement and subsequent gifting. Through marketing automation, the technology supports virtually unlimited "versions," multiple languages, and trackable calls to action within an easy-to-use interface and workflow. Advanced data transformation and analytics capability are part of the product offering to help monitor and optimize fundraising effectiveness.

Recent tweets from folks you should follow.

The Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill this week that would change some aspects of how class action lawsuits are handled in Oregon, against the wishes of most Republican members. On its face, the bill would require at least half the unclaimed money in a class action lawsuit to be given to the Oregon State Bar's legal aid fund and sometimes to a cause related to the subject of the suit. (For example, an environmental nonprofit in a case regarding pollution.)

The worst thing any nonprofit organization can do to its volunteers is to give them meaningless tasks. Volunteers, especially corporate volunteers, want to make a difference with their time. Here are 10 ways to motivate corporate volunteers.

(Press release, Feb. 10, 2015) — Salsa Labs Inc., creator of the all-in-one online engagement platform, announces the release of its newest software, Solis. Designed to help growing nonprofit organizations take full advantage of online communications, outreach and fundraising, Solis guides users step-by-step and encourages best practices to ensure success. Users can control email, donation, social sharing and online CRM tools — all in one application.

Recent tweets on nonprofits (#nonprofits).

Two years ago I decided to launch my blog. I never promised it would be pretty, but I did promise some tough nonprofit fundraising and marketing issues would be discussed.