Executive Director Peer Group of the Capital Region

NYCON CEO Doug Sauer Testifies at Public Hearing on Executive Compensation at Not-for-Profits

2012-02-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

Public Hearing: To examine executive compensation at not-for-profit organizations receiving State funding and the actions needed to prevent State tax dollars from being wasted on excessive salaries
Senate Standing Committee on Investigations and Government Operations
Chair: Senator Carl L. Marcellino

NY Council of Nonprofits CEO Doug Sauer shares feedback and testimony on the Governor's Executive Order addressing Executive Compensation for Not-for-Profits. You can hear Doug's comments beginning at 49:30. Watch for more from NYCON shortly. Interested in joining the NYCON mailing list? Subscribe here.

Speak Up for the Arts! Arts Advocacy Day - February 14, 2012

2012-01-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

Arts supporters from all around New York State will visit their State Legislators in Albany on Tuesday, February 14 to speak up for the arts on Arts Advocacy Day 2012.

Visual artists, authors, actors, musicians, dancers, and arts professionals of all kinds will join representatives from arts councils, museums, and cultural organizations to request strong support for NYSCA - the New York State Council on the Arts. This is an important opportunity to remind our State Senators and Assembly members how valuable arts and cultural services are in communities from Long Island to Buffalo, and from Plattsburgh to Binghamton. The services and grants provided by NYSCA help to support large and small cultural institutions and arts programs across the State of New York. These organizations and activities create jobs, enhance tourism, and are an essential ingredient in small rural towns and large urban centers.

Join the chorus and let your voice be heard! Plan to be in Albany on February 14 to let your Legislators know that you support State funding for the arts. Please visit www.ArtsNYS.org to learn more about Arts Advocacy Day.

FULTON COUNTY REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DISCUSS POSSIBLE AFFILIATION

2012-01-05T07:26:00.001-08:00

Boards of Directors come together to investigate joining forces; retain facilitation and legal assistance

Amsterdam, NY and Gloversville, NY–The Boards of Directors of the Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce announced today that they are in the process of investigating the possibility of a merger/affiliation of the two Chambers of Commerce. They also announced that to move the process forward, they have retained the services of facilitation and legal assistance from the New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.
“With the departure of both Executives of the Chambers (former Presidents Deb Auspelmyer and Wally Hart), we thought it a great time to look at the possibility of joining forces,” said Chuck Schwartz, Chair, Montgomery County Chamber Board of Directors. “We always want to be proactive for our members in looking at ways to maximize their Chamber membership.”
“There is definitely strength in numbers,” said Mark Finkle, Chair, Fulton County Chamber Board of Directors, “and with an affiliation with Montgomery County, our business communities become a much stronger voice in our region, in Albany, and even in Washington, DC.”
Both Chambers’ Boards of Directors have appointed from their membership an Affiliation Task Force; in Fulton County the Task Force members are Mark Finkle (Stevenson Distributing, LLC), Terri Easterly (Coldwell Banker-Arlene M. Sitterly), Amy Karas (Ruby & Quiri), Jim Landrio (Holiday Inn of Johnstown-Gloversville), Larry Raike (WalMart DC #6096), Diana Marshall (Gloversville Sewing Center) and as a non-voting member Terry Swierzowski, the Chamber’s Interim President. From the Montgomery County Chamber, the Task Force is comprised of Brennen Parker (Rose & Kiernan), Vic Giulianelli (St. Mary’s Healthcare), Lesley Lanzi (FMCC), Judy Phetteplace (Judith Ann Realty), Mike Decker (Liberty Enterprises), Kevin McClary (Amsterdam Recorder), and the Chamber’s Interim President Peter Capobianco, who is a non-voting member.
The issue of affiliation will be discussed at both Chambers’ Annual Dinner Meetings which are scheduled for Thursday, January 19 for the Fulton County Chamber at the Holiday Inn of Johnstown-Gloversville and for the Montgomery County Chamber on Friday, January 27 at the River Stone Manor in Scotia. Members of both Affiliation Task Forces will be at both events to elicit discussion about the issue from members in attendance. In addition, both Chambers will hold informational sessions about the possible affiliation. These will be scheduled for after the Annual Dinner meetings.
The next steps in the Affiliation process: The Affiliation Task Force will pursue a Due Diligence Analysis of a wide variety of corporate documents, budgets, program operations and all the internal controls in both Chambers to determine the best structural manner to affiliate, making the same recommendation to the respective Boards of Directors, who will then seek the permissions of their respective Memberships to formalize the affiliation in the Spring of 2012. The New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. will facilitate the same and file the required documents with the New York State Department of State after the formal action of the two Memberships.

Report: Upstate pays state less in taxes than it receives

2012-01-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

Upstate New York pays the state less in taxes and other revenue than it receives back in state expenditures, according to a report from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the University at Albany.

About 24 percent of taxes and revenues collected by New York state in 2010 came from the upstate region, according to the report, titled “Giving and Getting.” But upstate New York received about 35 percent of state spending.

The Rockefeller Institute classified upstate New York as including 48 counties that are not part of the Capital Region, New York City, or the five-county downstate suburbs linked to New York City.

The Capital Region — made up of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties — also paid the state less than it received. It paid just below 4 percent of the state’s total taxes and receipts and received 7 percent of state spending.

Meanwhile, New York City and its downstate suburbs paid the state more than they received in expenditures.

New York City contributed more than 45 percent of all state taxes and revenues. It received about 40 percent of expenditures in return, according to the report.

Downstate suburbs in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties gave the state 24 percent or 27 percent of its taxes and revenues, depending on calculation methods used. Those areas took home around 18 percent of state funding, the Rockefeller Institute report found.

The report calculated receipts paid and expenditures received in each region using various methods — by place of residence and by place of work. Each method showed that upstate New York and the Capital Region received more than they paid, while New York City and its downstate suburbs paid more than they received.

Upstate New York would have lost between $8.1 billion and $9.3 billion if its share of state-funded expenditures matched the revenues it contributed, according to the Rockefeller Institute. The Capital Region would have lost about $2.7 billion.

New York City would have received an additional $4.1 billion to $6.1 billion in state funding if state expenditures matched revenues from the city, the report found. Downstate suburbs would have gained $4.6 billion to $7.9 billion.

The New York City–based Citizens Budget Commission, which describes itself as a nonprofit civic organization focused on changing the finances and services of New York City and New York state government, commissioned the report. It was supported by a grant from the New York Community Trust, a New York City–based community foundation with more than $1.9 billion in almost 2,000 individual charitable funds.

Analysis: Cuomo's focus to be running gov't in '12

2012-01-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal offered this perspective on Cuomo and 2012:

After a year of political wins including a cap on property tax growth and the legalization of gay marriage, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he even managed to surprise himself this year.

"I think it has been a remarkably different year for this government on every level," Cuomo told The Associated Press in an extensive interview. "I'm proud of the way it's acting, proud of the way it's performing and I think performance is probably more important than ever before."

He said he accomplished practically his entire four-year legislative agenda that propelled him to office a year ago. It included a rare spending cut, elimination of a near-record $10 billion deficit that he inherited, a 2 percent cap on the growth in property taxes, the gay marriage law, and, after dropping his no-tax pledge, a Cuomo-led tax revision that raises billions from a millionaire tax while providing a modest but rare cut for 4.4 million middle-class New Yorkers. His approval rating was a sky-high 68 percent last week in a Quinnipiac University poll.

So for 2012, he's going to turn to tinkering and overhauling under the hood of state government, the way he does with his classic '75 Corvette and '68 Pontiac GTO.

Not everything has been a clear win so far. Cuomo is still criticized for cutting back-room deals after promising the most open government in state history. His bills, including a much-needed ethics bill, have gaping holes despite the self-congratulations of Albany leaders. His income tax overhaul this month raised taxes on the very rich, after he promised no new taxes because they would drive employers out of state. His tax break for the middle class drew big headlines, but it will mean just $300 or so for most families, as he increases spending he vowed to cut. And his new ethics enforcement board has had one of the rockiest of starts, including holding a secret meeting.

But his public appeal remains near historic highs.

Look for hints of a second act in the weird way Cuomo unwinds:

After back-to-back private negotiations with seasoned legislative leaders and countless calls to allies and foes, he steps out of the thick plastered walls and 4-inch thick hardwood doors that protect his office to mull over the sanding and painting by workers in the Capitol's halls.

He adopts the role of a very hands-on, $179,000-a-year laborer intent on stripping down and restoring the ancient pile of a capitol. His father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, used to nearly chain himself to the place 20 years ago with Andrew at his side, a 23-year-old unpaid confidant and strategist. Today, the younger Cuomo can be seen pointing out the places portraits should hang in the Hall of Governors outside his office, scaling the spider web of scaffolding in towers for a personal review or taking to the roof of the massive Capitol.

Expect more of the craftsman Cuomo in 2012 as he says he'll turn from pushing landmark legislation to making the state's massive agencies with 170,000 workers, an endless fleet of vehicles, banks of computers and tons of other resources work better.

"I like to build," said Cuomo, who once founded a nonprofit organization that built homes for the poor and served as federal housing secretary. "I have seized this building (the capitol) as a metaphor for the whole process.

"To me, the place is entirely different than it was 20 years ago — not for the good. I believe there has been a deterioration, a pervasive deterioration in the performance, the integrity, the pride in the culture," Cuomo said. "There's so much work to do and people don't even notice. In my mind's eye, I see the building as it was 20 years go ... you know when you live in a house for a long time and you don't notice the paint fading and then you move a picture?"

As he did for complex legislative proposals, he now reduces the detailed problem of running government better to a simple proposition.

"You should reorganize first, then cut," he said, turning on its head the process of cutting state spending over the past three years. "Don't use the budget to make management decisions. Make management decisions, then do your budget."

Cuomo was widely credited with doing just that as President Bill Clinton's secretary for housing and urban development. He even makes a case that he might enjoy rebuilding state government, even if it comes with fewer headlines and less attention than his first year.

Cuomo started the year with a 70 percent favorability rating in polls and ends with a 72 percent favorability rating, a rare height and even more unusual show of staying power.

"The governor has had an incredibly successful first year in office from a policy perspective, from a political perspective, and from a perspective of how the voters of this state see him," said Steven Greenberg of the Siena poll.

There are, Greenberg notes, still landmines to navigate.

Among them is whether to approve "hydrofracking," the process in which chemicals and water are forced into shale to tap a natural gas reserve deep in the Southern Tier. It's seen as a gold rush by some and a threat to the environment by others. He also will have to decide whether to accept or veto new election district lines. Traditionally, the majorities of the Senate and Assembly contort the lines to protect their power, a practice Cuomo vowed as a candidate to veto. But now these majorities are needed allies.

He also promised to create private-sector jobs. And if his legislative agenda is slim, he will be reminded of some big campaign promises that he hasn't touched as governor. Key among them is campaign finance reform, desired by every candidate but few incumbents.

"I think Gov. Cuomo has a potential to have a very good second year," Greenberg said. "But he also has the potential to run into some road blocks and start to see the incredibly strong support he has with voters weakening a bit. It could turn on a dime."

'Dismal' prospects: 1 in 2 Americans are now poor or low income

2011-12-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too 'rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."

•Study: 1 in 5 American children lives in poverty
Congressional Republicans and Democrats are sparring over legislation that would renew a Social Security payroll tax cut, part of a year-end political showdown over economic priorities that could also trim unemployment benefits, freeze federal pay and reduce entitlement spending.

Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questioned whether some people classified as poor or low-income actually suffer material hardship. He said that while safety-net programs have helped many Americans, they have gone too far, citing poor people who live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.

With nearly 14 million Americans unemployed, a new child welfare study finds one in five children are living in poverty. Nearly one in three live in homes where no parent works full-time year-round. NBC's Chris Jansing reports.
"There's no doubt the recession has thrown a lot of people out of work and incomes have fallen," Rector said. "As we come out of recession, it will be important that these programs promote self-sufficiency rather than dependence and encourage people to look for work."

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Mayors in 29 cities say more than 1 in 4 people needing emergency food assistance did not receive it. Many middle-class Americans are dropping below the low-income threshold — roughly $45,000 for a family of four — because of pay cuts, a forced reduction of work hours or a spouse losing a job. Housing and child-care costs are consuming up to half of a family's income.

States in the South and West had the highest shares of low-income families, including Arizona, New Mexico and South Carolina, which have scaled back or eliminated aid programs for the needy. By raw numbers, such families were most numerous in California and Texas, each with more than 1 million.

The struggling Americans include Zenobia Bechtol, 18, in Austin, Texas, who earns minimum wage as a part-time pizza delivery driver. Bechtol and her 7-month-old baby were recently evicted from their bedbug-infested apartment after her boyfriend, an electrician, lost his job in the sluggish economy.

After an 18-month job search, Bechtol's boyfriend now works as a waiter and the family of three is temporarily living with her mother.

"We're paying my mom $200 a month for rent, and after diapers and formula and gas for work, we barely have enough money to spend," said Bechtol, a high school graduate who wants to go to college. "If it weren't for food stamps and other government money for families who need help, we wouldn't have been able to survive."

About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That's up by 4 million from 2009, the earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty measure.

Read more here.

Controlling trillions, women drive charitable giving

2011-12-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

When Allison Lowe-Fotos turned 30, she didn't want gifts. Instead, she asked friends and family to donate online to the Chicago Foundation for Women. "Much to my surprise, I raised more than $800," says Lowe-Fotos, a social worker who serves on group's Young Women's Leadership Council. "It was empowering to know that my family and friends wanted to support my passion for this cause."

With her birthday request, Lowe-Fotos furthered what has increasingly become a fundamental truth in today's philanthropic world: Women are driving charitable giving. In fact, three out of four individuals in households with incomes of $200,000 or more report women are either the sole decision maker or equal partner in directing their family's philanthropy, according a new Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey released today.

"Women in this country currently hold the majority of wealth," says Claire Costello, senior vice president and national foundation executive for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "So it behooves everyone in the nonprofit sector to pay attention to the financial clout and moral imagination of women as they really determine where dollars go."

Because they live longer than men, women could oversee more than $41 trillion passed from generation to generation during the next 50 years, according to the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University, which researched the Bank of America report. For most women, however, philanthropy is much more than writing a check.

"Women give to causes close to their heart," says Lisa Dietlin, a Chicago-based philanthropic adviser. "They get directly involved, either by volunteering or providing ideas and problem-solving to make an organization better."

COLLECTIVE GIVING

Not surprisingly, women's ongoing rise in philanthropy parallels their growing presence in the workplace and own accumulation of personal wealth. Also at work, however, has been the expansion of women's funding networks across the country during the last two decades. These organizations, usually community-based, typically grant anywhere from $10,000 to $2 million annually. More importantly, though, they provide women donors with a sense of collective impact.

"It's recognizing that we can do more together than we ever could alone," says Tracy Johnson, director of the San Diego Women's Foundation, which usually awards grants of $250,000 or more. "Every member puts $2,000 in the pot for five years to begin, and now you have something truly significant."

Many women first learn about a cause or funding network at a friend's kitchen table or in their living room. Jill Hammond, for instance, joined the Washington State-based Jewish Women's Funding Network in 2006 at the request of a close friend. She and its 49 other members solicit and vet grant proposals. Where the group's annual $25,000 grant goes is decided by ballot.

"Discussions are lively and everyone has a say," Hammond says. "What I appreciate most is that it is truly democratic."

MEASURED IMPACT

Even on their own, women tend to be more strategic in their philanthropy than men, the Bank of America findings suggest. They are more inclined to create a plan and budget as well as undertake more due diligence before meting out funds.

"Women donors want to be partners, meet the leadership, go out into the field and see what a nonprofit really does on a day-to-day basis," says Sara Hall, founder of New Philanthropic Advisors, a Boston-based firm that counsels high-net-worth women donors. "They do real analysis and research."

Consider Sasha Rabsey, one of Hall's clients. A stay-at-home mom from the San Francisco Bay area, Rabsey three years ago packed up her family and spent five weeks in Ghana caring for sick children. The experience led Rabsey to form her own foundation, the HOW Fund, which has now given out nearly $200,000 to grassroots nonprofit groups throughout Africa. "I go on site visits and ask a ton of questions," she says. "Because being actively engaged is the only way to do this if you want to be successful."

This hands-on approach may also be why women tend to take more risks in their giving - and they are more willing than men to stop giving if the results aren't there. "Women are tenacious, dogged and willing to work on solving any problem an organization has," Dietlin says. "But if an organization does give back in kind, most women donors aren't going to give again."

WHERE MALE AND FEMALE DONORS DIFFER

At the Dallas Women's Foundation, one of its success stories is a donor who, when she first joined, only gave about $10,000 per year. Five years later, she was a $1 million donor, says Roslyn Dawson Thompson, who joined the network at its inception in 1985 as a donor and now is its CEO. "She had the means but didn't believe she had the power or the right to give more."

Indeed, two main distinctions in men and women's giving patterns is consistency and size. Men will often give every year to the same cause, frequently larger institutions such as their alma maters, according to both the Bank of America survey and other studies, and their donations tend to be larger. Women instead spread their wealth, giving smaller amounts to several groups.

"Women have great power in philanthropy," says K. Sujata, president of the Chicago Foundation for Women. "We're encouraging members not to be afraid to give in a way that makes a deep commitment both over time and in terms of the dollar amount."

Sujata also wants women to take credit for their giving. "They're giving to causes that are changing lives," she says. "Be bold about saying yes, I am directing my family's funds to this because it is important."

The Arts Center names new President

2011-11-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

NEW PRESIDENT Christopher Marblo

We are pleased to announce that Christopher Marblo, M.A., has been appointed as the new President of The Arts Center of the Capital Region. Marblo, a seasoned educator with a strong arts background, comes from The Town School in New York City.

"I am thrilled and honored to be the next President of The Arts Center" said Marblo. "The Center serves a vital role in the promotion and experience of the arts in the Capital Region, and I look forward to building on its rich and enduring legacy and helping to write the next chapters of its story."

Interim President Deborah Onslow will remain with The Arts Center until Marblo begins in June 2012.

Welcome, Chris! We are very excited to have you on board.
For the more information and the complete press release, please visit our website.

Charting a Decade of Online Donations

2011-11-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

Charting a Decade of Online Donations
November 23, 2011, 11:04 am
By Cody Switzer
Only 4 percent of donors had given online in 2001. This year, about 65 percent have given to charity through the Internet.

That’s one of the comparisons made in a new graphic from Network for Good, a fund-raising and volunteerism Web site that celebrates its 10th anniversary this month.

In 2001, the average donation through the site was $226. But this year the average gift is $73, a change that Network for Good interprets as a sign that online giving has “gone mainstream.”

Here’s the full graphic:

NY comptroller says late checks hurt nonprofits

2011-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

NY comptroller says late checks hurt nonprofits
Nov. 15, 2011, 3:01 a.m. EST
AP
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says late contract approvals and payments by the state are hurting nonprofit providers and jeopardizing services.

DiNapoli says state agencies last year were on average six months late in approving nine out of 10 contracts valued at $50,000 or more, often after services were provided.

An analysis of the first half of 2011 shows nearly 90 percent of contracts approved by the comptroller were submitted late by state agencies.

DiNapoli says nonprofits operate on thin margins and provide basic services ranging from health care clinics to work programs, with 22,000 active grant contracts totaling $16.8 billion.

The nonprofit sector employed 1.25 million people statewide last year.

You can access the article by Clicking Here.

Nonprofit Knowledge Matters | Protecting the Charitable Giving Incentive

2011-10-28T10:20:00.001-07:00

Protect the Charitable Giving Incentive

Using Our Outside Voices in the House … and in the Senate

Nonprofits are not used to raising our voices. We teach others to use their “indoor voices,” and we mediate disputes so others won’t yell in anger. We heal the wounded, silently. We feed the hungry, quietly. At times we play loud music and paint loud colors on canvases. But you get the picture: we are not used to yelling.

Recently Tim Delaney, President and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, was in Georgia, Montana, and New York, encouraging nonprofits to raise their voices -- literally. In rooms filled with nonprofit leaders attending major conferences, he designated half the room the loud "Yes” crowd, and the other half the “Nos.” Tim then pointed to one side – “YES” came the refrain; then to the other side and louder “NOs” reverberated. After a few volleys, the friendly competition could be measured in deafening decibels. Tim then instructed the “Yes” side to remain silent – they weren’t allowed to use their voices. After a couple more volleys of loud “NOs” that were met with silence, Tim noted what policymakers hear: silence from the majority who are too busy and too unsure, versus resounding and unmatched “NOs” from the vocal opposition. Each time the “No!” voices boomed against the silence, members of the audience grasped the danger of remaining silent.

Silence is the nonprofit sector’s worst enemy. If nonprofits don’t raise our voices, we are powerless. Right now, it’s urgent that all nonprofits speak up.

The charitable giving incentive is at risk.
Congress is considering, on a tight timeline, how to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. Slashing the deficit by that much guarantees that every option to save money will be on the table, without much thought as to the consequences – unless the downside is abundantly clear. The National Council – and so far, more than 20 other national organizations and 2,800 community-based nonprofits across America – think it is abundantly clear that if the Supercommittee recommends elimination of the charitable giving incentive, then individuals and communities served by nonprofits will suffer.

Raise your voice now!
Sign on to the Nonprofit Community Letter to protect the charitable giving incentive.
See which nonprofits in your state have already signed on.
Learn more about the charitable giving incentive.
Spread the word! Tweet:  The #charitable giving incentive that supports #nonprofits is at risk! Take action now to protect it. bit.ly/olnPHp (via @NatlCouncilNPs) or #Nonprofits, tell the #supercommittee not to change the #charitable #giving incentive http://bit.ly/rZcH5q #takeaction (via @NatlCouncilNPs)
Advocacy by nonprofits is legal – and needed.
Join your State Association to keep informed about capacity building and policy issues that impact all nonprofits.

New Web Site Helps Donors Meet Global Water Challenges

2011-10-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

New Web Site Helps Donors Meet Global Water Challenges

Foundation Center Launches www.WASHfunders.org

New York, NY — October 19, 2011. The Foundation Center, the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide, has launched a custom web portal to serve as a hub of information and resources for funders working around the world to improve water access, sanitation, and hygiene — commonly referred to as "WASH." The new site, WASHfunders.org, addresses a critical challenge in philanthropy — knowing who is funding what, and where — so that the community of funders can more effectively, and collectively, meet global challenges.

"WASHfunders.org is a cutting-edge web portal that will play a vital role in promoting effectiveness, increasing collaboration, and facilitating decision making within the donor community," according to Steven M. Hilton, president and CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a leading funder of water issues. "Access to safe water supplies, improved sanitation, and good hygienic practices are key building blocks for improving the quality of human health, education, livelihoods, and overall well-being. We hope that this user-friendly tool will help bring more visibility to the global water crisis, attract new partners and funders, and fill a key gap in the effort to meet the global WASH challenges."

WASHfunders.org provides free access to a broad set of knowledge resources for funders, practitioners, and policymakers, including:

A mapping tool that enables users to interact with data on international aid flows, foundation funding, and key development indicators;
Profiles documenting the WASH strategies of leading foundations;
Case studies that illustrate the successes and challenges of WASH projects around the world;
Tools and resources for assessing project outcomes; and
A searchable archive of research reports recommended by sector leaders.
These knowledge tools empower donors to be more strategic, using data-driven decision making and peer-to-peer insights to strengthen their philanthropy.

"WASHfunders.org re-envisions traditional frameworks of how donors can work together to solve the world's water crisis," said Bradford Smith, president of the Foundation Center. "This customized web portal not only serves as a model of how the Foundation Center can empower donors to be more effective, it also raises awareness of philanthropy's contribution to making a better world."

WASHfunders.org was produced with support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

About the Foundation Center
Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 550 foundations, the Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 450 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230.

View Press Releases

We respect your right to e-mail privacy. If you are not interested in receiving periodic messages about Foundation Center events, or have other comments or suggestions, please send e-mail to communications@foundationcenter.org.

The Foundation Center • 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003 • (212) 620-4230

New NLRB Poster Requirement - new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012.

2011-10-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

New NLRB Poster Requirement : new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012.

Below is information about the new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) required poster describing employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by more than two months. The new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012.
The Board’s jurisdiction extends to most small business owners. However, some very small employers whose annual volume of business is not large enough to have more than a slight effect on interstate commerce are exempted. In the case of retail businesses, including home construction, the Board’s jurisdiction covers any employer with a gross annual volume of business of $500,000 or more. The Board’s non-retail jurisdictional standard applies to most other employers. It is based on the amount of goods sold or services provided by the employer out of state (called “outflow”) or goods or services purchased by the employer from out of state (called “inflow”), even indirectly. Under this standard, the Board will take jurisdiction over an employer with an annual inflow or outflow of at least $50,000. See “Frequently Asked Question” Link below for more details about the Board’s jurisdiction standards.
A workplace poster that describes employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act is now available for free download from the NLRB website at www.nlrb.gov/poster
Private-sector employers within the NLRB’s jurisdiction will be required to display the poster where other workplace notices are posted. The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by more than two months in order to allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those who operate small and medium sized businesses. The new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012. The decision to extend the rollout period followed queries from businesses and trade organizations indicating uncertainty about which businesses fall under the Board’s jurisdiction, and was made in the interest of ensuring broad voluntary compliance. No other changes in the rule, or in the form or content of the notice, will be made. Employers who customarily post personnel rules or policies on an internet or intranet site must also provide a link to the rights poster from those sites. In addition, copies of the Notice will soon be available without charge from any NLRB regional office.
For further information about the posting, including a detailed discussion of which employers are covered by the NLRA, and what to do if a substantial share of the workplace speaks a language other than English, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. . For questions that do not appear on the list, or to arrange for an NLRB presentation on the rule, please contact the agency at questions@nlrb.gov or 866-667-NLRB.

Voluntary Compliance Program announced by IRS to address worker misclassification

2011-10-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Information for your members: You may have seen that in late September the IRS announced a voluntary compliance program for employers (including nonprofit employers) to enable those who have mistakenly classified workers as independent contractors to make a correction, along with a modest payment, and avoid the usual penalties of noncompliance. This program’s announcement offers an opportunity to remind nonprofits about the risk of misclassification and share information with them about the voluntary compliance program. See the National Council’s website materials on this topic.

Here is the text of the IRS announcement about the voluntary compliance program (from the IRS’s EO Update circulated on October 4):

“The IRS has launched a new program that will enable many employers, including tax-exempt employers, to resolve past worker classification issues and come back into compliance by making a minimal payment covering past payroll tax obligations rather than waiting for an IRS audit. To be eligible for the new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program an applicant must:

Consistently have treated the workers as nonemployees in the past

Filed all required Forms 1099 for the workers for the previous three years

Not currently be under audit by the IRS, Department of Labor or a state agency concerning the classification of these workers.

Full details, including FAQs, will be available on the Employment Tax Pages of IRS.gov and in Announcement 2011-64.”

High Peaks Resort offers opportunity for non-profits to raise money

2011-09-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

High Peaks Resort Announces ‘Spring For Hope’

- Unprecedented Assistance for Non-Profit Organizations -

LAKE PLACID (Sept. 6, 2011) – High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid is seeking applications for its Spring For Hope℠ initiative, an opportunity for non-profit organizations to be awarded free use of meeting space, accommodations, and more at the beautiful Adirondacks resort.

This unprecedented opportunity will allow two non-profit organizations to each receive free use of the entire resort for three days during April 8 to 18, 2012. Included are two nights’ accommodations (up to 133 rooms), free meeting space (up to 10,000 square feet), free audiovisual and support services, and 50 percent off all related catering. The application deadline is midnight, October 15, 2011, and winners will be announced in mid-November.

“In these difficult times, it is important to give back to our community. By helping those who help others year round, we felt we could have the greatest impact,“ said Bill DeForrest, CEO and President of Lane Hospitality, owner of High Peaks Resort.

“The quality of life in our community is directly impacted by our active non-profits. ‘Spring for Hope’ isn’t just a way to recognize them, but by providing High Peaks Resort free of charge, we can add our support and hopefully increase the good they do,” added Truett Martin, Vice President of Operations and acting General Manager of High Peaks Resort.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for the winning organizations to do whatever they want with our gift – from holding a fundraiser, offering a thank you trip to staff and volunteers, to planning an annual meeting, seminar or retreat,” Martin said.

Spring For Hope is open to all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations actively engaged in fundraising for their organization. Participants will be judged by a panel of community leaders on their success and impact in benefiting the communities they serve.

High Peaks Resort offers the Adirondacks’ newest and most business-focused conference facilities with expansive meeting space and the latest in conference-support technology. Located in the heart of Lake Placid, overlooking Mirror Lake and steps from historic Main Street, the entire resort will be made available to the winning non-profits.

Click Here To Apply

Eligible non-profits can apply for consideration by visiting www.springforhope.net and completing the app lication and other requirements. For submissions, questions or other inquiries, email the application and paperwork tolfitzgerald@highpeaksresort.com with “Spring For Hope” in the subject line; or write Spring For Hope, High Peaks Resort, 2384 Saranac Ave, Lake Placid, NY 12946; or fax to 518-523-9908, or call Lori Fitzgerald at 518-523-4411, ext. 361.

About The High Peaks Resort

High Peaks Resort overlooks Mirror Lake while anchoring Lake Placid’s Main Street for an outstanding mountain getaway experience. Surrounded by the six-million-acre Adirondack wilderness park with thousands of miles of trails for hiking and biking, and hundreds of lakes for fishing, High Peak’s 133 beautiful accommodations offer direct waterfront access. Restaurants include the world-famous Dancing Bears and Outdoors at Dancing Bears - with unsurpassed views of the surrounding mountains and Mirror Lake. Other amenities include PR’s intimate lobby bar; two indoor and two outdoor swimming pools; expanded fitness center; Aveda Spa & Salon, and complimentary waterfront activities. Guestrooms feature breathtaking views, patios or balconies; European-style bathrooms with natural stone tiling and rainfall showerheads; high-quality bedding and linens; refrigerators; flat screen televisions with cable and movies; complimentary Wi-Fi, and multi-function music systems with MP3 players. For reservations, visit www.highpeaksresort.com or call 518-523-4411, toll-free800-755-5598.

Albany’s Equinox, ClearView to merge

2011-09-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Business Review reported that Equinox Inc. and ClearView Center Inc. are merging into a single organization that will take on the Equinox name.

The merger will combine the services of the Albany, New York, nonprofits under a single umbrella, a measure that will make it easier for clients who access assistance from both organizations, or transition from one program to another.

The organizations will use a $300,000 grant from the New York State Health Foundation to execute the merger, expected to be finalized by Jan. 1, 2012.

ClearView Center’s executive director, Dorothy Cucinelli, will head the combined agency. Kathleen Tanner, executive director of Equinox, will assist in the transition.

The two organizations offer related services. Equinox’s services include residential programs for homeless youth and victims of domestic violence, counseling, advocacy, outreach and prevention programs, and delivers thousands of Thanksgiving meals each year for disadvantaged families. ClearView serves people with mental illness.

“We think that being under one roof will be more seamless for our clients,” Cucinelli said.

Both organizations are fiscally sound, she said. Each operates with an annual budget of about $5.5 million, and each employs a little more than 100 people. Once the merger is complete, the new entity will operate with a combined $11 million annual budget. No jobs will be lost, Cucinelli said.

“This is not a situation where one is taking over another that is in trouble,” she said.

The new entity will continue to operate ClearView’s eight locations and Equinox’s four locations. It hasn’t been determined yet where the headquarters will be located. Currently, ClearView’s main offices are at 500 Central Ave.; Equinox’s are at 95 Central Ave.

CEO at Nonprofit With Ties to Cuomo Quits

2011-09-18T04:54:00.001-07:00

N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo leaves the the Dinosaur Barb-B-Cue tent with a sausage sandwich at the New York State Fair, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011 in Syracuse, N.Y. Next to him is his daughters Mariah and Cara, 16, left and center, and Michaela, 13, right. (AP Photo/The Post-Standard, Dennis Nett)
The CEO of a nonprofit group Andrew Cuomo founded in the 1980s resigned the same month that Cuomo, now governor, opened a probe of high salaries at charitable groups.

The New York World, a project of Columbia University journalism students, reported that HELP USA’s chief executive resigned from his $500,000 job in August. Laurence Belinsky ran the charity founded by Cuomo to build affordable housing for the homeless. Cuomo’s sister, Maria Cuomo Cole, is chairwoman of the nonprofit.

advertisement Neither the governor nor HELP USA had any immediate comment Friday. Cuomo has no role in the charity now.

A spokesman for HELP USA told The Wall Street Journal the departure had nothing to do with the governor’s review of nonprofits.

The newspaper reported that Belinsky is married to one of the governor’s cousins and is a former housing official for Cuomo’s father, Mario Cuomo, when he was governor. The reports state that the nonprofit’s board of directors includes Andrew Cuomo’s campaign manager and one of his closest health care advisers.

In August, the governor ordered an investigation of the compensation that nonprofit groups provide their top executives. Many nonprofits carry out social services using government grants and other benefits and Gov. Cuomo said the public needs to know if the compensation is justified.

The Wall Street Journal stated Belinsky was paid $546,000 in 2008, including a $157,000 bonus.

The charity operates on a $71 million budget that includes government grants.

GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCES SENATE PASSAGE OF DISASTER RELIEF BILL

2011-09-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

Bill Includes $5.1 Billion For FEMA, $266 Million For USDA

Washington, DC U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced Senate passage today of the Disaster Relief legislation. The $6.9 billion disaster funding bill included $5.1 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and $266 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Senator Gillibrand aggressively lobbied her Senate colleagues to pass this disaster package. Senator Gillibrand has traveled across the state, receiving briefings and viewing the damage caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, working to bring all federal resources to bear to aid in the recovery. Senator Gillibrand has toured damage on Long Island, in Westchester County, the Capital Region, Catskill, Schoharie County and Binghamton.

This legislation is a step forward to ensuring federal assistance to help our families, farmers, businesses and communities recover, said Senator Gillibrand. America has always stood by those suffering from disaster and helped them to rebuild. We have an obligation to help these families rebuild today. Across New York the North Country, Capital Region, Mohawk Valley, Hudson Valley, Southern Tier, and Long Island no one can question the devastation these storms left in these communities. We must stand with them in this time of great need.

$5.1 Billion For The FEMA Disaster Relief Fund

The FEMA Disaster Relief Fund provides Public Assistance and Individual Assistance to designated counties. Without final passage of this legislation, FEMA will likely run out of funding in the next few weeks and be unable to pay, reimburse, or loan money to families and communities.

FEMA's individual assistance program includes a range of programs, such as home repair, temporary housing, grants for serious disaster-related needs and expenses not covered by insurance or other assistance programs.

Public assistance is federal aid made available to public and certain nonprofit entities for emergency services and the repair or replacement of public facilities damaged in a natural disaster. Qualifying municipalities and entities can use public assistance funding for debris removal and cleanup, emergency protective measures to save lives and prevent further property damage following a storm and to repair washed out and heavily damaged roads and bridges. Local governments can also utilize this source of funding to repair water control facilities including dams and levees, to repair public buildings and equipment damaged from the storm, repair utilities, and repair or restore public parks and other recreational facilities.

$78 Million For The Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
The ECP is coordinated through the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) to provide emergency funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to repair farmland damaged by natural disasters, and to carry out emergency water conservation measures during severe drought. Conservation practices include removing debris, restoring fences and conservation structures, and providing water for livestock.

For land to be eligible for ECP resources, the natural disaster must create new conservation problems that if left untreated would impair or endanger the land, materially affect the lands productive capacity, represent unusual damage, and be so costly to repair that federal assistance is or will be required to return the land to productive agricultural use.

ECP program participants receive cost-share assistance of up to 75 percent of the cost to implement approved conservation practices determined by county FSA committees. Individual or cumulative requests for cost-sharing of $50,000 or less per person, per disaster are approved at the county committee level, $50,001 to $100,000 is approved at the state level, and over $100,000 is approved at the federal level. Technical assistance may be provided by the USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

$139 Million For The Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP)
The EWP was established to help conserve natural resources following natural disasters by relieving imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, drought, windstorms and other severe weather. The EWP responds to hazards including debris-clogged streams and channels, undermined and unstable stream banks, jeopardized water control structures and public infrastructure, wind-borne debris removal, and damaged upland sites stripped of protective vegetation by fire or drought.

Protection efforts can include purchasing floodplain easements to restore, protect, maintain and enhance the floodplain, including wetlands and riparian areas. It can also conserve natural values, including fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, flood water retention and groundwater recharge, and safeguard lives and property from floods, drought and erosion.

NRCS may bear up to 75 percent of the construction cost of emergency measures. The remaining costs must come from local sources, and can be in the form of cash or in-kind services. Public and private landowners are eligible for assistance but must be represented by a project sponsor, such as the state, local government, or conservation district.

All EWP work must reduce the threat to life and property, be economically, environmentally and socially defensible, and come from a sound technical standpoint.

$100 Million For Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would specifically use this funding for disaster recovery. HUD gives states and localities the flexibility to meet a variety of needs, from assisting individual homeowners and business owners, to buying out properties to make way for more robust flood protection in the future, to developing infrastructure to rebuild homes and business zones away from flood danger.

$135 Million For The Economic Development Administration (EDA)

EDA would use this funding to provide financial resources and technical assistance to help rebuild economic development plans following a disaster and grants to build new infrastructure (e.g. business incubators, technology parks, research facilities, basic utilities such as water treatment) that foster economic development to retain or attract jobs to the region.

Charity Probe Questions: WSJ Article

2011-09-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

WSJ.com reported that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's probe of executive pay at nonprofits is bumping up against some of the state's best-known charities with strong ties to the most powerful people in Albany, including the speaker of the Assembly and the governor himself.

Two weeks ago, a state task force named by Mr. Cuomo began asking nonprofits to submit detailed information to the Cuomo administration about their executive pay levels and compensation policies. The task force said it is collecting information on a rolling basis from all nonprofits that receive funding from the state.

But one nonprofit that had not received a request by Wednesday is HELP USA, a homeless housing group founded by Mr. Cuomo in the 1980s. The governor's sister, Maria Cuomo Cole, is the group's chairperson, and its board of directors includes Mr. Cuomo's campaign treasurer Richard Sirota and Jeffrey Sachs, one of his closest health-care advisers, according to HELP's website.

HELP operates homeless shelters and develops low-income housing around the nation and gets most of its $71 million budget from federal, state and city contracts and grants, according to its tax filings.

The nonprofit paid its chief executive, Laurence Belinsky, $546,000 in 2008—including a $157,000 bonus—and $508,000 in 2009, according to IRS filings. His salary is more than 40% higher than the median salary of chief executives of nonprofits based in the Northeast with operating budgets of more than $13 million, according to Charity Navigator, a prominent charity database.

Mr. Belinsky couldn't be reached for comment.

Another powerful group that hasn't received a letter is the Greater New York Hospital Association, which represents many Medicaid-dependent hospitals in the city region and pays its chief executive $2 million a year, according to tax filings.

After a reporter inquired about the status of data requests to HELP and the hospital association, a state official said on Thursday that the task force had mailed letters to the groups.

Meanwhile, one of the first groups to get the request was the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a social service group run by William Rapfogel, the husband of the chief of staff to Democratic Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver. Mr. Rapfogel received a $435,000 pay package in 2009, tax filings show.

A spokesman for the taskforce said all nonprofits that receive government money would eventually receive a request for information.

"There are thousands of not-for-profits that we are looking at, so we are sending the letters in waves on a rolling basis," said the spokesman.

Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause, which advocates for transparent government, said the governor's investigation would be successful only if all charities are treated equally.

"You need an objective standard by which to judge what is or is not excessive compensation. Where are we headed with this?" Ms. Lerner said.

Jeff Stonecash, a Syracuse University political science professor, said Mr. Cuomo's probe was treading on politically sensitive ground. "There are some pitfalls here, but there's a lot of gain if he can get the right headlines," he said.

Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, said the investigation would be fair.

"Politics never got in the way of investigations before, and it won't now. If you think otherwise, just ask Pedro Espada," Mr. Vlasto said, referring to the former Democratic Bronx state senator whom Mr. Cuomo investigated while attorney general.

Mr. Cuomo's investigative foray into state-subsidized charities has been the object of much interest and anxiety around the nonprofit world. The governor has promised a wide-ranging review, an undertaking that could be handled by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office regulates charities.

The governor has been praised for drawing more attention to nonprofit executive pay as it has stretched deeper into six and seven figures. But, depending on how Mr. Cuomo navigates those loyalties and rivalries within the nonprofit world, the task force also carries political risk.

"I can't see that he isn't smart enough or ethical enough to see that it would be problematic to target only organizations with whom he has no connection," said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, a Lower Manhattan Democrat who introduced a bill this year to limit compensation for hospital executives.

Mr. Cuomo assembled the task force in early August in the wake of a New York Times article that scrutinized the executive compensation of a Medicaid-financed nonprofit group that reportedly paid two of its top executives close to $1 million a year. He put two of his most trusted aides on the task force, Financial Services superintendent Benjamin Lawsky and State Inspector General Ellen Biben.

But the inquiry's goal hasn't been defined. The task force may hold hearings and issue a report, leading to potential regulatory changes and legislation.

New York State Cultural Data Project Orientation SessionsSign up today!

2011-09-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

This month, New York State Cultural Data Project orientation sessions are being offered in New York City and via webinar, featuring a CDP Reports Orientation for Nonprofit Leaders, including board members. Join us to learn how to put CDP to work for you!

To register, please click on the corresponding link below. If you plan to attend multiple trainings, please be sure to register for each below.
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New User Orientation
We recommend a New User Orientation if your organization is new to the CDP or if you need a refresher on data entry. This training session will provide an overview of the history and goals of the New York State CDP as well as an introduction to the types of data collected. During the session, we will walk participants through the process of entering data, applying to participating funders and generating reports.

New User Orientation, Brooklyn
Irondale Ensemble Project
September 20, 2011
10:00 am
Register

CDP Reports Orientation
If your organization has already submitted at least one Data Profile into the system, we encourage you to join us for a Reports Orientation to learn more about the 77 trend and comparison reports available to your organization, at no-cost! This training offers tips for integrating use of these reports in your financial management, planning and evaluation.

CDP Reports Orientation, Brooklyn
Irondale Ensemble Project
September 20, 2011
1:00 pm
Register

CDP Reports Orientation for Nonprofit Leaders
Is your board interested in analyzing financial trends? Is your executive director looking to set fundraising and marketing goals? CDP reports can help your organization's board and staff make operational decisions, build the case for support and facilitate long-term planning.
This reports orientation session is designed specifically for executive directors, board members, and other nonprofit leaders and will provide participants with an overview of the reports available through the CDP and how they can be used for key decision-making within your organization.

CDP Reports for Nonprofit Leaders, Manhattan
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
September 21, 2011
10:00 am
Register

Join a CDP training session from your home or office ONLINE via webinar!
New User and CDP Reports Orientation Sessions are offered monthly to all CDP users. You can participate in a WEB-BASED Training Session from your office or home computer. A CDP associate will conduct the training session, during which you will be able to ask questions and learn more about the Cultural Data Project. New User Orientations take place on the first Wednesday and Reports Orientations are held on the third Thursday of every month.

New User Orientation
1st Wednesdays
10:00 am and 2:00pm
Register

CDP Reports Orientation
3rd Thursdays
10:00 am and 2:00 pm
Register

One day prior to the training session, you will be sent a link to connect to this training session online.
Questions? Visit www.nysculturaldata.org or contact the New York State CDP Help Desk at help@nysculturaldata.org or 1-888-NYSCDP-1 (1-888-697-2371).

NYCON's Doug Sauer responds to Governor Cuomo´s Task Force Announcement

2011-08-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

Tell Governor Cuomo About Your Nonprofit!

2011-08-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Let's Tell Them About The Good Work Of Nonprofits
Submit Your Testimonial to NYCON & the Governor Today!

On August 3rd the Governor announced the formation of a task force charged with investigating executive compensation at nonprofit agencies (full announcement from Gov. Cuomo below).

NYCON is in agreement with the Governor that activities like those recently exposed in the NY Times that were the impetus to the formation of this task force, can have significant detrimental effects on the relationship between nonprofits and the public.

However, we also know that these types of activities are not solely a "nonprofit issue" and, furthermore, that there are many more positive stories than negative ones occurring in nonprofits.

We want to make sure the Governor realizes this too.

We are asking you to help us remind Governor Cuomo that nonprofits employ hard-working New Yorkers who provide much needed services in communities across our state.

Please send us your stories, comments and reactions to the Governor's announcement!

Let the administration know the services you provide are essential and are delivered in an ethical, honest and efficient manner that rivals any successful for-profit company. Let's remind them, and all taxpayers, that we're delivering services at costs far below our private sector counterparts, and take on contractual obligations from the State that they would never agree to, often times to our own detriment - because we exist for our mission, not profit.

Please submit your stories here.

NYCON is creating a web page dedicated to publishing your testimonials, and we encourage you to submit your stories which will be shared online and with the Governor's press office. You can also submit your comments directly to the press office at: press.office@exec.ny.gov.

Please feel free to contact our membership office if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you again for all you do and for your continued dedication to the nonprofit sector and your community.

Doug Sauer

CEO, New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.

New Task Force Will Make Recommendations for New Rules to Prevent Taxpayer Dollars from being Used to Support Excessive Compensation

2011-08-03T19:20:00.001-07:00

From the Governor's Website

Albany, NY (August 3, 2011) Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he has created a new task force to investigate the executive and administrator compensation levels at not-for-profits that receive taxpayer support from the state. The task force will be led by the New York State Inspector General Ellen Biben, Secretary of State Cesar A. Perales, the Medicaid Inspector General Jim Cox, and the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky.

"Not-for-profits that provide services to the poor and the needy have a special obligation to the taxpayers that support them. Executives at these not-for-profits should be using the taxpayer dollars they receive to help New Yorkers, not to line their own pockets. This task force will do a top-to-bottom review, not only to audit current compensation levels, but also to make recommendations for future rules to ensure taxpayer dollars are used to serve and support the people of this state, not pay for excessive salaries and compensation," Governor Cuomo said.

Governor Cuomo continued, "There is a whole range of compensation levels and extremes that have existed for too long and must be reviewed. The use of taxpayer dollars must be scrutinized at every level."

The Governor's task force will determine the protocol and scope of the investigation in order to target the audit to focus on ensuring that state taxpayer dollars meant to help and protect New Yorkers, particularly the poor and indigent, are going to that purpose and are not being diverted to compensation. It will also provide recommendations for State agency policies and procedures that will ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being diverted to excessive compensation.

Commissioners from the Department of Health, the Office of Mental Health, and OPWDD will also serve on the task force.

The Governor's action follows reports of startlingly excessive salaries and compensation packages for executives at not-for-profits that depended on state Medicaid funding through the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and other State agencies.

The State's Medicaid Inspector General has the authority necessary to exclude providers from participation in the Medicaid program if it is found that they have engaged in fraudulent or abusive practices.

There are currently no state rules governing executive and administrative compensation for not-for-profits that receive state support.

According to the Department of the Budget's January 2010 preliminary analysis of not-for-profit employees contracting with the mental hygiene agencies (Office of People With Developmental Disabilities, Office of Mental Health, and Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services), there were approximately 1,926 employees with annual salaries greater than or equal to $100,000. The total value of their salaries was $324.6 million, with an average salary of $168,555.

NYCON Statement on Governor's
Review of Executive Compensation:

"NYCON supports IRS and state enforcement efforts to root out those relatively few and often large institutional nonprofits, especially in health care and higher education, where charitable resources are used for the private and personal gain of executives. Such abuses are a stain on the sector and the Governor is right, public trust is integral to the mission and work of our state's charities. The Internal Revenue Service already provides compensation guidelines as set forth in the federal tax code and we believe those guidelines should be upheld.

It needs to be emphasized, however, that these cases are very much the exception.

The vast majority of community-based nonprofit employees are doing hard and challenging work at compensation levels that are far below public employees and often the for-profit sector. It should also be noted that the phrase "taxpayer supported nonprofits" is misleading as the state government contracts to buy services from nonprofits, just as it contracts with the for-profit sector; except the nonprofit is often expected to unfairly perform at below the actual cost of doing business. Perhaps it is also time to order an extensive review of the executive compensation levels of "taxpayer supported for-profit businesses."

NYCON asks the Governor to take this opportunity to go beyond the immediate executive compensation issue and take a comprehensive look at how the state's overall regulatory and business relationship with the nonprofit sector can be improved in the interest of all concerned."

Doug Sauer, CEO, New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.
www.nycon.org
1-800-515-5012, ext 103
dsauer@nycon.org

Nominate Your CPA Board Member for Special Aware

2011-07-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

2011 Michael H. Urbach, CPA, Community Builders Award Now Accepting Nominations
Sponsored by the New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA)

Submission Accepted through August 22nd, 2011

In recognition of the important role, talents and leadership that a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York State can provide as a board member for community-based charities, NYCON and NYSSCPA are pleased to announce the 8th Annual Michael H. Urbach, CPA, Community Builders Award.

The award is named in honor of the late Michael H. Urbach, CPA, former partner of Urbach, Kahn and Werlin, former NYS Commissioner of Tax and Finance and Chair of the State Employees federated Appeal, and board leader of a number of charities.

Award Criteria & Submission

Candidates must:

Be a CPA in good standing and a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants;

Have served as an Officer on at least 3 different charitable 501(c)(3) community-based nonprofits with service as President/Chair at least once;

Have demonstrated exemplary board leadership resulting in significant and positive organizational impact including, but not limited to, financial turn-around, growth, and/or organizational re-structuring; and

Preference will be given to nominees whose board leadership accomplishments have been with community-based charities.

Deadline - August 22, 2011
Nominations addressing the candidate's qualifications must be received by August 22nd. Nominators are strongly encouraged to address the candidate's qualifications related to the four (4) criteria's mentioned above and to include at least three (3) letters of support from the charities who have benefited from the candidate's volunteer leadership.

Send seven (7) packets of nomination materials to:
Urbach Community Builders Award Committee
New York Council of Nonprofits
272 Broadway
Albany NY 12204

or email the packet to Melissa Currado, Executive Assistant to the CEO at mcurrado@nycon.org.

Announcement & Presentation
The 2011 award will be formally presented at the Annual Member Meeting of NYCON slated for the afternoon of October 6th at Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York.

The Luncheon will take place during CAMP FINANCE, a two-day retreat that provides the very best in knowledge, skill and strategy sessions for your staff and volunteer leaders.

In honor of the late Harold Mandel, a certified public accountant who worked for Urbach, Kahn & Werlin in Albany, NY and retired in West Palm Beach, FL, the 2011 Urbach Honoree has the privilege to award one (1) nonprofit executive of their choice a Camp Finance scholarship in Hal's name. In 2009, Mr. Mandel's family accepted a posthumous Michael H. Urbach, CPA Community Builders Award in his tribute.

Past Urbach Award Honorees
2010
Edward S. Mucenski, CPA of Potsdam
2009
Lewis "Lew" Kramer, CPA of Chappaqua
2008
Mel Zachter, CPA of Staten Island
2007
Eugene H. Fleishman, CPA of Poughkeepsie
2006
Craig Sickler, CPA from Kingston
2005
Paul Battaglia, CPA from Batavia

For More Information
visit NYCON at http://www.nycon.org/ or contact Melissa Currado at (800) 515-5012 or mcurrado@nycon.org

Unemployment Insurance Bill to Impact NYS Employers

2011-07-20T08:10:00.001-07:00

Read below about the recent news about a new fee per employee for employers related to NYS Unemployment Insurance borrowing. As a nonprofit, there is another alternative, which you can learn about from NYCON:

Find Out if the Unemployment Savings Program for NYCON Members through First Nonprofits Companies can Save You Money.

Why pay a tax if you don’t have to? Many NYCON Members have switched from paying the state unemployment tax rates to First Nonprofit Unemployment Savings Program saving up to 60% of their unemployment costs annually. Find out if you can too. Take NYCON's FREE upcoming Beneft Spotlight: Unemployment Savings Program on August 23rd from 10 am to 11am. REGISTER HERE

A Big Bill for Employers
The Albany Times Union reported that Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday rolled out a sweeping plan to help revitalize the state's economy, complete with an ad campaign and competitive grant program designed to spark innovation.

But businesses have a more immediate concern: The bill is coming due for New York's unemployment insurance.

Citing the need to borrow more than $3 billion from the federal government to prop up its chronically empty account, the state faces a whopping $95 million interest payment on loans for the fund due Sept. 30.

As a result, the state Department of Labor is assessing businesses up to $21.25 per employee to cover the cost. That payment is due Aug. 15.

Complaints about what businesses describe as a hidden tax were rolling in Tuesday after numerous employers received the notices and as Cuomo expounded on his plans for the economy.

"This is something that could -- depending on the number of employees -- be a pretty hefty cost in this economy," said Mike Durant, New York state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

When asked about the surcharge during a news conference outlining his revitalization plans, Cuomo stressed that the bill for interest is ultimately coming from Washington, D.C.

"It's a federal decision whether or not they'll waive the interest payments. I hope that they do," he said, adding that his office was pushing the state's congressional delegation on the issue.

The hefty tab illustrates what can happen as the federal stimulus program, enacted shortly after the recession started in 2008, runs out.

The Department of Labor noted that the stimulus program provided no-interest loans to the states in 2009 and 2010, but not this year.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/A-big-bill-for-your-boss-1472786.php#ixzz1SetH4Zip

Sauer Named to Attorney General's Nonprofit Leadership Committee

2011-07-19T10:55:00.001-07:00

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced that NYCON CEO Doug Sauer would be one of the prominent nonprofit leaders appointed to the Committee for Nonprofit Revitalization. The task force, composed of 29 leaders in the nonprofit sector from across New York State, is charged with presenting a series of recommendations to the Attorney General to reduce the regulatory burdens and costs on nonprofits while strengthening nonprofit accountability.

"I'm honored that Attorney General Schneiderman has asked us to bring NYCON's statewide perspective and expertise to this important collaborative effort," said Doug Sauer. "We're proud to represent 3,000 small to moderately sized member nonprofits who provide critical services in communities across New York. It's a testament to the Attorney General's initiative that he is seeking the input of these grass roots groups as he strives to help improve nonprofit efficiency, make oversight more effective and help increase the public's faith in our sector."
In addition to providing critical services to New Yorkers, nonprofits are also a driving economic force. Statewide, nonprofits employ between 17 and 18 percent of the workforce. In New York City alone nonprofits employ 500,000 people.

"For too long, New York's regulatory framework has placed unnecessary burdens on nonprofits, which are simply untenable during these challenging financial times," Attorney General Schneiderman said. "We must modernize the rules of the road so the nonprofit sector can thrive. We can be tougher on policing fraud without imposing needless burdens and costs on this vital sector of New York's economy."

Based on the key issues that the nonprofit sector has identified to the Attorney General's Office, the Leadership Committee's activities will focus on the following:

Making recommendations on how to reduce regulatory burdens and more effectively address regulatory concerns;
Developing legislative proposals to modernize New York's nonprofit laws that would eliminate outdated requirements and unnecessary burdens while strengthening accountability; and

Proposing measures to enhance board governance and effectiveness, including through new programs to recruit and train nonprofit board members.
The Leadership Committee will be staffed by the Attorney General's Charities Bureau Chief, Jason Lilien, and will be charged with completing its work by the end of this year.

Stay tuned to our emails, as NYCON will be seeking the input of all current members on its website at www.nycon.org beginning in August.

MuseumWise and Museum Association of NY (MANY) Explore Merger

2011-06-29T11:24:00.001-07:00

Thinking creatively towards envisioning a new model of service, as with all significant endeavors we started with an idea and now bring it into being with a plan. A primary goal of this investigation has been to create an open process, establishing a conduit for sharing information with and receiving evaluation from our constituencies. To that end, please enjoy this second installment of our Museumwise - MANY membership communiqué, which will bring you up-to-date as to our progress over the last few months.

Working in partnership, Museumwise & MANY have made great strides towards reaching several of our initial milestones of conducting organizational assessments of the two organizations, planning the first of two facilitated meetings of both boards and staff, and developing a stakeholder engagement strategy. Keep an eye on your inboxes, because our next round of messaging will include a link to our membership survey to gather your thoughts about consolidation and what a new model of service may look like for you.

Our next significant milestone will be the first joint meeting of the boards on July 18th in Albany. Led by our facilitator Scott Sears, this will be an opportunity for the Museumwise and MANY boards to sit down together to get acquainted with the vision, value and service of each other's organization and to begin envisioning the qualities of and defining the outcome criteria for a blended organization. The rapport developed among the T7 planning committee has set the stage for a progressive and productive session with the two boards. As a launching point for these discussions, the T7 compiled an organizational assessment document placing Museumwise's and MANY's services, programs and future interests side by side to establish similarities between and distinctiveness of the two organizations.

One of the activities on July 18th will be the creation of a 'shared history' - a timeline of trends and events that have defined the New York State museum community and Museumwise's and MANY's histories over the last 10+ years. Can you help us flesh this history out?

Please share with us your thoughts about the trends and events that have defined each organization and our collective professional community by sending them along to Catherine director@museumwise.org and Anne info@manyonline.org.

Thanks in advance for your replies -

Best regards,

Catherine Anne
Catherine Gilbert, Anne Ackerson,
Executive Director Director
Museumwise Museum Association of New York

SCHUMER: IRS ANNOUNCEMENT COULD MISTAKENLY COST UPSTATE NY CHARITIES, LITTLE LEAGUES, PUBLIC LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND OTHERS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EACH

2011-06-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

After Reports That The IRS May Have Mistakenly Stripped NY Groups Of Tax-Exempt Status, Schumer Urges All Nonprofits To Double Check The IRS List To Make Sure They’re Not Included By Mistake

Report Provides County-By-County Breakdown Of The Over 6,000 New York Nonprofit Groups That Lost Tax Exempt Status – Groups Can Correct Error, But Have To Do It Soon Before Costs Go Up

Schumer: Losing Tax-Exempt Status Could Be An Unfair Blow To New York’s Nonprofits

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer unveiled a new section of his website to aid New York nonprofit groups that may have mistakenly lost their tax exempt status. Schumer is strongly encouraging nonprofit groups to check a recently-released Internal Revenue Service (IRS) list, available on Schumer’s website, to ensure that they have not been mistakenly stripped of their tax-exempt status – a move that could cost these groups thousands of dollars. Schumer’s webpage was launched shortly after media reports indicated that several nonprofit groups, including the New Windsor Little League and Plattekill Public Library, were included on the list released June 8th, despite the fact that their paperwork was up to date and filed with the IRS. Several nonprofit groups were never contacted by the IRS, despite several attempts to send mailings and other communications to warn the groups of the looming deadline to avoid losing their designation as a 501(c)(3) group.

“Little leagues, public libraries, museums, meal programs, and other nonprofit organizations that are the very fabric of communities throughout Upstate New York are at risk of losing their tax-exempt status and paying thousands of dollars in penalties through no fault of their own,” said Schumer. “Whether because of a lost notice in the mail or paperwork errors, no nonprofit should needlessly lose their tax exempt status. Every nonprofit group in Upstate New York should take a moment to ensure that they won’t be forced to pay unnecessary taxes this year. I’ve launched this new page on my website to make it easy and painless for groups to make sure that they’re not on the list, and to take steps to correct the problem if they are. Remaining tax-exempt helps keep costs down while boosting fundraising for charity organizations.”

"The good work of community charities has a vital impact on the everyday lives of New Yorkers,” said Doug Sauer, Chief Executive Officer of the New York Council of Nonprofits. “Whether it is providing volunteer first responder assistance, providing food and housing to families in need, caring for our children, disabled and elderly, fostering economic development or creating and promoting arts and culture - charities are integral to our quality of life in ways that are often taken for granted. NYCON is eager to do what we can to assist those organizations whose tax status have been revoked so that they continue their important contributions."

On June 8th, the IRS released a list of 275,000 nonprofits nationwide who automatically lost their tax-exempt status because they failed to file annual reports for three years in a row. The list included over 19,000 New York organizations, including more than 6,000 across Upstate New York. While the IRS believes that many of these organizations are no longer operational, they acknowledge that some groups on the list might not have been aware of the requirement, and are taking steps to allow these nonprofits to reinstate their tax-exempt status. In making the announcement, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said that, “We realize there may be some legitimate organizations, especially very small ones that were unaware of their new filing requirement.”

The list includes a diverse range of nonprofit groups including sports leagues, public libraries, museums and other educational programs, conservation groups, religious organizations, business networking groups, and others. There are over 106,000 registered nonprofits in New York state, according to the New York Council of Nonprofits, employing over 1.2 million New Yorkers statewide. Included in this total are 3,000 food pantries that feed approximately 3 million people each year. Over 17,000 people work in New York museums, which help contribute over a billion dollars to the state’s economy each year, thanks to visits from 6.6 million families, senior citizens, and students. In 2010, the American Red Cross in New York responded to 3,920 local disasters, and has trained nearly 590,000 people in First Aid. The group has also trained over 168,000 people in emergency preparedness, collected over 400,000 units of blood, and helped over 66,000 military families through their Armed Forces Emergency Services and Community Outreach Programs, according to the New York Council of Nonprofits. New York charities play an important role in communities across the state, and should be allowed to continue to do their good work in a tax-exempt state that will help their bottom line, allowing the nonprofits to serve more Upstate New Yorkers.

Here is how the nonprofits who lost their tax-exempt status break down across the state:

In the Capital Region, approximately 952 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

In Western New York, approximately 687 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

In the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, approximately 867 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

In the Southern Tier, approximately 562 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

In Central New York, approximately 811 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

In the Hudson Valley, approximately 1,942 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

In the North Country, approximately 426 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status.

Being included on the list means that these nonprofits are no longer eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions, and that any income the group receives may be taxed. This has the effect of raising taxes on the nonprofit, while also putting a serious damper on their fundraising. The Pension Protection Act, passed by Congress in 2007, requires tax-exempt organizations to file an information return or notice each year with the IRS. Smaller groups are required to file for the first time in 2007, and the law automatically revokes the tax-exempt status of groups that do not file for three consecutive years. As a result, the first nonprofits to be revoked under the new law saw their status removed based on 2010 returns, filed in April of this year.

Fortunately, as long as groups are aware that they have been improperly stripped of their tax-exempt status, they can take corrective action at minimal cost to the group. Any nonprofit that can demonstrate that it has met its filing requirement for one or more of the last three years can fax copies of their past tax returns to be reinstated at no cost to the group. Additionally, those groups with under $50,000 in income that have not filed tax returns over the past three years can file for reinstatement for a reduced fee of just $100. If the groups fail to file by December 31, 2011, that fee jumps to $400-850 for 2012. Due to the limited window to take advantage of cheaper and easier ways to reapply for tax-exempt status, Schumer is encouraging nonprofits across Upstate New York to check his website and the list of those that lost 501(c)(3) status to ensure that their paperwork is up to date. If a group finds that they have lost their tax exempt status, they can follow the instructions on Schumer’s website and take steps to see that it is reinstated.

The new section of Schumer’s website can be accessed by visiting http://schumer.senate.gov/Public/irs_6_22_11.htm

Baruch College Publishes New Case Studies On Nonprofit Advocacy

2011-06-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

The Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management of Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs has published three multi-media case studies funded by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation under its "Improving the Performance of Public Institutions" program. The case studies document landmark attempts by nonprofit organizations to drive policy changes on key issues in New York City including solid waste management and environmental justice, child welfare and foster care and equitable funding of New York City schools. For free copies of the case study materials and more information about the project, visit the project website at:

“the primary aim of the case studies is to help those interested in the work of nonprofits to understand how these organizations can become more effective advocates.”
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa/researchcenters/nonprofitstrategy/CaseStudies.php

“We have published these cases as part of our commitment to documenting the key role that nonprofits play in the civic life of this city and to providing education materials that can be used to train the next generations of nonprofit leaders,” says Jack Krauskopf, Director of the Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management.

The case studies are unique and provide background of the advocacy campaigns, identify the outcomes and impacts, analyze the role of the advocacy organizations and coalitions, and determine the key factors in the success or failure of the different elements of the campaigns.

Each written case narrative has an accompanying video of interviews with the advocates highlighted in the case, and an appendix with links to supplementary online documentation and examples of print and visual media coverage of the issues. An additional background paper, Understanding Nonprofit Advocacy, explores definitions of advocacy and the challenges in evaluating the outcomes of advocacy campaigns. In addition, Teaching Notes provide instructors with additional information on how to use the cases.

Professor John Casey, the project coordinator, notes that “the primary aim of the case studies is to help those interested in the work of nonprofits to understand how these organizations can become more effective advocates.”

Margaret C. Ayers, the President of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, comments that “our focus on advocacy reflects our desire to maximize the impact of our limited philanthropic dollars. By influencing government policies and programs, our grantees affect the expenditure of millions of dollars in public funds--an impact many times the size of our grants budget. Policy change rarely happens quickly or easily. To mount these kinds of long-term campaigns, advocates need long-term funding and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation is committed to supporting them.”

For more about Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs, go to http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa/home.php.

Senate unveils health ‘market’

2011-06-13T08:16:00.001-07:00

The Daily Mail reported that a bill key to implementing last year’s federal health care overhaul in New York state was introduced this week in the state Senate.

The proposed legislation would establish a health insurance exchange, a marketplace where individuals and small businesses can, come 2014, shop for and compare private insurance plans.

The Senate bill “is a first step in advancing a health insurance exchange that will ensure affordable and accessible coverage that meets the unique insurance needs of all New Yorkers,” said Sen. James Seward, R-Oneonta, who, as chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, has sponsored the legislation.

Sen. Kemp Hannon, R-Garden City, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, is the bill’s cosponsor.

The bill was drafted following a roundtable discussion in April with health care and insurance experts.

“This legislation sets up the governing structure and basic functions that are required in order for the exchange to begin to function, while providing for a transparent process and careful consideration of policy choices,” Hannon said.

There has yet to be a companion bill introduced in the state Assembly. Seward says talks are ongoing with the Assembly and the governor’s office.

Seward’s bill establishes the exchange as a public authority with an 11-member board of directors. States have the power to choose how the exchanges are governed and whether it will exist as a nonprofit organization, quasi-governmental entity like a public authority or within a state agency.

“We don’t want this to turn into an expensive and beaurcratic program,” Seward said in explaining the decision to create the exchange as a public authority.

The exchange will not receive any state funding, under the bill. Seward said its operation could be kept going by fees paid by participating health care providers and others. It’s unknown at this point how much it will cost to keep the exchange running.

According to Seward, the federal government has given New York $28 million to date to establish the exchange.

Although a public authority operates with more independence than a state agency, questions still exist about whether the exchange will be sufficiently insulated from political influence and special interests within the insurance industry, including who will be charged with choosing the board of directors. “Some of these decisions are yet to be made,” Seward said.

Under the health care law, states must establish the governing structure of the exchanges by the end of this year. By 2013, states must prove to the federal government they are qualified to run the program. Consumers will be able to purchase insurance through the exchanges in 2014.

Members of Congress, too, will be getting their health insurance through exchanges starting in 2014.

The exchanges are a main provision of the health care law. The hope is that by increasing competition among health care plans and providing more choices for individuals and businesses, costs will come down.

“As a result of high costs, the market for individuals in the state has been in sharp decline for years,” said Paul Howard, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, in a recent report. “As recently as 2001, more than 128,000 individuals were enrolled in (health maintenance organizations) in the direct-pay market. By 2010, enrollment had plummeted to just 31,000.” Premiums have roughly tripled during that period, according to Howard.

“In all, about 15 percent (2.6 million) of New York’s residents are uninsured, a group that is largely young (about half are aged 18 to 34), in good health and without dependents,” he added. Under the new federal law, young adults can remain on their parents’ plan until they turn 26. That provision has already taken effect.

To learn more about the law’s many provisions and when they take effect, visit www.healthcare.gov.

“Frankly, I have mixed feelings (about the health care law),” Seward said.

Judges on a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday repeatedly raised questions about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, expressing unease with the requirement that virtually all Americans carry health insurance or face penalties.

All three judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel questioned whether upholding the landmark law could open the door to Congress adopting other sweeping economic mandates. The panel is made up of two Democratic appointees and one Republican appointee.

The Atlanta panel did not immediately rule on the lawsuit brought by 26 states, a coalition of small businesses and private individuals who urged the three to side with a Florida judge who struck down the law. And it's never easy to predict how an appeals panel will decide.

But during almost three hours of oral arguments, the judges asked pointed questions about the so-called individual mandate, which the federal government says is needed to expand coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans.

With other challenges to the law before other federal appeals courts, lawyers expect that its fate will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chief Judge Joel Dubina, who was tapped by President George H.W. Bush, struck early by asking the government's attorney “if we uphold the individual mandate in this case, are there any limits on Congressional power?” Circuit Judges Frank Hull and Stanley Marcus, who were both appointed by President Bill Clinton, echoed his concerns later in the hearing.

Acting U.S. Solicitor Neal Katyal sought to ease their concerns by saying the legislative branch can only exercise its powers to regulate commerce if it will have a substantial effect on the economy and solve a national, not local, problem. Health care coverage, he said, is unique because of the billions of dollars shifted in the economy when Americans without coverage seek medical care.

“That's what stops the slippery slope,” he said.

Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor representing the states, countered that the federal government should not have the power to compel residents to buy to engage in commercial transactions. “This is the case that crosses the line,” he said.

Hull also seemed skeptical about the government's claim that the mandate was crucial to covering the 50 million or so uninsured Americans. She said the rolls of the uninsured could be pared significantly through other parts of the package, including expanded Medicare discounts for some seniors and a change that makes it easier for those with pre-existing medical conditions to get coverage.

The court, which did not indicate when it would rule, has several options. But Hull and Dubina asked the lawyers on both sides to focus on a particular outcome: What could happen to the overhaul, they asked separately, if the individual mandate were invalidated but the rest of the package were upheld?

Parts of the overall law should still survive, said Katyal, but he warned the judges they’d make a “deep, deep mistake” if the insurance requirement were found to be unconstitutional. He said Congress had the right to regulate what uninsured Americans must buy because they shift $43 billion each year in medical costs to other taxpayers.

Clement, however, argued that the insurance requirement is the “driving force” of the broader package, which he said violates the Constitution's legitimate authority. Without it, he said, the rest of the package should collapse.

“If you take out the hub, the spokes will fall,” Clement said.

Marcus, meanwhile, said the case struck him as an argument over individual liberties, but questioned whether the judicial branch should “stop at the water’s edge” or intervene.

The 11th Circuit is not the first appeals court to hear arguments about the constitutionality of the federal health care overhaul, as panels in Cincinnati and Richmond have both heard similar legal challenges to the law within the last month. But legal observers say the Atlanta panel’s decision could be the most pivotal because the ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Florida is considered the broadest assault yet on the law.

While a Republican-appointed federal judge in Virginia struck down the requirement that nearly all Americans carry health insurance, Vinson invalidated the entire law, from the Medicare expansion to a change that allows adult children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance. Three federal judges, all Democratic appointees, have upheld the law.

The Truth About Nonprofits: Albany Strip Club Loses Tax Exemption Argument

2011-06-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

From www.thetruthaboutnonprofits.com:

Wonder why there is a negative perception about the nonprofit sector? What would you say if you found out an adult entrainment business in your city was tax exempt? Clearly there is a lack of understanding about the value and educational purpose that are the underlying focus of nonprofits. Case in point, an Albany strip club, Nite Moves, argued (with testimony from a cultural anthropologist who has studied exotic dance and visited Nite Moves) that lap dances should be considered choreographed performances (like ballet) and tax exempt.

Right, that makes sense. And why not argue this in the court system because this is an injustice that should be addressed. Too bad the courts (and everyone else...except for the Nite Moves owners) disagreed. As msnbc relates, four Appellate Division justices agreed with a state tax appeals commission's earlier finding that dances onstage or in private rooms at the club Nite Moves in suburban Albany don't qualify for a state tax exemption as "dramatic or musical arts performances."

Just what we need in the news, a strip club making an argument for not paying taxes and comparing themselves to a nonprofit cultural organization. This isn't just silly, it is outright nonsense. Hey Nite Moves's owners, what are those taxable dollars you so strongly are opposed to paying being used for, other than paying your attorneys? Did you know that nonprofits reinvest any revenue into their mission and programs? Here's a quick suggestion for your appeals case. Consider adding some adult dance classes and some outreach programs and emphasize how you serve the needy and unfortunate. Good luck.

Nonprofit Quarterly Addresses Issues with E-mail Votes

2011-05-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

For any board taking votes by e-mail, this is an essential article, offered by the Nonprofit Quarterly:

Email, texting, Facebook, Twitter . . . these diverse modes of electronic communication and others have exploded over recent years. We are now able to communicate faster, cheaper, and with more people simultaneously than we ever have been able to before.

To busy nonprofit board members, whose schedules make face-to-face board meetings seem like a luxury, a new trend in nonprofit governance has surfaced that may run afoul of the law – the “vote” by e-mail option.

Responding to the difficulty in wrangling a geographically diverse and time-crunched board, many nonprofit organizations are now allowing directors to “vote” by e-mail. This seems like the perfect solution. An issue or opportunity arises that calls for quick response. Directors are reluctant to attend an extra meeting. Why not circulate an e-mail, ascertain that there is general agreement and take action?

The ease and speed of email voting is seductively simple. But, this practice is a trap, because a board that relies on e-mail voting fails to comply with legal requirements for a proper vote, and exposes its decisions to attack. Nonprofit corporate statutes typically provide for board action to be taken either at a meeting (including a meeting by phone or video conference) or by unanimous written consent. Since an e-mail vote technically does not fit either category, it is quite possible that a court would consider an e-mail vote nothing more than an informal action, which is not legally valid. Even more likely, an attorney representing a nonprofit organization in a loan transaction might not be able to issue the “opinion of counsel” typically required by a lender, and this could delay or derail the entire deal.

Let’s take an example.

Playball (PB) runs a youth baseball program. A local businessman offers to donate land for fields, and arranges for a loan to cover construction costs. As interest rates are rising, PB needs to lock in the rate quickly. PB’s president tries to schedule a special meeting of the board to approve the loan, but can’t find a time when a quorum of four of the seven directors can meet.

So, she sends an e-mail seeking approval for the loan. Five directors respond, “Sure,” while two object. With a majority vote in hand, PB’s president signs the commitment letter and pays a commitment fee.

The closing approaches. PB’s attorney prepares the required opinion, which must state that: “All corporate proceedings required by law or the provisions of PB’s Certificate of Incorporation or bylaws to be taken by PB in connection with the transaction have been duly and validly taken.”

“Let me see the minutes of the meeting approving the loan,” says PB’s attorney.

“We couldn’t call a meeting, so we voted by e-mail,” responds PB’s president.

“Ok,” says the attorney. “You need a unanimous written consent, or to ratify the vote at a meeting or by teleconference.”

Unanimous consent is unattainable because two directors object. And, one of the five original consenting directors changes his vote. And of the remaining consenting directors, two are traveling in Asia, and cannot even meet by teleconference. With five of seven directors available, but only two who will vote in favor of the loan, PB’s attorney can’t deliver the opinion, the bank won’t make the loan, there is no deal, and PB forfeits its commitment fee.

While far-fetched, this scenario illustrates the danger of relying on informal board action.

Prohibition on Proxy Voting

In most states, directors may not vote by proxy. The theory behind this prohibition is that the discussion and interchange of ideas that occurs at board meetings is essential to the informed exercise of the directors’ fiduciary duty to the corporation.

An e-mail vote – that is, a proposal circulated and responded to by e-mail – is essentially a proxy vote delivered electronically.

The prohibition on proxy voting by directors has its roots in case law developed over many decades, known as “common law,” and eventually codified in statutes. The law regarding proper board action is substantially the same under the common law and under statutes governing business corporations and nonprofit corporations. In fact, most of the law developed in the business (or stock) corporation arena, but is applicable to nonprofit (or nonstock) organizations as well. But nonprofit organizations, whose directors are usually uncompensated volunteers, may be particularly prone to allowing their directors to vote by email.

The principal case in Connecticut on the issue of proxy voting by directors is a fairly typical one. In the 1956 business corporation case called Greenberg v. Harrison, the court invalidated the repayment of a loan by a corporation to its lender. The loan was to continue for one year unless earlier repayment was approved by unanimous consent of the directors. Finding that there was no unanimous consent because one director gave a proxy to another director but did not attend the board meeting, the court explained:

The affairs of a corporation are in the hands of its board of directors, whose duty it is to give deliberative control to the corporate business. This requires the physical presence of a director at directors’ meetings, and he cannot act by proxy.

Alternatives

In our example, PB’s attorney tired to implement the statutory exceptions to the requirement that directors meet in person. These exceptions can be easily adapted as modern technology progresses, and should be incorporated into an organization’s bylaws.

Teleconference

The statute allows meetings to be conducted by “any means of communication by which all directors participating may simultaneously hear each other during the meeting.” This provision allows teleconferences, and should permit web conferencing that combines voice or video communication with document sharing.

Unanimous Consent

Closer to the concept of e-mail voting, the statute also permits a board to act by unanimous written consent, if each director signs “a consent describing the action taken or to be taken.” This protects a director’s right to question the action or insist that the board discuss the matter, as a director may compel a meeting simply by withholding consent.

Combining the formality of unanimous written consent with the simplicity of e-mail, an organization’s staff member or officer may circulate the proposed resolution as a formal consent attached to an email. The organization must then collect all of the directors’ signatures. The consent may be signed electronically – \\John H. Smith\\ – for example, and delivered electronically – as a PDF attached to an e-mail.

E-mailed Resolution

An organization might also send an e-mail containing the full text of the resolution and ask each director to specifically respond and sign electronically. However, this procedure increases the risk that a technicality will be overlooked, and it is no simpler than attaching a formal consent to an e-mail.

The distinction between a formal consent circulated as an attachment to an e-mail, and an e-mailed poll of the board may seem inconsequential. But, note three important differences. Most important, all directors must vote unanimously. The directors must also receive a complete description of the proposed resolution and they must “sign” the consent.

E-mail is a useful tool for taking the pulse of a board. An organization may informally poll its directors and then ratify the decision with a formal in-person or teleconference meeting or by unanimous written consent.

The risk that an informal e-mail vote will prove problematic is small if the decision is unanimous, if no one litigates to pursue an objection or if no opinion of counsel is required. Nonetheless, directors should protect the integrity of their decisions by adhering to the statutory procedures and ensuring that through active and meaningful participation they stay informed and comply with their fiduciary duty of care.

Leah Cohen Chatinover is of counsel at Stanger & Arnold, LLP in West Hartford, Connecticut. She is a business lawyer for nonprofit organizations of all types, and can be reached at lchatinover@stangerlaw.com

New! Consumers Guide to Volunteer Management Systems

2011-05-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

We’re thrilled to announce the release of our latest in-depth report, A Consumers Guide to Volunteer Management Systems, created in partnership with TechSoup. It’s available for free download with registration at http://www.idealware.org/volunteer_management.

Like all our reports, this one is the product of extensive research, interviews and hands-on system demos. It condenses the knowledge of experts and impartial reviews into an all-in-one-place guide to help nonprofits understand and choose the best volunteer management system.

Volunteers provide the strong backs that help build organizations, but volunteer-based nonprofits have to keep track of a lot of data, from contact info and schedules to time sheets and job sites. The right software can streamline that process and free up time for managing volunteers. Though there are a number of products on the market, it’s surprisingly hard to find information about them—until now.

We designed this report as an introduction to volunteer management software: what’s out there, what to expect, and how the different solutions compare. It covers the basic features and functions that might be desirable, and discusses the pros and cons of standalone systems vs. those that track volunteers alongside donors or other constituents. Finally, it compares the strengths and weaknesses of three standalone volunteer management systems and three consolidated constituent management systems, with contextual information about 21 additional systems.

Whether you’re upgrading your existing system or just starting out, let Idealware help your nonprofit make smart software decisions—use this report to guide you through the process. Download it now (free with registration)!

Want to know more, or to hear the researchers talk through the systems and considerations? Check out our online seminar Choosing a Volunteer Management System, for $40 on June 9th.

Enjoy!
Laura
--
Laura Quinn Executive Director Idealware
laura@idealware.org http://www.idealware.org/

The Times Union & NY Council of Nonprofits Invite You to an Informational Breakfast

2011-05-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

Join us to learn about sponsorship, grant and service opportunities available to nonprofits in our area.*

Wednesday, May 18th 2011

The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center
8:00am to 10:00am
Free: Register Now

Did you know that the Times Union can help your nonprofit organization with printing and mailing projects as well as provide services and support for your online presence -- making sure more people see your website and other social media outlets?

As an additional benefit the Times Union offers matching advertising space in print for any services your purchase. *Must be a 501c3 charity providing benefits to the Capital Region directly.

We will cover:

Matching Grants, Basic Grants & Sponsorship Program

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Program

Direct Mail & Mail Services (include design for letterhead, brochures and more.)

Growing Interest in "Taxing" Nonprofits

2011-05-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

The NY Times featured a recent story about the growing trend of municipalities developing or charging nonprofits service fees (aka taxes on certain services). Clearly this is a challenge for most nonprofits, especially as they struggle to address increasing needs, higher operating costs and decreasing funding and donations. It seems that nonprofits will likely cut services in response, especially since most have already cut everything possible in an attempt to preserve programs and services. What kind of impact this will have remains to be seen, but it feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The article relates:
As recession-racked cities struggle to balance their budgets with everything short of feeling behind sofa cushions for loose change, a growing number are seeking more money — just don’t use the word taxes — from nonprofit institutions that occupy valuable land but by law do not pay property taxes.

Boston has been sending letters to its largest nonprofit institutions this year, telling them the value of their land and asking them to begin making annual payments that would eventually rise to a quarter of what they would owe if they paid property taxes. Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel of Chicago wants the city to begin charging water fees to nonprofits, which have been spared them in the past. And the mayor of Providence, R.I., Angel Taveras, cited Boston’s example this month when he called on nonprofits to pay more money to the city.

Read more here.

Boston's Coercive PILOTs Experiment Should Crash

2011-05-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

Tim Delaney, President & CEO, National Council of Nonprofits, posted to Huffington Post about the recent issue of PILOTS in Boston.

As he relates: Leaders of nonprofit organizations across America were stunned by reports this week in the Boston Globe and NPR's Marketplace that the City of Boston would turn its back on the nonprofit cultural, educational, and health care institutions that have played such vital roles in making that city great.

What stunned nonprofit leaders nationwide is that Boston sent letters essentially mandating that various nonprofits make "Payments-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes" (PILOTs) to the city based on the value of their property, even though Massachusetts law -- like the law in all 50 states -- prohibits local governments from taxing nonprofit property. What in turn shocked nonprofit leaders is how Boston intends to enforce its supposedly "voluntary" PILOT program: with a Scarlet-letter campaign designed to coerce compliance with the city's demand for "voluntary" payments.

Boston has concocted an Orwellian program that uses euphemisms -- such as "PILOTs" instead of "property taxes" and "voluntary" instead of "coerced" -- apparently attempting to hide what is really happening to evade what the law prohibits. The city, knowing the courts would strike down as an illegal act any attempt to directly impose property taxes on charitable nonprofits, invented a program to coerce "voluntary" Payments-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes. But slapping on a misleading label to cover a bad act does not render it any more acceptable; a payment based on property value is still a tax.

To enforce its legally unenforceable program, Boston has threatened to paint a Scarlet letter of shame on every nonprofit that does not comply with the city's demands for payments. Such coercion to obtain what the Commonwealth's law prohibits is outrageous and threatens everyone; who's next, when Boston -- or any government -- wants something the law prohibits?

The city's program also disregards unique aspects of nonprofit law, thus putting coerced nonprofits at risk of running afoul of the Massachusetts Attorney General, who has jurisdiction to oversee that funds donated to nonprofits are used as donors intend. By demanding that nonprofits pay the city 25 percent of their property's tax value, the city is whipsawing nonprofits, putting them in a lose-lose dilemma: either undergo the city's shameful public branding, or cave in to the city's demands to pay, only to have the Massachusetts Attorney General come after the nonprofit if donors complain that they gave their money for purposes other than transfers to the city treasury.

In trying to balance its budget on the backs of people served by charities and those who donate to them, Boston has disregarded not only the law, but also fiscal reality. The recession already has stretched nonprofits too far financially as demands for their services have skyrocketed while their revenues have nosedived, with corporate contributions declining, foundation grants down, and governments delaying payments and not paying full costs on legally-binding contracts. According to the IRS, even individual giving has sagged by 20 percent. Read more here.

eba Announces Sale of Building to Better Address Mission

2011-05-01T20:29:00.001-07:00

We’re Selling Our Building
So that we can better serve the Arts Needs of our Community

In 1977, after 5 years in a small loft on Central Ave, eba purchased this beautiful building at 351 Hudson Ave. At the time, it was a great home for us and we took full advantage of the theater and studio. Times have changed though and so have our needs and the needs of our community. We are not leaving - we’re just continuing to adapt to the new Arts world of today.

From our simple beginnings, eba has grown into a multifaceted arts organization that is intrinsically woven into the cultural fabric of our Capital Region Community. As we look ahead - to our 40th Anniversary in 2012- we realize that the building reduces our ability to provide the quality programs and services that you have come to expect from eba. By selling 351 Hudson, we will be able to invest the bricks & mortar dollars back into high quality programming. Our updated model will be more fluid and responsive to community needs - enabling us to continue to provide arts in schools, create new works, perform, and offer dance and fitness education at various locations throughout the community. We are not leaving, we’re just adapting to the changing Arts World--we’re bringing eba to you!

eba is dedicated to cultivating and developing an understanding of and public interest in the arts; through creation, performance, and education.

Of equal importance, we endeavor to cultivate an understandng of the inherent creative potential within each of us and to integrate these creative aims with daily life.

351 Hudson Ave. Albany NY 12210
www.eba-arts.org
(518) 465-9916

Welcome Hamilton Hill Arts Center's New Executive Director

2011-04-29T09:36:00.001-07:00

Dear friends and colleagues:

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Doretha “Penny” Holmes, the new Executive Director of the Hamilton Hill Arts Center, beginning Monday, May 2.

Ms. Holmes comes to the Hamilton Hill Arts Center with a strong background in non-profit management. Her skills include Human Resources Management, Fiscal Administration and Oversight, Grant Writing; Public Speaking, Special Events Planning and Implementation, and Fundraising.

Ms Holmes was the Chief Professional Officer (CPO) of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany from 1996-2009. She began her career in human services at the YWCA of Troy-Cohoes in 1990 and rose through the ranks from Executive Assistant to Program Director to Acting Executive Director of the Organization.

A graduate of the Junior College of Albany (Division of Russell Sage) with an A.A.S. in Legal Studies, Penny earned a B.A. in Political Science from Russell Sage College. She is a graduate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Management Program Class of 2000 and the Upper Management Career Assistant Program in which she also served as a mentor for upcoming Executive Directors. Penny is a graduate of the class of 2002 Capital Leadership Program and a 2006 participant of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Executive Leadership Program.

Penny has received numerous achievement awards for her work in the community: 1998 Special Partner of the Year Award, 1998 - 2000 honored by the family members of the Local Homeschoolers, 2000 Citizen of the Year Award sponsored by the Nu Tau Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., 1999 honored by the Odyssey Ladies Club and 2002 40 Under 40 Award recipient sponsored by The Business Review, and the Harriet Tubman Award.

Although Ms. Holmes career does not include an arts background, she has always had an interest in the arts, particularly African American Arts and looks forward to learning more. We can all be confident in the positive contributions Ms Holmes will bring during her directorship of the Hamilton Hill Arts Center.

Thank you all for your support and your commitment to the Hamilton Hill Art Center. I will always remember my years at the Hamilton Hill Arts Center with pleasure and satisfaction.

Sincerely,

Miki Conn
Retiring Executive Director

Weak enforcement of rules on U.S. charities: experts

2011-04-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - Authorities in the United States, particularly in cash-strapped states, have not devoted enough resources to policing nonprofit groups like those involved in recent philanthropy controversies, experts say

U.S. tax authorities grant groups charitable status, which exempts them from taxes, and require most to file annual informational tax returns, but experts say the main source of regulation faced by nonprofit groups is at state level from the attorney-general.

"The problem is that very few states have put the resources they should into this part of the attorney general's activities and the quality of regulation ... varies," said Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor of public affairs and philanthropic studies at Indiana University.

Best-selling author Greg Mortenson was accused by television program "60 Minutes" this week of misusing money given by donors, who include President Barack Obama, to his charitable organization Central Asia Institute. The New York Times reported last month that singer Madonna had ousted the board of her Raising Malawi charity due to mismanagement.

Many U.S. states are facing financial hardships stemming from the U.S. recession of 2007-2009, which has limited their budgets for law enforcement and other services.

There are about 2 million nonprofits in the United States. Of that number, just 20,000 receive about 85 percent of the $300 billion in U.S. donations made annually, experts said.

Mortenson, whose charity received $100,000 of Obama's $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award, has denied any wrongdoing and Madonna has said that her group was not under investigation.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock, who is responsible for overseeing the Central Asia Institute, said he will investigate concerns raised that the charity spends more promoting the importance of constructing schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is spends to build them.

"We've kept our rules relatively loose for charities in the United States," Lenkowsky said. "The reason being that our philosophy is that we would like to see lots of private initiatives that aim to serve a public interest."

HIGHER FRAUD RATE

Tax authorities reject very few applications by groups wanting to become charities, but making it more difficult would raise concerns about what criteria would be used to determine a nonprofit and could hinder efforts by groups to do good.

There are several independent charity watchdogs such as Charity Navigator and the American Institute for Philanthropy, where donors can get advice about larger nonprofit groups.

But their views can differ. The institute wrote a critical report about Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, while the Navigator gave it a top four star rating and then added a donor advisory warning when concerns about the group were raised.

"The vast majority of donors are looking for information that is readily available; they don't have a lot of time to do research for their charitable giving," said Ken Berger, chief executive of Charity Navigator.

"We're trying to oversee what is basically a $2 trillion part of the American economy -- one out of every 10 jobs -- 10 percent of GDP, and we are a very small operation," he said. "Creating further regulation would not be viable unless we get serious about enforcing existing law more rigorously."

Research shows that theft in the nonprofit sector accounts for 13 percent of annual donations, or about twice the rate of fraud in the for-profit sector, said Mark Kramer, co-founder of nonprofit consulting firm FSG and author of "Do More Than Give: The 6 Practices of Donors Who Change the World."

"In the for-profit sector, the line between what is illegal and what is merely bad judgment is clearly defined: Madoff committed fraud and is in jail," Kramer said.

"When one takes on the moral weight of running a charity, however, the rules are less clear," he said. "Unlike the for-profit sector, the scandal doesn't depend on whether something is illegal -- merely whether it sounds bad."

Kramer said donors tend to focus on funding good causes rather than judging charities by their results -- an approach which creates greater opportunities for mismanagement.

Museumwise & MANY investigate a joint service model

2011-04-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

The Museumwise & MANY boards have agreed to pursue an investigation into the blending of our two organizations. To continue to enhance our impact on New York's museum community, we recognized the need to think creatively towards envisioning a new model of service. The goal of our collaborative investigations is to identify the most appropriate model for both organizations to best serve their members and the cultural community. A second but equally import goal is its potential to serve as a model for other organizations should they choose to pursue this form of creative exploration and envisioning. Member and stakeholder input are a top priority to both Museumwise and MANY. The development of an open, comprehensive and balanced conduit for member and stakeholder participation is recognized as an integral element in this venture. We will be coming to you for your ideas and feedback once our communication plan is more clearly defined. Best regards, Catherine ************************************************ Catherine Gilbert, Executive Director Museumwise 11 Ford Avenue Oneonta, NY 13820 800-895-1648 director@museumwise.org http://www.museumwise.org/ http://www.museumsinconversation.org/

Philanthropy and Job Creation

2011-04-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Foundation Center and IssueLab joined together to interview six nonprofit and foundation leaders working on the urgent issue of job creation.

Whether you interpret the jobs report that was released Friday by the Labor Department as promising or disappointing, the fact remains that the country is still mired in a joblessness crisis, with an unemployment rate of close to 9 percent. Amidst the talk of how the job market is faring in the business community, nonprofits in the U.S. are quietly creating jobs by cultivating entrepreneurship, ensuring that new jobs are both environmentally sound and pay a living wage, testing (and proving) the viability of worker-owned businesses, and advocating for the necessity of subsidized employment programs.

Learn more about the unique perspectives offered by these nonprofit leaders and what they think is missing from the national discourse.

Abolishing Slavery in the Atlantic World: the 'Underground Railroad' in the Americas, Africa, and Europe UGRR Conference

2011-04-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

The NYS Office of Parks, Museumwise and Underground Railroad History Project
of the Capital Region have partnered to offer a session track geared towards
the needs of museum and historic site staff during the Abolishing Slavery in the Atlantic World: the 'Underground Railroad' in the Americas, Africa, and Europe UGRR Conference.

Full details on the track are below. These sessions will address critical
issues for institutions at all stages of their development. Register online
for the Treasures of History - Museum and Historic Sites (M/H) track at
http://ugrworkshop.com/?page_id=802

Teaching Slavery to Children - Dr. David Anderson, Sankofa, Dir. Of Akwaaba
Heritage Associates, Cynthia Copeland, New School of Social Research

How can we speak with children about slavery with accuracy and integrity
while being sensitive to age appropriateness? Learn from the experts who
have engaged children of various ages around the topic of slavery.

Telling the Story for Today's Visitors: First Person Interpretation and Tour
Development - Dr. David Anderson, Sankofa, Dir. of Akwaaba Heritage
Associates, Cindy Boyer, Director of Museums and Education, The Landmark
Society of Western NY

How can our historic stories be told so as to attract new and returning
visitors in these challenging economic times? Listen to the experts as they
share their words of wisdom.

The International Traveler: Preparing to Enter the International Tourism
Market - Markly Wilson, Director, International Marketing, I Love NY; Lori
Solomon Duell, Director, Heritage Tourism, Erie Canalway National Heritage
Corridor

What attracts the international traveler to visit historic sites in New York
State, and your site in particular? What are the competitive challenges in
the international market? How can those challenges be turned into assets?
How can you develop networking and collaborative partnerships that help
sustain your historic sites place in the international market?

Abolishing Slavery in the Atlantic World: the 'Underground Railroad' in the
Americas, Africa, and Europe and its relationship with us today A Fresh
Interpretation of an Old Story

The 10th Conference on the Underground Railroad Movement

Friday, Saturday, Sunday - April 8, 9, 10, 2011

Organized by: Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region,
Inc.

Co-sponsored by: The Department of History and Society, The Sage Colleges

Hosted by: Russell Sage College, Troy, New York

In collaboration with Rensselaer County Historical Society, Museumwise, and
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc.

URHPCR, Inc. seeks to acknowledge the Underground Railroad movement in our
region, our state, and our nation, to raise awareness about and stimulate
interest in this little recognized part of our history, to understand it in
its historic content, to encourage the recognition of its inspiring historic
figures and the activities in which they engaged, to preserve that history,
emphasizing the participation of African American abolitionists and freedom
seekers, and to relate that history to us today.

URHPCR, Inc. - P.O. Box 10851 - Albany, New York 12201 www.ugrworkshop.com
- (518) 432-4432

Protest Oregon's Proposed New Fundraising Law

2011-03-24T10:38:00.001-07:00

Read Dan Pallotta's latest post in the Harvard Business Review:

Oregon's Attorney General John Kroger has introduced a bill that would strip the tax-deductible status from donations made to charities that spend less than 30% of their annual budget on services over the course of a three-year period. The law is intended to weed out scams.

And that's a problem. The fact that a charity spends less than 30% of donations on services doesn't mean it's a scam, and the fact that it spends more than that doesn't mean it's not one. The proposed law could not be more dysfunctionally designed: It has a blind spot for real fraud and puts a spotlight on potential innocence.

Here are six reasons why anyone who cares about social progress should contact Mr. Kruger's office and ask him to withdraw this proposed legislation:

1.It uses a false theory of transparency. It assumes — and makes the public think — that disclosure of overhead is transparency. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many reported overhead ratios distort and obscure the truth. They cloak the underlying accounting that goes into calculating the overhead percentage. Reporting a high rate of overhead probably signals a kind of innocence: It means the charity isn't using accounting shenanigans. The law drives right past real fraud (in the form of fraudulent accounting) — misses it completely, every time. Charities using aggressive, unethical accounting practices to mask high overhead get a free pass — or worse, they're made to look good. This practice is widespread. The Nonprofit Overhead Cost Project at Indiana University reported that, of 126,956 tax forms they studied, half of the organizations reported a hard-to-believe 0% fundraising cost, and one-quarter of charities with revenues between $1 million and $5 million reported a 0% fundraising cost.

Read more here.

Nonprofit Compensation: What is too much? …and who decides?

2011-03-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of hearing, "That nonprofit pays its employees too much!" If every nonprofit board followed IRS guidance on setting the compensation of its key staff leaders, perhaps we wouldn’t hear that refrain as often. So board members, please do your part by embracing your role as defenders of the nonprofit sector’s right to pay its employees reasonably and fairly. Help us change the conversation from, "What compensation is excessive?" to "What compensation levels will help our organization build its capacity by hiring and retaining terrific staff?"

First, know the process for reviewing the annual compensation of the executive director. Second, be aware of the downside of NOT engaging in an annual compensation review. (Bad press, lack of donor confidence, and potentially IRS penalties….need we say more?)

Background: Under federal law, a charity may not pay more than "reasonable" compensation for services rendered. Although the Internal Revenue Code does not require charities to follow a particular process for determining the appropriate level of salary and benefits, it is clear that compensation for board members, officers, key employees (and others in a position to exercise substantial influence over the affairs of the nonprofit) should be determined by persons who are informed about what comparable nonprofits pay their employees, and who have no financial interest themselves in approving the compensation. (Source: IRS, Governance and Related Topics - 501(c)(3) Organizations 3-4 (2008)). These are the general guidelines offered by the IRS – but the IRS Form 990 offers specifics.

The IRS Form 990 asks nonprofits about the three-step process used to approve the compensation of the executive director/CEO (and certain other key employees): Did the process for determining compensation of the following persons include a (1) review and approval by independent persons, (2) comparability data, and (3) contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision?(See Section VI, Part B, line 15, of the Form 990.) Nonprofits that follow this three-step process are generally able to take advantage of what the IRS refers to as a "rebuttable presumption" that the compensation is reasonable, thereby protecting the nonprofit and the board members from sanctions that can be imposed by the IRS if it finds that the compensation was not reasonable.

Visit the National Council’s website for more information on how to measure comparability of compensation, and visit the IRS website for background on what can happen if a board fails to demonstrate it followed this 3-step rebuttable presumption process [hint: intermediate sanctions].

Demonstrating that your nonprofit has approved the compensation of the executive director/CEO in a thoughtful, deliberative process is a basic fiduciary responsibility of every nonprofit board. Here are some pointers:

The process of reviewing executive compensation should recur whenever there is an adjustment to the executive director/CEO’s compensation.

Having a written policy can help keep the process on track. ( See sample policy).

The "executive compensation review" should be conducted by persons who are "independent" (not paid by the nonprofit). Many nonprofits use a sub-committee, such as a "compensation committee" made up of board members and volunteers, or the executive committee, to conduct the initial review and then make a recommendation to the full board.

Having the full board approve the compensation of the executive director/CEO is consistent with being a transparent and accountable organization.

Documentation of what the board’s decision was based on (such as comparability data) and of the fact that the board carefully deliberated and approved the CEO’s compensation is critical. Minutes of the meeting should include enough details so that if the board’s decision is questioned, the process the board used to determine that compensation is "reasonable" will be clear.

"Compensation" means both salary and benefits, so if an executive director receives a salary but also other fringe benefits such as insurance, or a car or housing allowance, all those elements must be totaled together to determine the annual compensation.

There are many more resources on the National Council’s website, including a sample Policy for Review of Executive Compensation and a link to a virtual seminar on this topic presented at a symposium at Columbia Law School for state charity regulators by legal experts on executive compensation for tax-exempt organizations.

Read about additional governance policies that your nonprofit’s board should be aware of.

Building Opportunities 2011: The Nonprofit Shared Space and Services Conference

2011-03-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

Join us for three days of practical tools to create successful nonprofit shared space and services.

Building Opportunities 2011 is the largest event in North America dedicated to creating and managing shared nonprofit workspace, administrative services, technology, and programs. Learn from The NonprofitCenters Network's ten years of collected best practices. Join leaders from the nonprofit, philanthropic, business, and public sectors as we discuss WHAT WORKS in shared space and services.

Gather comprehensive information on:

Nuts and bolts of creating and operating multi-tenant nonprofit facilities
Proven models of success for sharing administrative services, technology, and programs
Commercial and nonprofit financing options
Cost-saving solutions for quality, efficient operations
Tools to evaluate and amplify the impact of your collaborative space project
Successful strategies for community-building, ownership and governance, and cross-sector partnerships

View the Conference Agenda

What to expect:

Significant networking opportunities
Over 20 new workshops and discussions covering diverse topics, incuding community-building and facility operations
Dynamic speakers from across the design, real estate, and financial sectors, as well as nonprofit sector leaders
New conference ambassador program to foster peer-to-peer learning
Thought-provoking plenaries exploring proven impact and future directions for the shared space and services movement
Tours of nonprofit center facilities in the Los Angeles area
Valuable resource materials to take home

Learn more and register today.

DATES:
May 9 - 11, 2011

LOCATION:
Center for Healthy Communities at
The California Endowment
1000 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

COST:
Early Bird through April 1
NCN Members: $295
Non-Members: $495

After April 1
NCN Members: $375
Non-Members: $575

Group Discount:
10% off total amount with 2+ registrants from an organization

Fiscal Sponsorship = Sharing Tax-Exempt Status

2011-03-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

How can a nonprofit raise money if it is not tax-exempt?

An organization that is not tax-exempt (either because it has not yet been recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS or has had its exemption revoked) can arrange with another organization that is tax-exempt to serve as its "fiscal sponsor." The role of the fiscal sponsor typically includes handling the administrative responsibilities of receiving and administering charitable contributions on behalf of the sponsored organization. (The fiscal sponsor may be paid a reasonable fee for this administrative service.)

In essence, fiscal sponsorship is a relationship in which the tax-exempt status of one organization is effectively shared with a sponsored organization/program. The sponsored organization benefits because contributions are made to the fiscal sponsor (which is tax-exempt). This allows donors to receive a deduction for their contribution, which generally smooths the way for financial support.

Because of the administrative responsibilities involved, it is best to memorialize fiscal sponsorship arrangements in a formal written agreement.
There are other reasons to consider a fiscal sponsorship relationship in addition to fundraising. Many organizations rely on their fiscal sponsor for other functions, such as bookkeeping, human resources, and various administrative roles.

Did you know?
The IRS will soon release a list of nonprofits that have had their tax-exempt status automatically revoked for failure to file 990s with the IRS for three consecutive years. If a nonprofit loses its tax-exempt status but still wants to fund its operations on a temporary basis while it reapplies for tax-exempt status with the IRS, it will need a way to continue to attract deductible contributions in order to deliver its mission in the community. Fiscal sponsorship may be one answer.

Read all about fiscal sponsorships from the Resources section on the National Council’s website: what they are, why an organization might consider using a fiscal sponsor, and what risks and advantages they provide to the nonprofit serving as a fiscal sponsor.

Looking for a fiscal sponsor or willing to serve as one? Search or sign up using the Fiscal Sponsor Directory. Local community foundations and State Associations may also be helpful resources for finding fiscal sponsors. Some organizations that serve as incubators/fiscal sponsors are listed on our website.
Stay out of trouble with this post by NonprofitLaw Blog author Gene Tagaki, Esq., that offers advice about what to avoid when engaging in fiscal sponsor relationships: Fiscal Sponsorship – Six Ways to Do it Wrong.
If your organization is considering becoming a fiscal sponsor, or using one, read about recommended best practices for fiscal sponsors developed by the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors.
Put it in writing! Suggestions for what to include in a written agreement or memorandum of understanding between a fiscal sponsor and the sponsored organization are set forth on page 5 of this monograph: On Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship, by Joshua Sattely, Third Sector New England (2009).
Debunk the myths and learn about the untapped potential of fiscal sponsorships from this report, More than Money- Fiscal Sponsorship’s Unrealized Potential, BTW Consultants, (May 2007).
Before you take the plunge, learn from others: The experiences of 200 fiscal sponsors are described in the Fiscal Sponsorship Field Scan, a report based on the first-ever survey of fiscal sponsors conducted by the Tides Foundation (2006).
More fiscal sponsorship resources from CompassPoint.

How could a nonprofit lose its tax-exempt status?

A nonprofit could lose its tax-exempt status in a number of ways.

Read about risky activities that – when engaged in by a nonprofit – could jeopardize tax-exemption.
Most tax-exempt organizations, other than churches, must file an annual return (Form 990) with the IRS – if they do not, they face automatic revocation if they fail to file annual reports for three consecutive years.
Check the at-risk list. The IRS website provides a state-by-state list of organizations at-risk of losing their tax-exempt status. In some states there are over 12,000 organizations (just in that state) listed!

Guidance for donors to section 501(c)(3) organizations: You may rely on the organization’s determination letter or listing in Publication 78 to deduct contributions until the IRS publishes a notice on IRS.gov that the organization’s 501(c)(3) exempt status has been automatically revoked.

NONDISCRIMINATION TESTING FOR EMPLOYER-SPONSORED HEALTH PLANS

2011-02-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

Council Services Plus has formed a partnership with Watson and West, LLP to assist employers with nondiscrimination testing requirements. We are following the legislation and updates to keep abreast of the mandate. We have the resources and expertise to provide the testing requirements once the rules and regulations are established. It will be imperative for employers to satisfy these rules to avoid penalties under section 2716 of the Public Health Services Act (PHSA).

You are receiving this email as a courtesy to help you and your organization prepare for compliance with this aspect of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Employers are familiar with Section 105(h) testing for retirement plans. PPACA includes similar testing for group health plans to ensure that highly compensated employees (HCE) do not receive favorable treatment in comparison to rank-and-file employees. The full picture of the impact is not yet available due to administrative reviews by the IRS and other federal government agencies; however, we can anticipate that employer groups with 100 employees or more will be required to perform nondiscrimination testing similar, but not the same as, Section 105(h). Oversight of nondiscrimination testing for health plans is shared by the US Departments of Treasury, Labor and HHS.

At this time, please be aware that nondiscrimination requirements focus on plan benefits, eligibility, premium contribution, and administration of benefits to prohibit employers from granting highly compensated employees health benefits that are more generous than the general population of employees. We anticipate clarification of regulations to be available around May. If you are interested in learning more details of the legislation, or want us to keep you informed regarding updates to the regulations, please feel fre to contact us.

For more information or questions concerning the above, please contact Cathy Connors, at (800) 515-5012 x131; or via email at cconnorscconnors@councilservicesplus.com

House Cuts Deep and Destructive for Nonprofits

2011-02-14T06:33:00.000-08:00

House Appropriators Would Slash More than $65 billion in the Next Seven Months;
Vulnerable People Hit Hard

The House Appropriations Committee has released the cuts it will make to finish out the remaining 7 months of this fiscal year. It proposes to cut $100 billion below the President's FY 2011 budget proposal, of which $81 billion is cut from domestic and international programs, and $19 billion comes from military, homeland security, and veterans' programs. The President's proposals were higher than the level of spending that has been adopted so far in temporary spending measures. This proposal cuts about $60 billion as compared to FY 2010. Because there are increases in military, veterans' and homeland security spending, the cut to domestic and international programs is higher than the $60 billion in net reductions. There are $65.5 billion in cuts to domestic and international spending and a net $3.4 billion in cuts to military construction, homeland security, and veterans affairs. There are increases for veterans health care ($3.687 billion), homeland security ($1.2 billion) and defense spending (approximately $9 billion?).

Even though we are already five months into the fiscal year, some programs lose ALL of their regular FY 2011 appropriations (some may have remaining economic recovery or other funding).

Some terminated programs:
Reintegration of Ex-Offenders
YouthBuild
Green Jobs Innovation Fund
Career Pathways Innovation Fund
National Health Service Corps
Family Planning (Title X)
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Discretionary Grants
Mentoring Children of Prisoners
Even Start
Striving Readers
High School Graduation Initiative
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (higher ed financial assistance)
LEAP program (for low-income college students)

There are other very draconian cuts. Here are some comparisons to FY 2010 levels. PLEASE SHARE ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR CORRECTIONS YOU HAVE ABOUT THESE OR OTHER CUTS:

$1 billion from Head Start (15 percent);

$1.4 billion from various job training programs (we're not sure exactly what is cut, but for purposes of comparison, two major job training programs, adult and youth training, were funded at $1.78 billion in FY 2010. (That does not include nearly $1.7 billion in economic recovery act funding that was available in FYs 2009 and 2010 - that is gone too.)

Community Health Centers (46 percent of regular appropriation);

Substance abuse treatment (more than $200 million cut);

Community Services Block Grant (44 percent cut);

Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) contingency fund (66 percent cut);

FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program (50 percent cut);

Title I (K-12 education for low-income students) ($693.5 million),

IDEA (special education) grants to states: (nearly $560 million);

Commodity Supplemental Food Program (11.4 percent cut);

Community Development Fund ($2.95 billion, or 66.3 percent cut);

Project-based rental assistance ($715.5 million, or 8.4 percent cut);

Public Housing Capital Fund ($1.07 billion, or 42 percent cut);

Housing for the Elderly ($551 million, or 67 percent cut);

Housing for Persons with Disabilities ($210 million, or 70 percent cut).

OUR ABILITY TO FIGHT THESE CUTS DEPENDS ON GETTING INFORMATION ABOUT HOW MANY ARE CURRENTLY SERVED, HOW THEY ARE HELPED, AND SOME ESTIMATES OF HOW MANY WILL LOSE HELP BECAUSE OF THESE RECKLESS PROPOSALS. PLEASE HELP!

The full list of cuts from the House Appropriations Committee:
http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/ProgramCutsFY2011ContinuingResolution.pdf

A summary list by appropriations subcommittees:
http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/FY2011CRSpendingTablesbySubcommittee.doc

The full legislative text:
http://www.rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/legislativetext/2011crapprops/AppropCRFinal_xml.pdf
This continuing resolution (CR) will be on the House floor next week (likely starting on Wednesday). Debate may proceed for several days; amendments will be permitted. However, amendments to increase funding for any program can only be allowed if they include cuts in other programs within the same subcommittee jurisdiction. Amendments to cut more deeply will be allowed; funds saved through such cuts are reserved in a "lockbox" to reduce the deficit; the money saved cannot then be used to restore funds to another program. After the bill is passed in the House, the Senate must act on it, and a final CR enacted before the March 4 deadline, when the current temporary spending measure expires.

SAVE for All: Strengthening America's Values and Economy for All

If you were wondering whether you should be part of the SAVE for All campaign, the House spending proposal is a good reason to join. Please read and sign the Statement of Principles, and join with hundreds of organizations to fight harshly short-sighted cuts - and to SAVE vulnerable people from losing services and opportunities to escape poverty.

New Arts Advocacy Group Launches: ARTS NYS Coalition

2011-02-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Times Square Chronicles featured the following post on a new arts advocacy group:

New York City is the heartland of arts and entertainment including commercial and non-profit theatre. In fact, it is the cultural center throughout the country. However, the NY State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is proposing the largest cuts of any State agency. It seems like a small part of the budget, .0003%, but in reality, with current economic times as they are, perhaps it represents a good portion. Without having a complete budget at hand and someone competent to explain it, I’m like most New Yorkers . . . trying to figure it all out. What is known, however, is that funding for the State Council on the Arts has been consistently reduced by nearly 30% over the past 4 years, representing the largest cut to any state agency. If we’re to continue our place as a major cultural arts center, we must have the funds necessary.

As a state, we have many attributes of which to be proud, but the arts are the soul of New York. Everyday, artists and arts groups throughout the state provide New Yorkers and the multitude of national and international visitors with pleasure, education, new ways of seeing the world, and enormous economic benefits.

Nonprofit cultural organizations in New York City are major contributors to the city’s economy. This sector is the second-largest component of the arts industry and is closely tied to the commercial sector. These organizations also share a labor pool of artists and other creative workers with the commercial sector and often develop artistic products that transfer to Broadway or is otherwise utilized commercially. A similarly complex interaction occurs between museums and commercial galleries and auction houses.

The nonprofit arts industry is labor-intensive. Half of the direct spending by all nonprofit cultural organizations goes to wages and benefits, and about 11 percent is for fees and services, including outside artistic fees. The majority of the employees are city residents, and many of the vendors and workers who supply goods and services to these institutions are located either within the city or in nearby suburban counties.

New York City is also a mecca for those who work in commercial theaters also apply their artistic talent and technical expertise in nonprofit theater and in the motion picture and television industry.

Who is ARTS NYS Coalition?They are a group of colleagues who joined together to ensure that the public has access to information on the state of the arts in New York State. Currently, the coalition includes the New York City Arts Coalition and the Arts Councils of Dutchess, Greene, Onondaga (Syracuse) and Westchester Counties, Huntington, Northern Adirondacks, Saint Lawrence and Southern Finger Lakes regions, Arts Alliances of Harlem and Buffalo, New York Folklore Society, NYS Alliance for Arts Education, and Museum Association of New York.

Thus far, the coalition has established this website, http://www.artsnys.org/, which will be a resource for data on the arts in New York State as well as information on pending legislation at the state and federal level. This website, in partnership with Americans for the Arts, will provide contact level providing information for elected representatives and will allow individuals to send their representatives customized messages.

ARTS New York State Coalition will also plan and coordinate state-wide advocacy events for 2011 which will provide the arts community with opportunities to meet with elected officials to discuss arts funding in the 2011/12 New York State Budget as well as other issues. A designated Arts Day in Albany is scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, 2011 in addition to many arts advocacy events planned in local districts during the week of February 7 – 13, 2011. Today we have a new governor, who is facing serious budget deficits, and we need him and his administration to be aware of the extent of the past cuts and the need for thoughtful care as they develop the budget for 2012.

It is very urgent that the Governor of our state hear from those who enjoy and treasure the arts in New York State. Send your message to Gov. Andrew Cuomo today.

Lest we forget, cuts to the arts is not only state wide, but on a Federal level as well. In addition to contacting your local representatives, do the same with State Senators and Congressional reps.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget plan offers a spectrum of cuts critics say go too far

2011-02-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

The Times Union reported on the Governor's recent budget presentation:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's first budget presentation was brisk, dispensing with the laundry lists of previous years and concentrating on a few simple ideas he has been pushing for months. Key among them: State spending has become a runaway train.

In a 42-minute address at The Egg that was part PowerPoint lecture and part exhortation, Cuomo called the state's long-standing budget process "a special-interest protection program" because of the way it obscures the growth in spending on programs such as Medicaid and education.

"How anybody expected to pay for a 13 percent increase in Medicaid is beyond me," Cuomo said of the most recent built-in increases driving the $53 billion-plus program.

The slumping national economy, loss of federal stimulus funds and Cuomo's determination to rethink the way money is allocated resulted in a budget that for the first time in 15 years has actually shrunk year to year.

Cuomo's budget proposal came in at $132.9 billion, down $3.7 billion, or 2.3 percent, from the current fiscal year's adjusted budget of $136.5 billion.

As he warned, education and health care, which make up the biggest chunk of state spending, will get the largest cuts. School aid would drop $1.5 billion from $20.9 billion to $19.4 billion, based on the school year that begins July 1.

Medicaid is slated to lose $982 million, or 2 percent, while there's another $2.85 billion in "gap-closing actions" that will be coming from Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team.

For state workers, Cuomo is proposing a 10 percent agency cut, and seeks savings in unspecified givebacks that need to add up to $450 million. If unions don't agree, the governor warned there could be up to 9,800 layoffs.

Cuomo noted that the state was suffering from a loss of federal stimulus funds, which he explicitly compared to an addictive substance: "We inhaled it and injected it into our body," Cuomo said, and will now have to handle the withdrawal.

As usual, the blizzard of statements decrying the cuts -- from unions, advocacy groups and others -- was almost as ferocious as the snowstorm that raged outside, and kept some people from getting to the budget presentation.

"There is nothing fair nor shared in the proposed state budget," said Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association, which along with the Public Employees Federation, is one of two major state unions.

"The State Executive Budget proposal would cripple public services without asking any sacrifice from businesses, corporations and the millionaires and billionaires responsible for the economic crisis," added PEF's Ken Brynien.

Almost all of the advocates urged Cuomo to extend the so-called millionaires income tax surcharge set to expire at the end of 2011. Cuomo has repeatedly said he'll let the surcharge expire, and most lawmakers have agreed.

Realizing there would be pushback, Cuomo stressed that the heaviest cuts are reserved for the state operations under his control, most of which will sustain a 10 percent reduction compared to the low single digits for overall education and health care.

Much of the education and health care money goes to localities such as counties which operate Medicaid programs or to local school districts. Legislators tend to care more about funding for those locally based programs than for state agencies.

Also being de-funded is the governor's $85 million contribution toward member items, or pork barrel projects that individual lawmakers get for their districts. But Cuomo avoided attacking the Legislature, although he railed against the system of budget-building they have helped create over the years.

Cuomo wants to tie growth to a more objective measure, such as inflation or personal income growth. He also wants health care organizations and schools as well as economic development agencies to compete for money through grant applications.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Painful-road-to-recovery-lies-ahead-989491.php#ixzz1CpEVUUAn

Girls Inc. sells Albany building

2011-02-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

The Business Review reported that Girls Inc. of the Capital Region has sold its Albany, New York location and now leases space from Northeastern Association of the Blind in Albany Inc.

The new arrangement is expected to save the Schenectady-based nonprofit $10,000 a year in operating costs. Girls Inc. sold its “as-is” two-story, 9,000-square-foot building at 25 Western Ave. to Fairbanks Properties LLC for $80,000, said Gail Wilson-Giarratano, CEO of Girls Inc.

Fairbanks also bought the adjoining property at 27 Western Ave., which it plans to convert to 33 apartments, said Tracy Metzger, senior director at Hunt Commercial Real Estate in Albany.

NABA, at 301 Washington Ave., is less than a block away from 25 Western Ave., in a low-income section of the city.

The Western Ave. building is about 100 years old and required between $200,000 and $300,000 in structural work, including an elevator and accessibility for disabled individuals.

“We needed to stay in the neighborhood, but as a tenant and not a building owner,” Wilson-Giarratano said. Selling to a for-profit company puts the building on the tax rolls, she said. Like most nonprofits, Girls Inc. is exempt from paying property taxes.

Girls Inc. will continue to own its building on Albany Street in Schenectady, home to its administrative offices and program space.

The organization provides programs for 200 mostly inner-city girls at sites in Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties. It operates with a $1.8 million annual budget.

Continue reading here

Schenectady seeks other cities in lobbying of state lawmakers on tax issue

2011-01-31T23:20:00.001-08:00

The city plans on sending letters to other New York cities to gage interest in sponsoring state legislation allowing nonprofits to be taxed.

City Council President Gary McCarthy acknowledged Tuesday the uphill battle in even suggesting such an endeavor, but said it would be a good way to get discussion going about the financial burdens municipalities face as costs skyrocket and large nonprofits, like hospitals and colleges, pay no property taxes.

McCarthy noted at the council's committee meeting Tuesday night that Ellis Medicine did contribute $40,000 in October as the city faced a large budget deficit, but "Union College has been more or less dragged to the plate," to get the private institution to pay a fee in lieu of taxes, he said. The college announced last week it is giving $40,000 based on what Ellis already gave. The combined $80,000 will keep two city pools open.

"There are multi-million dollar enterprises in this city that are far bigger than some for-profit corporations," he said.

City Council members directed the law office to draft a letter to be sent to all cities and some large villages asking if there would be support to lobby state lawmakers to draft legislation that would require a property tax on nonprofits. Council members said any measure would likely mean nonprofits would only pay a portion of what residential and commercial property owners pay.

Mayor Brian U. Stratton said he supports the efforts, but has gotten staunch resistance before from the Conference of Mayors because of lobbying done by nonprofits.

Councilwoman Denise Brucker said she wants to see if churches can be accountable for a payment as some buildings are rented out with a benefit to the faith organization -- such as the Albany Catholic Diocese renting former schools to the city school district.

Stratton tried to assess a curb fee on nonprofits for the 2011 budget, but canned the idea after it was found the fee wouldn't make the $1.4 million he wanted. He sent letters to some 145 nonprofits asking the fee be voluntary; the city got about $16,000 back.

Google Finds It Hard to Reinvent Philanthropy

2011-01-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

The NY Times featured a recent article on Google and their philanthropy efforts and predictions that they were going to change the game:

JUST before Google first sold its shares to the public in 2004, Larry Page, one of its founders, excited the nonprofit world with a bold commitment to philanthropy.

He vowed to dedicate about 1 percent of Google’s profits, 1 percent of its equity and a significant amount of its employees’ time to the effort, which became known as Google.org, or simply DotOrg. “We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems,” Mr. Page wrote in a letter to potential investors.

Although Google intended to tackle major problems like climate change, global poverty and the spread of pandemic diseases, it declared that DotOrg would not be “conventional” — a four-letter word in Google-speak. For starters, the organization would operate in part as a business, thus freeing itself from various constraints placed on nonprofit groups.

Google hired Larry Brilliant, a public health expert and Silicon Valley entrepreneur with no experience running a major philanthropy, to lead DotOrg, which was set up as a business unit within the company. It then poached prominent experts in development, energy and public health from prestigious institutions like the Aga Khan Foundation, Goldman Sachs and the International Water Management Institute.

“Google.org can play the entire keyboard,” Dr. Brilliant said in an interview with The New York Times shortly after his appointment. “It can start companies, build industries, pay consultants, lobby, give money to individuals and make a profit.”

Nearly five years later, however, the hyperbole looks more like hubris. DotOrg has narrowed to just one octave on the piano: engineering-related projects that often are the outgrowth of existing Google products. Dr. Brilliant was sidelined in early 2009 after his loose management style created much disenchantment in DotOrg’s ranks.

The company’s top executives rarely mention DotOrg, which is now run by Megan Smith, a business development executive who devotes only part of her time to the organization.

Although Google gives tens of millions of dollars to charity each year and says the overall company is meeting its 1 percent giving goal, DotOrg itself is no longer making grants to nonprofit groups or financing new companies. Instead, it focuses on projects like using Google Earth to track environmental changes and monitoring Web searches to detect flu outbreaks. Most of the experts it initially hired have left, and Google, a company obsessed with numbers and metrics, struggles to measure DotOrg’s accomplishments.

Google says it has changed its approach to philanthropy, but not its scope or ambition. Ms. Smith readily acknowledges that the organization has yet to prove itself, but she says it has already had a positive impact in various areas, such as public health and the environment.

“We are a start-up,” Ms. Smith said in a recent interview. “The aspirational goals in the founding of DotOrg are long term. Our hope is to get to that point where we could have the impact that our founders hoped.”

In the philanthropy world, many people have a more skeptical view of Google’s experiment.

“I think there were from the beginning two competing ideas about what DotOrg would be,” said Joshua Cohen, a professor of law, politics and philosophy at Stanford who, after DotOrg was formed, was hired to create seminars to educate Googlers on issues bedeviling developing countries. “The first was a Googley idea that DotOrg would completely reinvent philanthropy and, in doing so, reinvent the world and address a hugely important set of problems with solutions only Google with its immense intellectual talent and resources could find.”

The second idea, Professor Cohen said, was more modest: “that DotOrg could make some headway, maybe a little, maybe a lot, in addressing these really big problems by doing what Google as a company is really good at doing, which is to say, aggregating information.”

“The second idea,” he continued, “won out.”

NOTHING illustrates DotOrg’s approach better than Google Flu Trends, an innovative tool that uses data collected from searches about flu symptoms to predict the location of flu outbreaks. In April 2009, Dr. Brilliant said it epitomized the power of Google’s vaunted engineering prowess to make the world a better place, and he predicted that it would save untold numbers of lives.

Public health officials say the tool is undoubtedly useful.

But “on an individual basis, does Flu Trends save lives? No,” said Ashley LaMonte-Fowlkes, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped Google test and develop it.

Instead, she described it as “a really nice adjunct” to other tools that the agency uses to understand the spread of flu. One major shortcoming of Flu Trends is that in poor regions of the developing world, where devastating pandemics are most likely to start, computers are not widely available, so Google has little data to feed into the tool. Even in the United States, during the swine flu outbreak of 2009, Flu Trends had difficulty detecting the relatively small number of H1N1 infections.

Some veterans of DotOrg say Flu Trends is an example of how Google’s engineering-centric approach frustrated and limited them.

Read more here.

Don’t get burned. File the 501(h) election!

2011-01-27T06:28:00.000-08:00

With much of America gripped by below-freezing weather this winter, it’s nice to imagine being on a sunny beach, with white sand all around, gentle island breezes playing in your hair, and nothing for miles but a cloudless blue sky.

Did you bring your sunscreen?

Reality check – whether freezing or on a beach – you still want to protect your nonprofit from getting burned.

Filing the 501(h) election protects nonprofits from being burned.
By filing one simple form, IRS Form 5768, a charitable nonprofit can protect itself from penalties for engaging in "too much" lobbying. (Charitable nonprofits can lobby; read why lobbying is legal.) A charitable nonprofit can only spend an insubstantial amount of its activities on lobbying. But there is a hazy ill-defined line between what "activities" are considered "substantial" and which are "insubstantial." Here’s where the sunscreen comes in. By filing IRS Form 5768 (also referred to as "taking the 501(h) election") instead of being judged by the uncertain “substantial part” test that evaluates undefined "activities" -- your nonprofit will have the added protection of being evaluated with a more specific test called the “expenditure” test that offers a bright line based on how much money the nonprofit spends on its lobbying activities. If you don’t take the 501(h) election, it’s li! ke guessing how long to stay in the sun before you’ll get a sun burn.

Read all about the advantages of taking the 501(h) election on the National Council’s website. (Note: Private foundations, churches, and integrated auxiliaries of churches are not permitted to file the 501(h) election.)

It’s so simple and effective that some nonprofit practitioners have called it the "cheapest and best insurance on the planet." Indeed, we wonder why more nonprofits don’t use this easy process. Once a nonprofit files the 501(h) election by completing Form 5768, it simply reports annually how much money it spent during the year on lobbying activities on Form 990, Schedule C. As long as the nonprofit’s expenditures are within the acceptable (and generous limits) established by law, the nonprofit is protected. However, if it does not file Form 5768, not only is the reporting to the IRS more detailed, but the IRS will decide, based on uncertain criteria, whether the charitable nonprofit’s lobbying activities are “substantial” or not. Because the IRS has never defined how much is “too much,” the results of this analysis are uncertain. Why not file the! 501(h) election and be sure?

Start off the New Year by protecting your nonprofit with the 501(h) election – it’s easier than putting on sunscreen. (You only have to do it once!)

Study Reports Up to Half in US Impacted by Pre-existing Conditions for Health Insurance Coverage

2011-01-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.msnbc.com/ reported on a study that as many 129 million Americans at risk of being rejected for insurance coverage or having to pay more.

As many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have medical problems putting them at risk of being rejected by insurance companies or having to pay more for coverage, according to a U.S. government study reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled to release the study on Tuesday, the Post said, the same day the House of Representatives is expected to begin considering a Republican bill to repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare overall.

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..The report is part of the Obama administration's effort to convince the public of the advantages of the law, which contains insurance protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

"Americans living with pre-existing conditions are being freed from discrimination in order to get the health coverage they need," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement to be released Tuesday, the Post reported.

The study found that one-fifth to one-half of non-elderly people in the United States have conditions that trigger rejection or higher prices in the individual insurance market, the Post said. They range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure.

A Republican House aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because the report was not yet public, told the Post: "When a new analysis is released on the eve of a vote in Congress, it's hard to view it as anything but politics and public relations."

The repeal vote would fulfil a campaign promise of Republicans who won control of the House in November elections. But the measure will likely die in the Senate, where Democrats held on to their majority.

New York Board of Regents Form 16-Member Committee to Investigate Deaccessioning

2011-01-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

www.mediabistro.com reported the following:

This past fall, you might remember, was a bit rocky for the museum industry in New York. First, the state’s plans to pass a bill making selling pieces or collections of art in order to pay for anything but more art, particularly by government-funded museums, would be illegal, failed to pass through the senate. This was likely due to pressure put against its passing by the big, New York City-based museums who publicly stated on a number of occasions their distaste for regulation and promised they could police themselves just fine. If you were in support of the failed bill, things got even worse when the New York Board of Regents allowed emergency regulations surrounding museum deaccessioning to expire. This concerned many, as it was a sign that the flood gates for art sales could potentially now be open. Though that didn’t seem to happen en mass, at least on the record, the Regents caught a good deal of heat for it. Now, some months later, they appear to be attempting to regroup and figure out the controversial issue-at-hand. Judith H. Dobrzynski of Real Clear Arts reports that the Regents have recently formed a 16 member advisory committee who will look into how the state should handle museum deaccessioning. The list of members include lots of directors of museums across the state, as well as a couple of more high-profile museum types, including Martin Sullivan of the National Portrait Gallery, who was recently/currently mired in a controversy of his own. So what will come of the committee? That’s anyone’s guess. But given how tumultuous 2010 was for the state, it’s sure to be interesting to watch pan out.

States' desperate times lead to desperate measures

2011-01-17T09:32:00.001-08:00

New York: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed eliminating 20% of state agencies by combining duties, such as merging the Insurance Department, Banking Department and the Consumer Protection Board into the Department of Financial Regulation. It's part of "radical reform" to pull his state out of its fiscal crisis.
New Jersey: Republican Gov. Chris Christie skipped a $3.1-billion payment to the state's pension system in a push to cut benefits for public workers, while proposing higher employee contributions and a boost in the retirement age from 62 to 65.

Georgia: Deep cuts appear to await the state's popular HOPE scholarship program that provides public-college tuition to students who earn good grades. Rising tuition and enrollment have outpaced the lottery revenues that fund the program, and Republican Gov. Nathan Deal has not proposed any additional state money to bail it out.

Illinois: Lawmakers voted for a dramatic 66% hike in personal income tax, from 3% to 5%, in a bid to resolve a $15-billion deficit, which amounts to more than half of the state's general fund. The tax increase will be coupled with strict 2% limits on spending growth. "It's important for their state government not to be a fiscal basket case," said Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat.

Texas: In oil-rich Texas, where education and social service spending is relatively low and Republican Gov. Rick Perry has railed against government spending, hard times loom. The shortfall is projected to be between $15 billion and $27 billion over the coming two-year budget cycle.

South Carolina: Outgoing GOP Gov. Mark Sanford proposed a spending plan that would end funding for museum and arts programs, slash college funding and cut state workers' pay by 5%.

Arts Gains Outweigh Losses According To Capital Region Leaders

2011-01-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

The Times Union reported that the arts landscape in the Capital Region is an ever-changing aggregation of openings, closings, cutbacks and expansions. Looking back over the past five years, how have we fared?

"I'd say the last five years have been pretty good for the arts in the Capital Region," says Philip Morris, CEO of Proctors, which completed a $30 million renovation and now operates three theaters and attracts more than 500,000 people per year.

The crown jewel, of course, is EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), the $200 million, 220,000-square-foot spectacle at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. It opened in 2008.

The Massry Center for the Arts at The College of Saint Rose in Albany opened the same year. In early 2010, the Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs opened.

"We now have top-notch, world-class performance venues," says Michele Desrosiers, managing director at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany. "I went to the Joshua Bell concert at EMPAC, when Dr. Jackson had her 10-year anniversary, and he made a comment about how this was one of the top three halls in the world."

Those additions, coupled with Proctors' ability now to present Broadway-quality shows, have changed the nature of arts offerings in the Capital Region, she says; they're increasingly sophisticated, more cosmopolitan.

"The good news is, we've just gone through a major cycle of capital investment in structures," Desrosiers says. "Now, as the economy has faded, we're at a time when we really can't afford those investments."

A cautionary note, Morris and others say, is that most of the major investments happened at colleges. Their priorities tend to be students and faculty, and they don't offer as many mainstream events for the public or involve the community as much as nonprofits or other arts organizations do, they say.

"Placing our cultural life at the college institutions, a migration like that, I don't think is the best thing for the community," Morris says. "It's a positive thing, but colleges are not about community engagement. They might open their doors for performances or exhibitions, which is great. But you don't see community people volunteering. You don't see community board members challenged with tough ethical issues or tough financial questions."

The economy, in the guise of state cutbacks, and scandal involving its director cost us the New York State Theatre Institute and its vast programming for children -- which for 36 years also engaged adults. The Troy-based theater company ceased operations on Dec. 31 and, arts leaders say, will be impossible to replace.

We also lost Revolution Hall in Troy, which held its final concert in June 2010. Tess' Lark Tavern in Albany burned down the month before. Other music venues and art galleries closed, and others opened.

We lost some First Nights but gained monthly Arts Nights in Albany, Schenectady and Troy as well as the Schenectady Art Attack, which in its first year drew 10,000 people to see 500 artists. We lost some summer concert series and some exhibition space, and some museums reduced hours.

But we gained the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, which offers an array of arts and music events, and WEXT, which, musicians say, is one of the most significant additions of the past five years. The FM station at 97.7 showcases local music.

"All in all, things do tend to even themselves out in the long run," says Sean Allen, marketing director at the Palace Theatre in Albany. "You lose some great ones, and others come in to fill the gap.

"I think given the size of the Capital Region, we can still consider ourselves very lucky with what we do have. This is not a huge city/area by any means, and I have seen much larger areas that didn't offer half of what we have for the arts."

After losing Gallery 100, an important exhibition space in downtown Saratoga Springs, to closure in 2008, Joel Reed, executive director of Saratoga Arts, says he fears that other arts groups will follow suit.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Arts-gains-have-outweighed-losses-leaders-say-959464.php#ixzz1BJZQD59v

Statement of Mental Health America on the Tragedy in Arizona

2011-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Contact: Steve Vetzner, (703) 797-2588 or svetzner@mentalhealthamerica.net

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (January 10, 2011)—Mental Health America joins Americans in mourning the loss of those killed in Saturday’s tragic and senseless attack and expressing our wishes for the full recovery of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and fellow citizens who were injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives and everyone who is affected by these horrific events. And we join in applauding the brave actions of individuals who prevented greater harm.

It will likely take many days to understand the reasons and motivations behind this national tragedy. Many have pointed to mental health as an issue.

It must first be emphasized that people with mental health conditions are no more likely to be violent than the rest of the population. And we have science-based methods to successfully treat persons with even the most severe mental illnesses. A very small group of individuals with a specific type of mental health symptoms are at greater risk for violence if their symptoms are untreated.

At the same time, we must recognize that the nation’s mental health system is drastically under-funded and fails to provide Americans living with mental health conditions with the effective community-based mental health services they need. Sadly, in the current environment of strained state budgets, mental health services have been cut drastically just as demand for these critical services has risen dramatically.

It is also important that, as a community, we assist persons with signs and symptoms of mental illnesses to seek treatment. Although rare, when a person becomes so ill that he/she is a danger to themselves or others state laws provide a way to get them help even if they don’t believe that they need it. The best strategy, however, is to have an accessible system of care that is easy to use.

Science has not developed tools to predict reliably individuals at risk for violence. But we can reduce the small risk of violence in those with certain mental health conditions by investing in proven intensive, coordinated community-based mental health services and making certain that they can access these services.

We do not know if the mental health system failed in this situation or if there were missed opportunities or if effective treatment might have averted this tragedy.

We do hope that we can find answers and create solutions that prevent this from ever happening again.

Mental Health America (http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/) is the country's leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives. With our century of service to America and our more than 300 affiliates nationwide, we represent a national movement that promotes mental wellness for the health and well-being of the nation— everyday and in times of crisis.

Web Site Seeks Suggestions from the Public and Stakeholders to Reform the Medicaid System and Save Taxpayers Money

2011-01-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

News from New York State Office of the Governor
For more information contact: Press Office, press.office@exec.ny.gov, 518-474-8418
Governor Cuomo Announces Medicaid Redesign Web Site to Track Progress and Invite Public Participation

Web Site Seeks Suggestions from the Public and Stakeholders to Reform the Medicaid System and Save Taxpayers Money

ALBANY, NY (01/10/2011)-- Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of the State's new Medicaid Redesign Web site to track the progress of reforming New York's costly Medicaid system, and to invite the public's participation in the process.

The Web site, http://governor.ny.gov/medicaidredesign, includes electronic forms for Medicaid stakeholders and the public to suggest reforms to the system. The Web site will be an integral component to the reform process, which includes the Medicaid Redesign Team, created last week through Executive Order by Governor Cuomo. The Web site will also include listings of the Team's public hearings and prepared reports.

"It is imperative for the public, as well as stakeholders and government officials, to be part of the process of reforming the State's Medicaid system, and this Web site will help make that happen," Governor Cuomo said. "The Web site will be a component to developing our plan to reign in Medicaid costs without compromising care."

The Medicaid Redesign Team has been tasked by Governor Cuomo to find ways to reduce costs and increase quality and efficiency in the Medicaid program for the upcoming 2011-12 Fiscal Year. As part of its work, the Team is seeking ideas from the public at large, the health care workforce, and experts in health care delivery and insurance, economics, business, consumer rights and other relevant areas.

The Medicaid Redesign Team will undertake the most comprehensive examination of New York's Medicaid system since its inception, and it must submit its first report with findings and recommendations to the Governor by March 1, for consideration in the budget process. It will also submit quarterly reports thereafter until the end of 2011-12 fiscal year, when it will disband.

The Team will consider reform ideas from health care professionals, administrators, stakeholders, and the general public through regional public hearings and the online survey forms.

More than $53 billion is spent annually on New York's Medicaid program to provide health care to more than 4.7 million people in need. The program is funded through state, county and federal taxes. In effect, Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in New York State.

In a majority of the State's counties, Medicaid costs alone account for more than half of the entire county tax levy. New York spends more than twice the national average on Medicaid on a per capita basis, and spending per enrollee is the second highest in the nation. At the same time, New York ranks 21st out of all states for overall health system quality and ranks last among all states for avoidable hospital use and costs.

New York State Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson will serve as the Team's executive director, and the State Budget Director will serve as a non-voting member.

The members of the team are as follows:
• Michael Dowling, President and CEO of North Shore LIJ Health system.
• Dennis Rivera is the former Chair of SEIU Healthcare and is currently the Senior Advisor to the International President of SEIU.
• Kenneth E. Raske is the President of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
• George Gresham is the President of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
• Dan Sisto is the President of the Healthcare Association of New York State.
• Frank Branchini is the President and COO of EmblemHealth.
• Eli Feldman is the President and CEO of the Metropolitan Jewish Health System as well as the Chairman of the Continuing Care Leadership Coalition.
• Carol Raphael is the President and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
• Linda Gibbs is the Deputy Mayor of New York City for Health and Human Services.
• Ed Matthews is the CEO of the United Cerebral Palsy of New York City as well as the President of the Interagency Council.
• Dr. Nirav Shah is the newly nominated Commissioner of Health.
• Mike Hogan is the Commissioner for the Office of Mental Health.
• James Introne is the Deputy Secretary for Health and the Director of Healthcare Redesign.
• Max Chmura is the Acting Commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.
• Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez is the newly nominated Commissioner of the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.
• Lara Kassel is a Coordinator at Medicaid Matters New York.
• Karen A. Ballard is the President of the New York State Nurses Association.
• Stephen J. Acquario serves as the Executive Director of the New York State Association of Counties.
• Dr. Jeffrey A. Sachs is the Co-Chair of the JFK Jr. Institute for Work Education at City University of New York.
• Ann F. Monroe is the President of the Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York.
• Steve Berger is the former Chairman for the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century and a board member for the Partnership for New York City.
• Dr. William Streck is the Chair of the New York State Public Health and Health Planning Council.
• Elizabeth Swain is the CEO of the Community Health Care Association of New York State.
• Senator Kemp Hannon is the former Chairman of the Senate Committees on Health and Housing. Senator Hannon was recommended by the Majority Leader of the Senate.
• Senator Tom Duane is the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, 2009-2010. Senator Duane was recommended by the Minority Leader of the Senate.
• Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried serves as the Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Health. Assemblyman Gottfried was recommended by the Speaker of the Assembly.
• Assemblyman Joe Giglio of the 149th Assembly District currently sits on the Medicaid Waste, Fraud and Abuse Task Force. Assemblyman Giglio was recommended by the Minority Leader of the Assembly.

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Additional news available at www.governor.ny.gov High resolution images available at http://governor.ny.gov/mediaimages password: cuomo New York State Executive Chamber press.office@exec.ny.gov 518.474.8418

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Cuomo details economic-development priorities in address

2011-01-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

The Central NY Business Journal related that in his State of the State address today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined several portions of his economic-development agenda.

He called for creating regional economic-development councils that would work with state agencies to allocate resources. Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy will lead the councils, which will be drawn from the private sector, local governments, state agencies, and academic institutions.
Cuomo also wants changes in the Excelsior Jobs Program, implemented last year as a replacement for the much-criticized Empire Zones. Cuomo's plan calls for restructuring the value and length of tax credits in the Excelsior program to provide more incentives for job creation.

He also called for restructuring incentives for improving properties, paying credits as job-creation targets are met rather than at the end of a proposal, expanding research and development tax credits, and streamlining the program's application process.

In addition, Cuomo advocated for a permanent Power for Jobs program and pushed his proposed property-tax cap, which would limit property tax increases to the rate of inflation or 2 percent, whichever is less.

The governor detailed some of his fiscal plans as well, including an emergency financial plan he said would close the $10 billion deficit in the 2010-2011 budget without raising taxes or borrowing.

"We must transform the state of New York from a government of dysfunction, gridlock, and corruption to a government of performance, integrity, and pride," Cuomo said. "This is not about budget trimming or cutting, it's about looking at how we can fix government and make it work for the people.

"Together, we must take the significant steps needed to reinvent, reorganize and redesign government to restore credibility and to rebuild our economy by creating jobs all across this state."

How Will the New Tax Law Affect Your Nonprofit, Your Employees, and the People You Serve?

2010-12-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Congress passed the $857 billion tax package negotiated by President Obama and congressional Republicans. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation today.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act (H.R. 4853) has numerous components of interest and concern to nonprofits – as employers and as mission-based organizations involved in local communities. This list presents portions of interest to most nonprofits, nonprofit employees, and the people they serve:

Tax Rates Maintained: All of the individual tax rates put in effect in 2001 and 2003 are maintained through 2012, including those for upper-income tax brackets. Most immediately, this means that nonprofit and other employers will not have to adjust employee withholdings for income taxes.
Individual Payroll Taxes Reduced: Employees receive a two percent reduction in the Social Security tax they pay. For 2011, nonprofit and other employers will need to reduce the individual's share of payroll withholding from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. To illustrate what this change means, an individual earning $50,000 will see $1,000 in tax savings.
Estate Tax: The bill restores and reduces the federal estate tax at a rate of 35 percent and increases the exemption level to $5 million, two changes that many fear will eliminate previous incentives for the wealthy to give.
Charitable Giving Incentives: The IRA rollover and other expired charitable giving incentives (promoting donations of food, land, computers, and books) are restored for the remainder of 2010 and through the end of 2011, which should help promote giving.
Unemployment Benefits: The legislation extends the enhanced program of 99-weeks of unemployment benefits through 2011. This allowance may prevent additional strain that would have hit many nonprofits that provide services to those with no income.
Alternative Minimum Tax: Middle-income taxpayers will not be subject to the alternative minimum tax in 2010 and 2011 because the bill renews a "patch" that limits the application of the AMT to approximately four million upper-income individuals. Without this patch, many taxpayers would have seen an automatic increase in their tax rates.

The following link will take readers to a 12-page summary that provides greater detail about the bill, including provisions that might be of interest to particular nonprofits (e.g., those providing child care, adoption assistance, certain education): Summary of the Reid-McConnell Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010.

Also, the IRS just released instructions to help employers implement the 2011 cut in payroll taxes, along with new income-tax withholding tables that employers will use during 2011. See Notice 1036.

1101 Vermont Avenue NW | Suite 1002 | Washington DC 20005

SBA, Microsoft create technology guide, online course

2010-12-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) today announced a new technology resource is available for small business owners.

The SBA and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. have teamed up to create "Business Technology Simplified," a free guidebook that offers tips on how to use technology and innovation to make businesses work more efficiently, the SBA said in a news release.

The guidebook includes material on simplifying work tasks, do-it-yourself marketing, time management, and finding and cultivating customers.

"Business Technology Simplified" is available in a printed format at the SBA Syracuse district office. Computer users can also access the guidebook online at the Microsoft website.

It's also available as a free distance-learning course, according to the SBA.

The course is available at www.sba.gov/training.

Helping 1,000 startups in 2,000 days

2010-12-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

From the Business Review

Veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Babinec is looking for an Albany-area university to team up with him.

Babinec, of Little Falls, N.Y., founded Upstate Venture Connect in January and already has partnered with Cornell University, Syracuse University and LeMoyne College in Central New York to make it easier for technology startups to succeed.

Babinec formed UVC with a goal of helping entrepreneurs team up with advisers and find access to investors to increase their odds of survival. UVC seeks to help create 1,000 technology startups in upstate New York over the next 2,000 days.

“For entrepreneurs to get connected here is extremely difficult,” Babinec said.

UVC, a nonprofit, is developing a database and social network for mentors, advisers, startup companies, incubators and investors.

Teaming up with upstate universities to create a network of resources to help entrepreneurs solve funding, marketing, sales and commercialization problems is a key that Babinec said will help upstate encourage the development of more startup companies.

The resident of Herkimer County, N.Y., spent 22 years building TriNet HR Corp., a San Leandro, Calif.-based human resources outsourcing company, into a national firm with $200 million in annual revenue and more than 2,800 clients in the Unites States.

Babinec, who remains on the TriNet board and is the second-largest shareholder of the private company, said he is dedicating the next 10 years to bringing some of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurship culture to upstate New York.

UVC is run by Nasir Ali, president of The Tech Garden in Syracuse.

Last month, UVC opened an office in Saratoga Springs. Greg Gibson, an entrepreneur who moved to Saratoga Springs from Boston two years ago, is running the local office.

“Upstate has many of the assets necessary to build an innovation-oriented economy,” Babinec said. They include 113 universities and colleges, roughly 500,000 students who attract more than $3 billion in research funding each year.

Those assets are spread out and do not work together as much as they should.

By partnering with universities throughout upstate, Babinec said he hopes to start changing the entrepreneurship culture here.

How to Donate like a Pro

2010-12-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

In a Time of Tighter Budgets—For Benefactors and Charities Alike—It's More Important Than Ever to Make Your Gifts Count. Here's How

Investors demand a good return from their assets. Now donors are increasingly seeking the same for their charitable dollars.

Many philanthropists, large and small, are anxious about writing checks—and many endowments have yet to recover fully from the bruising they took during the financial crisis. Finding the worthiest, most-efficient organizations to maximize the impact of your donations couldn't be more pressing.

Yet identifying the best charity can be as difficult as picking a good money manager, with philanthropists left to navigate a world of tax forms, ratings systems and often misleading jargon. It's easy just to write a check and hope for the best—but you stand the risk of getting a poor return on your charitable investments.

Making matters more complicated: Many long-cherished tax breaks are coming under fire. Next year could bring the return of limits on itemized deductions, including those for donations, if Congress doesn't extend the Bush-era tax cuts for couples earning more than $250,000 ($200,000 for individuals). Even if Congress extends the cuts for all, the idea of cutting back charitable tax breaks is still in play: President Obama's deficit commission this week proposed limiting the deductions for large gifts to amounts above 2% of adjusted gross income.

All this is making donors rethink their giving strategies, says Patrick Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. "They want to make sure now more than ever that they're using their money wisely."

Overall giving is down sharply from its recent highs. Among high-net-worth households—who account for the bulk of individual charitable dollars—average giving dropped 34.9% to $54,016 in 2009, from $83,034 in 2007, according to a survey conducted by the center and sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The downward trend appears to be continuing. One in five people say they are giving to fewer organizations than in the past, according to a November poll from Harris Interactive. A third are giving in smaller amounts this year than last. And the percentage of people not giving at all has doubled to 12% in 2010 from last year.

There are a host of charity-rating agencies to consult, but to get a more-accurate picture, consider volunteering your time before giving money. Do your own research: Talk to beneficiaries, visit work sites and study a group's finances yourself to judge the effectiveness of its programs.

That's what Denise Winston did. The former business banker "always just wrote a check," she says. But after leaving her job and starting her own financial-education business in 2009, the Bakersfield, Calif., resident became more frustrated over how little of her donations were going to beneficiaries. She decided she would spend time volunteering with different organizations before giving, partly to get a better sense of her time and money's impact.

"I'm closer to the person receiving support," she says. "Anyone can write a check. But I like to give things you can't buy."

Here's how to navigate the system and make sure the dollars you donate are making the biggest impact possible.

Article continued at Wall Street Journal.com, includes ways of gauging donor's impact and red flags that donors should watch out for.

Charities Seeing Slight Recovery in Giving, But Not Enough to Keep Up with Demand or Budget Cuts

2010-11-29T13:56:00.001-08:00

Nonprofit organizations have seen a slight turnaround in giving so far this year that mirrors the slow economic recovery, a new survey from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC) finds. But the small rebound hasn't been enough to help many nonprofits that are grappling with staff and service cuts even as demand for their services has increased.

The national survey showed that 36 percent of charities reported an increase in donations in the first nine months of 2010, compared with only 23 percent in the same period of 2009.

Thirty-seven percent of charities reported a decrease in giving, a dramatic change from 2009's 51 percent. Among those experiencing a decline in giving, the main reason cited was fewer individual donations and smaller amounts. Lower amounts received from foundations and corporations also contributed to the overall lower giving amounts at these charities. Giving remained unchanged at 26 percent of nonprofits in 2010 vs. 25 percent in 2009.

"We are beginning to see some positive signs, but despite that giving still has a long way to go to return to the levels it was at three or four years ago," said Patrick M. Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, which spearheaded the collaboration. "One-fifth of charities in the survey said their budgets for 2011 will be lower than for 2010, forcing many of them to look at cuts in services, salaries and staff."

Among the 20 percent of nonprofits anticipating reduced budgets next year, 66 percent say they will have to reduce programs, services or operating hours, 59 percent expect to cut or freeze staff salaries or benefits, and 49 percent are planning layoffs or hiring freezes.

"The Nonprofit Fundraising Survey: November 2010" is the first product of a collaboration involving six organizations that serve the nonprofit sector: the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Blackbaud, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the Foundation Center, GuideStar USA Inc., and the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics.

"For the first time in two years, there is cause for cautious optimism about the nonprofit sector in this economy," said Bob Ottenhoff, president and CEO of GuideStar. "Nonetheless, in this latest study, as in all prior years, nonprofits also are reporting increased demand for their services. Even as giving increases, philanthropic dollars fall short of the amounts needed to help people in our country and abroad."

Demand for services increased at 78 percent of human service nonprofits and 68 percent of charities overall in 2010. Charities will be hard-pressed in 2011 to secure funding for growing needs, especially as individual and foundation donors are cautious about boosting support and other sources of funding — including government contracts for services — are cut.

"Younger, less well-established nonprofits have been especially hard hit by the recession," noted Lawrence T. McGill, vice president for research at the Foundation Center. "Many foundations, seeking to maximize more limited resources, have steered their grantmaking toward organizations they believe have the best chance to weather the economic storm."

Other Key NRC Survey Findings:

In four of eight subsectors, the share of organizations reporting an increase in contributions was about the same as the share reporting a decrease. The four with nearly equal percentages of organizations with giving up and giving down are: arts, education, environment/animals, and human services.
International organizations were the most likely to report an increase in contributions, reflecting donations made for disaster relief.
In three subsectors — health, public-society benefit, and religion — a larger share of the organizations reported declines than reported increases.
The larger an organization's annual expenditures, the more likely it reported an increase in charitable receipts in the first nine months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009.
Most organizations were guardedly optimistic about 2011. Forty-seven percent plan budget increases, 33 percent expect to maintain their current level of expenditures, and 20 percent anticipate a lower budget for 2011.

The Collaborative and Survey Methodology

By working together, the Nonprofit Research Collaborative can reduce the number of surveys nonprofits are asked to complete, collect information more efficiently, and analyze it in more useful ways to create the benchmarks and trends that nonprofits and grant makers use to guide their work. Each partner has at least a decade of direct experience collecting information from nonprofits on charitable receipts, fundraising practices, and/or grantmaking activities. Survey participants will form a panel over time, allowing for trend comparisons among the same organizations. This approach provides more useful benchmarking information than repeated cross-sectional studies.

The first NRC survey, based on questions that GuideStar used for its annual economic surveys, was fielded between October 19 and November 3, 2010. It received 2,513 responses. More than 2,350 charities completed the questions, as did 163 foundations. The analysis for grant makers includes responses from charities that make grants but that are not foundations. These include United Ways, Jewish federations, congregations, and a number of other types of organizations. There were responses from 386 grant makers.

The respondents form a convenience sample. There is no margin of error or measure of statistical significance using this sampling technique, as it is not a random sample of the population studied. However, given the long-running nature of GuideStar's economic surveys and the strong relationship between findings in those studies in prior years and actual results once tax data about charitable giving are available, the method employed here is a useful barometer of what charities experience and what total giving will look like. In the future, the NRC surveys are expected to occur in early winter, spring, and fall every year.

"The Nonprofit Fundraising Survey: November 2010" (PDF), which includes responses broken down by types of nonprofits and budget size, can be downloaded at no charge from the Gain Knowledge area of the Foundation Center's web site.

Foundations Likely to Increase Giving in 2011, According to Foundation Center Survey

2010-11-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

Foundation Operations Have Stabilized in the Wake of Widespread Disruption

Giving by U.S. foundations is poised for modest overall growth in 2011, after remaining flat in 2010. But it may take several years for giving to match the peak level recorded in 2008, according to estimates reported by the Foundation Center in Moving Beyond the Economic Crisis: Foundations Assess the Impact and Their Response.

Foundation operations appear to have stabilized following cuts in staffing, travel, or other operating expenses by a majority of grantmakers. In a sign that foundations may be turning the corner, only 12 percent of respondents to the Center's September 2010 "Foundation Giving Forecast Survey" expect these operational changes to remain in place over the longer term. Among the changes that could persist: funders making fewer site visits to grantees, attending fewer conferences, eliminating print copies of annual reports, and moving to electronic grant applications.

"The foundation community is adapting in our dramatically changed environment," said Steven Lawrence, director of research at the Foundation Center and author of the advisory. "Even though the 2010 economy has been anything but predictable, foundations are working with greater efficiency, holding their giving steady, and a number are planning for growth."

Findings from the new report also indicate that about 40 percent of respondents have made some type of modification to their grantmaking priorities as a result of the economic crisis. However, less than 8 percent expect these to be long-term changes. The priority changes described by respondents range from providing greater support for safety net activities to tightening their grantmaking focus to eliminate funding that falls outside of their existing priority areas.

This Foundation Center research advisory is the latest in a series that has explored the impact of the economic downturn on the nonprofit sector. The advisories are available at the Center's Focus on the Economic Crisis web page, which offers a variety of resources to help nonprofits and foundations deal with the challenging economy. Also available on this page is the Center's interactive map that displays the most recent data available on U.S. foundation support for the crisis, totaling $440 million to date. Moving Beyond the Economic Crisis: Foundations Assess the Impact and Their Response (PDF) can also be downloaded at no charge from the Gain Knowledge area of the Foundation Center's web site.

About the Survey
In September 2010, the Foundation Center launched a special online update of its annual "Foundation Giving Forecast Survey" and made it available to approximately 5,000 large and mid-size U.S. independent, corporate, and community foundations. The survey included questions on the outlook for foundation giving in 2010 and 2011, changes in their grantmaking priorities and operations, and their response to specific needs created by the economic crisis. A total of 719 foundations provided useable responses as of mid-October 2010. The Center's next Foundation Giving Forecast Survey will be conducted in January 2011, with results released in the April 2011 edition of Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates.

This study was made possible in part by support from The Wallace Foundation. The Foundation Center's Research Institute is funded in part by The Wallace Foundation, which supports and shares effective ideas and practices to help institutions expand learning and enrichment opportunities. To learn more, visit the Knowledge Center at www.wallacefoundation.org.

About the Foundation Center
Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 550 foundations, the Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of 450 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and beyond. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230.

Nonprofits Have Big Role in State

2010-11-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

As Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo and legislators shape their plans for New York next year, they should pay close attention to the state's vibrant not-for-profit sector, as it is the standard-bearer for innovation and service to the state and its people. The 80,000 not-for-profit organizations in the state play crucial roles: leading efforts to prevent or cure disease, alleviate poverty, advance education, address environmental and social concerns, and ennoble through culture.

New York's robust charitable sector, including such powerhouses as Columbia University, Sloan-Kettering, the Red Cross, the Ford Foundation and Lincoln Center, as well as community-based organizations, such as local drug-prevention programs, small community theaters and religion-based charities, help fuel the state's economy, generating over $150 billion in revenue annually and employing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Second in size only to the government as an employer in the city, the nonprofit sector provides more jobs than the financial and insurance industries combined.

Working together, state government and nonprofits can help maintain our state's primacy as innovator, incubator and magnet for investment. Here's how.

* Adjust taxes to encourage more giving. For example, reward taxpayers for increases in year-over-year charitable giving and incentivize artists to donate their work to charity auctions in support of good causes.

* Promote regulatory, administrative and legislative reforms that make it easier to start and operate nonprofits, especially in high-tech, medical research and green industries.

* Encourage and facilitate partnering among nonprofits and between them and for-profit businesses. For instance, provide a clearinghouse so that environmental groups can pair up with green-tech businesses or so arts-in-education organizations can collaborate with founders of charter schools.

* Incentivize nonprofits to hire recent college graduates to fill needed roles while they learn important lessons about professional development and social responsibility.

* Rearrange state budgets with existing charitable resources in mind. For example, recalibrate school aid and Medicaid expenditures so that public spending on students, the elderly and the disabled complements and stimulates private nonprofit resources and support.

* Safeguard against encroachments on sales- or property-tax -exemptions, which would hurt already-stretched hospitals, elder-care facilities and YMCAs.

* Promote visibility for worthy nonprofits by providing voluntary check-offs on state tax forms.

* Include nonprofit destinations in the state's promotion of tourism and convention activity.

* Make nonprofits part of New York's federal lobbying strategy.

The public's trust in state government may be at a low ebb, but public support for nonprofits endures. By recommitting himself to the well-being of our valuable nonprofit institutions, Mr. Cuomo can take important steps toward reclaiming the state's role as a national beacon and perpetuate its highest ideals.

by Lesley Freidman Rosenthal, for original article click here.

Deadline is Dec 1 for Knight News Challenge media innovation contest

2010-11-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

If you have an innovative media technology idea, you might be able to get funding from the Knight News Challenge contest.

Run by the Knight Foundation, the grant competition awards up to $5 million annually for innovative projects that use digital technology to transform the way communities send, receive and make use of news and information.

More info can be found here: http://newschallenge.org. The site includes application information, as well as details about past winners.

This year's application deadline is December 1. The News Challenge is looking for applications in four categories: mobile, authenticity, sustainability and community. All projects must make use of digital technology to distribute news in the public interest.

The contest is open to anyone in the world.

A simple description of the project is all you need to apply. Submit a brief pitch to http://newschallenge.org. If the reviewers like it, you'll be asked to submit a full proposal later.

NYSCA: Actors Fund Affordable Housing Survey

2010-11-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

As a member of the professional performing arts and entertainment community, have you struggled to find affordable housing?

If so, the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation (AFHDC) wants to hear from you.

NYSCA is working with AFHDC in their efforts to learn about the housing needs of the performing arts and entertainment community in the New York/New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania regions.

From now until December 6th, you can participate in a 10-minute survey to help them determine the unique affordable housing needs of entertainment professionals.

Your opinion is vital as your responses will assist AFHDC in determining interest, need, design, amenities and more! Your input, and the input of your friends, will move this project forward!

Take the survey now at www.ActorsFundHousingSurvey.org.

If you have questions or need more information, contact The Actors Fund Survey Team at 212.221.7300 ext 107.

For more on The Actors Fund, please visit www.actorsfund.org.

Spread the word and help us help AFHDC!

Survey: CFOs have mixed feelings about employees using social media

2010-11-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

About half the CFOs in a new survey said their “greatest concern” about employees’ use of social media was wasting time on such sites during business hours.

Accountemps, a division of Menlo Park, Calif.–based Robert Half International, released the survey Thursday. Robert Half International specializes in the placement of skilled administrative professionals.Besides those concerned about workplace use of social media, another 18 percent were worried about employees behaving unprofessionally while using sites such as Facebook or Twitter. The survey also found 11 percent were worried about employees posting financial or confidential company information and 10 percent were concerned about employees posting negative comments about their firm.

When asked about the greatest benefit for a company of employees’ use of social media, 28 percent said it’s a way to provide better customer service. Another 22 percent saw it as a way to enhance the company’s reputation.

International Communications Research, a Media, Pa.–based independent-research firm, conducted the survey through telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CFOs from a random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.

by Eric Reinhardt, from Business Journal

Nonprofit Times TV

2010-11-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

Nonprofit Times TV has a collection of webcasts and other videos directed specifically to nonprofits and their needs and interests. Videos cover not just current news, but issues such as fundraising, volunteer management, legal issues, and finance. Most videos are less than three minutes, giving necessary information without taking too much time. Users can also submit their own videos to share ideas with others in the sector.

Their current webcast discusses the loss of revenue of national nonprofit organizations and the Jerry Lewis telethon. Check out Nonprofit Times TV here.

Nonprofits Seek Increased Support for Advocacy

2010-10-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

Supporting a cause is central to the mission of most nonprofit organizations in the United States, but a lack of resources often forces lobbying and advocacy to the backburner, according to a roundtable of leaders and experts gathered by the Johns Hopkins University Nonprofit Listening Post Project.

Besides having limited funds and small staffs to devote to lobbying, nonprofit leaders also worry that taking strong stances on the issues will offend their donors and board members.

"Nonprofits are supposed to be the agents of democracy and give voice to the powerless," noted Lester M. Salamon, director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies. "But their ability to do this is hampered by limited funding."

The roundtable brought together experts in nonprofit advocacy and practitioners representing both service organizations and intermediary organizations. Participants explored nonprofit involvement in the policy process and identified steps that might be taken to boost the scope, scale, and effectiveness of policy advocacy.

Issues raised by roundtable participants included:

A lack of funding for nonprofit advocacy and lobbying efforts.
Concerns among nonprofits that policy advocacy efforts would be frowned upon by their local community, offend their donor base, or encounter board disapproval.
The need to strengthen and underwrite the activities of advocacy coalitions and intermediary groups, which are increasingly important in nonprofit advocacy efforts.
Concerns that while nonprofits can be somewhat effective in "playing defense" by responding to a proposed policy or legislative cut, they often lack the resources or sophistication needed to develop new policy proposals.

Participants also identified steps that might be taken to boost nonprofit policy advocacy including:

Taking a more strategic and inventive approach to advocacy by encouraging board members to tap into their own social networks or by bringing the people organizations serve directly into lobbying efforts to build greater credibility.
Integrate advocacy into all aspects of an organization by including it in mission statements, strategic plans, staff job descriptions, board job descriptions and budgets.
Encourage foundations to support nonprofit policy advocacy and invest in local, state, and national nonprofit advocacy coalitions and intermediary organizations.
Learn to act strategically and build long-term positive relationships between nonprofits and government officials.
Rely on a wide range of tools, not just e-mail but also blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook.
Educate legislators and the public about the nonprofit sector's critical role in public service and advocacy in order to build recognition of the value of engaging nonprofit organizations in the policy arena.

A survey conducted by the Listening Post Project in 2007 found that:

85 percent of responding organizations spent less than 2 percent of their budget on advocacy or lobbying.
Nearly three-fourths of all responding organizations reported undertaking some form of advocacy or lobbying, such as signing correspondence to a public official.
However, when it came to more involved forms of participation, such as testifying at hearings or organizing a public event, the proportions reporting any involvement fell to about a third.
The vast majority (90 percent) of surveyed organizations agreed that "nonprofits have a duty to advocate for policies important to their missions;" a comparable proportion also agreed that organizations like their own should be "more active and involved."

The full text of a report summarizing findings that emerged from the "Roundtable on Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying" is available at http://www.jhu.edu/listeningpost/news.

The Listening Post Project is a collaborative undertaking of the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, the Alliance for Children and Families, the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the American Association of Museums, Community Action Partnership, the League of American Orchestras, Lutheran Services in America, the Michigan Nonprofit Association, the National Council of Nonprofits, and United Neighborhood Centers of America. Its goal is to monitor the health of the nation's nonprofit organizations and assess how nonprofits are responding to important economic and policy changes. The project maintains a nationwide sample of over 1,000 nonprofit children and family service, elderly service, community development, and arts organizations. Support for the project has been provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Surdna Foundation.

Report: Donations to major charities dropped by billions

2010-10-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that donations to the country's 400 biggest charities plunged last year by 11 percent, the worst decline since the Chronicle of Philanthropy started ranking the fundraising organizations two decades ago.

The Chronicle's Philanthropy 400 rankings show six of the top 10 charities reported declines in donations, including the United Way Worldwide and the Salvation Army.

In all, the 400 charities raised about $68.6 billion in 2009, according to the Chronicle. The median amount decreased from $105 million in 2008 to $98.8 million in 2009.

"Food for the Poor (No. 6) saw contributions fall by more than 27 percent, while donations to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (No. 7) plunged by 40.3 percent, largely because it relies heavily on stock gifts, which were not very popular last year," a report from the Chronicle states.

But some charities enjoyed stronger donations. Catholic Charities USA had a 66 percent increase in donations, and the AmeriCares Foundation saw an 18.1 percent rise in giving, mostly in food, medicine, and other donated goods, according to the Chronicle. Feed the Children and Habitat for Humanity also grew by more than $1 billion.

The Philanthropy 400 list ranks charities that raise the most from private sources, The Chronicle said. Government funds are not counted. Read more here.

Curtains for NYSTI?

2010-10-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

The Albany Business Review reported that the end of December could mark curtains for The New York State Theatre Institute. That’s when the production company runs out of money and will be forced to close if it does not raise enough money to continue operations.

But David Bunce, the theater group’s interim producing artistic director, holds out hope that both the theatrical shows and the theatre’s educational and school-based programs will go on. Bunce took over in May, replacing Patricia Snyder, who resigned amid allegations that she and her family misspent hundreds of thousands of NYSTI dollars.

“We do so much good that I have to believe we’re going to make it,” Bunce said.

He will be joined on Wednesday for a press conference at the theater, located at 37 First St. in Troy, in the Schacht Fine Arts Center on the campus of Sage Colleges, by a group of teachers and community leaders to announce a fundraising campaign to carry the institute through March 31.

In June, Gov. David Paterson slashed the nonprofit’s funding in half for the 2010-11 fiscal year. The state’s 2011-12 budget eliminates NYSTI’s funding altogether. Bunce says it’s possible to save the institute. NYSTI’s annual budget is $3.5 million; the state covered $3 million and the theater’s productions and education programs covered the remaining $500,000.

The State University of New York provided a short reprieve to help NYSTI get through this year, but that money will be exhausted in December. It is enough to cover production costs for the institute’s two remaining shows, “The Miracle Worker” and “A Christmas Carol,” and 20 performances of “B-Bomb,” a show about bullying written for school-age children.

Since the budget cuts, staff was reduced to 15 from 30, with many of the exiting staffers taking advantage of the state’s early retirement incentive.

“We need to make a huge fundraising push,” Bunce said.

He has developed a business plan that calls for fundraising campaigns, slightly increased costs for educational programs and accelerated grant-writing efforts.

Read more: Curtains for NYSTI? - The Business Review (Albany)

New Tools For Measuring Impact!

2010-09-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Foundation Center, the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, has launched an online database of proven approaches to measuring and analyzing the impact of social investments. As philanthropists and the nonprofit community shift towards more strategic approaches to get a "social return," evaluation activities must also operate at a higher level. TRASI ("Tools and Resources for Assessing Social Impact") addresses these growing needs by offering tools and methodologies that place a premium on evidence and metrics in tracking progress.

"Measuring the effectiveness of social programs has always been a challenge because it's not just about the numbers. TRASI helps organizations meet that challenge and go beyond simply determining whether projected outcomes were achieved," said Lawrence T. McGill, the Foundation Center's vice president for research. "The organizations that have generously shared their own strategic methods for measuring impact will greatly help others to find a solution that is a good fit for them."

Developed in partnership with McKinsey & Co., the assessment approaches in TRASI were authored by a range of organizations, including social investors, foundations, NGOs, and microfinance institutions. The Better Business Bureau, USAID, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Center for Effective Philanthropy are among them. The resources in the database range from off-the-shelf tools and concrete methodologies to generalized best practices and are complemented by multimedia features and social networking tools.

Each approach has been carefully indexed against a common set of key elements and presented in a way that makes it easy to compare their relative merits. The key elements include: who the approach applies to, what kind of organization or evaluation the approach is best suited for, and the costs and techniques involved in its implementation. Each approach was thoroughly reviewed by an Expert Review Panel convened by the New York University Stern School of Business.

Online Kick-off Event
The Center is hosting an online event to kick-off the TRASI launch. Beginning at 2:00 pm EDT on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, a live chat with some of the individuals from the Expert Review Panel will be held. Anyone interested in learning more about impact assessment and the TRASI platform is invited to attend by visiting http://trasicommunity.ning.com/.

About the Foundation Center
Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 550 foundations, the Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of 450 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and beyond. For more information, please visit http://www.foundationcenter.org/ or call (212) 620-4230.

Board of Regents Ending Injunction Against Museums’ Art Sales

2010-09-16T08:53:00.001-07:00

The NY Time reported that in a surprise development in the battle over whether museums should be allowed to sell art to cover operating costs, the New York State Board of Regents on Tuesday approved the expiration of emergency regulations regarding such “deaccessioning” on Oct. 8.

Those rules, which enjoined such sales, have been in effect since 2008. After hearing views from museums statewide, “there was no consensus on the efficacy of those emergency regulations,” David Steiner, the state’s education commissioner, said in a statement. Thus, “those regulations will be allowed to expire, allowing the prior regulations regarding museum collections to once again take effect.”

Last month the board indicated it planned to make the emergency regulations permanent, in part because a bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to pay for expenses had stalled in the Legislature. “This removes a substantial obstacle to the monetization of art held in the public trust and to the transfer of art from public hands to private hands,” said Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, who led the drafting of the bill. The education department also said it was developing an advisory group to inform the Regents’ future decisions on collections and other museum matters.

Governor Paterson Names Advisory Committee to Help Health Care Reform Cabinet

2010-09-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

Governor David A. Paterson today named 37 organizations to the Health Care Reform Advisory Committee, which will provide input to the Governor's Health Care Reform Cabinet on the implementation of federal health care reform in New York State. The Advisory Committee includes organizations representing health care providers, consumers, businesses, organized labor, local governments, health plans and health insurers, and health policy experts.

"Federal health care reform will have a significantly positive impact for New York's residents, families, small business owners and the 2.5 million New Yorkers who are currently uninsured," Governor Paterson said. "It is essential that we get health reform right, making the most of this opportunity to improve access to health care while reducing cost. Our broad advisory group will help us achieve this goal."

The Advisory Committee will advise the Cabinet on reform provisions and ensure stakeholder and public engagement in all aspects of federal health care reform. It will support the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. In addition, Advisory Committee Workgroups will be created to focus on specific issues and additional organizations with expertise will be asked to join those work groups. A series of public forums across the State will also be held to provide opportunities for further stakeholder input.

Wendy Saunders, Deputy Secretary for Health, Medicaid and Oversight and Chair of the Health Care Reform Cabinet, said: "I commend Governor Paterson for his dedication to health care reform and for his efforts to expand access to quality health care for all New Yorkers. Implementing federal health care reform is a complex task, and many decisions must be made by the end of this year. We need public participation and input to help make reform a success and the Advisory Committee is an essential part of that input."

The Health Care Reform Cabinet is responsible for:

• Identifying deadlines for the completion of interim or final steps necessary or desired to comply with the provisions of federal health care reform;

• Determining those provisions of federal health care reform with which the State must comply and those that are optional, and evaluating whether participation in optional programs is appropriate;

• Assessing the State's capacity to carry out those provisions of federal health care reform that affect or potentially affect the State;

• Identifying any changes needed to State statute, regulation, policy or procedure in order to implement such provisions, and facilitating the achievement of such changes as necessary;

• Communicating with the federal government, local governments, other states, health care providers, and other stakeholders as advisable or necessary; and

• Providing public outreach to educate individuals on the implementation of the reforms as necessary.

Under Governor Paterson's leadership, New York State has become a national leader in expanding access to quality health care for children and adults through its public health insurance programs, including Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus, Healthy New York and Medicaid, while implementing efficiencies to ensure that funds are used in the most cost-effective manner. New York is the only state in the nation with both open enrollment and pure community rating and has been a leader in efforts to guarantee access to private health insurance coverage.

Organizations participating in the Governor's Health Care Reform Advisory Committee include:

• 1199 SEIU
• AFL-CIO
• Business and Labor Coalition of New York
• Business Council of New York State
• Centerstate CEO
• Chamber Alliance of New York State
• Children's Defense Fund
• Coalition of New York State Public Health Plans
• Community Health Care Association of New York State
• Community Service Society
• Consumer Directed Choices
• Empire Justice Center
• Family Planning Advocates
• Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency
• Greater New York Hospital Association
• Health Care for All New York
• Healthcare Association of New York State
• Hispanic Federation
• Medicaid Matters
• Medical Society of the State of New York
• Medicare Rights Center
• National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS
• New York Health Plan Association
• New York Immigration Coalition
• New York State Association of Counties
• New York State Association of Health Underwriters
• New York State Conference of Blue Cross Plans
• New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
• New York State Health Foundation
• New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage
• Office of the Mayor of New York City
• P2 Collaborative of Western New York
• Partnership for New York City
• Project CHARGE
• United Hospital Fund
• Visiting Nurse Service of New York
• Young Invincibles

For additional information on health care reform implementation in New York State, please visit: www.HealthCareReform.ny.gov.

Congressional Charities Pulling In Corporate Cash

2010-09-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

The NY Times related that Representative Joe Baca has achieved near celebrity status in his suburban Los Angeles district, as much for his record of giveaways — Thanksgiving turkeys, college scholarships, spare boots for firefighters — as for anything he has done in Congress.

That generosity is made possible by the Joe Baca Foundation, a charity his family set up three years ago to aid local organizations. It provides another benefit, too: helping the Democratic congressman run something akin to a permanent political campaign.

Joe Baca T-shirts and caps are given out at the charity’s events, where banners display his name. Local newspapers mention the charity’s donations, and cable stations show appearances by Mr. Baca and his family at functions his foundation supports.

“It’s great,” said Laura Goodloe, 36, as she watched her 8-year-old son, Jordan, play at the arena in San Bernardino, Calif., where the Baca Foundation offered a free basketball clinic last month. “He is giving back to the community.”

But unlike most private foundations, Mr. Baca’s gets little of its money from its founders’ pockets. Instead, local companies and major corporations that have often turned to Mr. Baca’s Washington office for help, and usually succeed in getting it, are the chief donors.

A review by The New York Times of federal tax records and House and Senate disclosure reports found at least two dozen charities that lawmakers or their families helped create or run that routinely accept donations from businesses seeking to influence them. The sponsors — AT&T, Chevron, General Dynamics, Morgan Stanley, Eli Lilly and dozens of others — contribute millions of dollars annually in gifts ranging from token amounts to a check for $5 million.

Since 2009, businesses have sent lobbyists and executives to the plush Boulders resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., for a fund-raiser for the scholarship fund of Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana; sponsored a skeet shooting competition in Florida to help the favorite food bank of Representative Allen Boyd, Democrat of Florida; and subsidized a spa and speedway outing in Las Vegas to aid the charity of Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada.

Just last month, they touted their largess with flags bearing their names near the tees at a golf tournament benefiting the foundation of Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina.

Despite rules imposed in 2007 to curb the influence of special interests in Congress, corporate donations to lawmakers’ charities have continued, thanks to a provision that allows businesses to make unlimited gifts to them. And while business executives say they want to give to a good cause, their pattern of spending — contributions that often are not disclosed, in apparent violation of ethics rules — suggests another reason. Read more here.

Independent Contractors and Consultants – Doing it Right

2010-08-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

NYCON's national association, The National Council of Nonprofits, offers Nonprofit Knowledge Matters and a look at Contractors and Consultants:

You’ve just hired an independent contractor or consultant to work on a special project. Did you first evaluate whether the worker should be treated as an employee instead? Does it matter?

Yes, it matters because the government makes a distinction between the two classifications of workers (independent contractor/consultant versus employee) and requires nonprofits to treat them differently for payroll and withholding purposes. Also, insurance issues will surface when the consultant is injured and tries to file a claim for workers’ compensation. Is she covered? It depends on whether she is a consultant – or not.

Federal and state governments have regulations that define who is an independent contractor/consultant and who is an employee. If a nonprofit misclassifies a worker, the nonprofit is at significant risk. There are serious penalties and back taxes owed when a nonprofit incorrectly treats someone as an independent contractor/ consultant, when in fact the worker should have been classified and treated as an employee.

Additionally there are risks to misclassifying a worker as an exempt employee, when s/he should be classified as non-exempt. For tips and tools for avoiding misclassifying workers, read more about this topic from the resources available on the National Council’s website.

IRS guidance provides that someone is properly classified as an independent contractor/consultant “when the nonprofit has the right to control or direct only the result of the work done by an independent contractor, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result.” We hope you feel comfortable with the distinction between independent contractors/consultants and employees. If you are not sure, here are some resources to help you classify workers correctly and avoid associated risks:

Guidance from the IRS on everything you’ve always wanted to know about how to pay independent contractors correctly.
Distinguishing between employees and independent contractors (written by the IRS for small business owners, but equally applicable to nonprofits.)
IRS Publication 15-A (2010) provides guidance on classifying workers and includes a special section on tax issues relating to employees in exempt organizations.
IRS Ministers’ Audit Guide (highlights special rules for religious organizations)

Spread the word: Deadline extended to October 15th for nonprofits to file their 990s.
Please join the State Association network of the National Council of Nonprofits, the IRS, and others to spread the word – to small nonprofits in particular – that they need to file with the IRS annually. Most urgently, many small nonprofits will lose their tax-exempt status if they have not filed in the past 3 years and fail to file by October 15th of this year. The IRS has announced a one-time relief program for nonprofits required to file the 990-N or 990-EZ that missed their deadline earlier this year.

This short video from the IRS explains the filing deadline.
The one-time relief program will not help organizations required to file the Form 990 or Form 990-PF. Their tax-exempt status will be automatically revoked if they fail to file for three consecutive years.
Guidance from Guidestar.org explaining what you need to know about revocation of tax-exempt status.
Electronic Filing Tool: Organizations with gross revenue under $100,000 may file their IRS Form 990-EZ electronically at no charge through the Urban Institute’s eFile program.

Nonprofit Fund Faces Questions About Conflicts and Selection Procedures

2010-08-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

The NY Times reported that in late July, the Social Innovation Fund, a new $50 million federal program aimed at financing the replication of nonprofit programs that work, made its first grants.

But what was supposed to have been an emblem of the administration’s commitment to nonprofit groups has become instead a messy controversy over potential conflicts of interest and the process used to select the grantees.

Several of the 48 independent reviewers who vetted the initial 54 applications for the grants were surprised by some of the winners because they had awarded them mediocre scores.

Critics noted that the executive director of the fund, Paul Carttar, had worked at New Profit Inc., a nonprofit group that helps promising social programs. New Profit Inc. received a $5 million grant from the fund.

Similarly, Patrick Corvington, the official who oversees the Corporation for National and Community Service, where the fund resides, previously worked for a foundation that financed a program operated by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, better known as LISC. The foundation won a $4.2 million grant.

Marta Urquilla, senior adviser to the fund, said Mr. Carttar and Mr. Corvington played no role in selecting the winners. “We knew the things people are saying now would be said,” Ms. Urquilla said, “and so we made sure each application got its fair chance and stood on its own merits.”

But the fund has not disclosed who reviewed the grants — or who applied for them or the ratings the applicants received, information that often is provided by many other government agencies that make grants.

In soliciting applications, the fund published a detailed set of criteria it would use to evaluate them, but the process by which they would be vetted was unclear. Last week, it disclosed more information about the procedures, including that the applications went through four stages, as well as the number of organizations culled after each.

“The bare minimum would be to release the names of the peer reviewers, the names of the applicants and the score they each received,” said Dean Zerbe, a former tax counsel to Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has persistently scrutinized the Corporation for National and Community Service’s grants and programs.

The fund was created with the passage of the SERVE America Act last year and quickly became one of the hottest topics for discussion in the nonprofit sector, which saw it as a means of getting government financing for young but promising programs at a time when the economy has crippled much fund-raising and hobbled many endowments.

The 11 winners effectively serve as conduits to channel the grant money to other nonprofit organizations that operate successful programs that can be expanded to serve more people in more areas. The winners must match the government’s money, which also must be matched by the final recipients, potentially trebling the fund’s financial effect.

The broader goal, Ms. Urquilla said, is to develop a network of intermediaries like the grant winners that can identify promising programs and connect them to donors and other sources of financing to allow them to expand.

The criticism has led the fund to decide to publish redacted versions of the winning applications in the coming weeks, together with the ratings they were given by various panels and how those compare with applications that did not win. “We fully embrace open government and the trend toward greater transparency,” Ms. Urquilla said. “We just want to make sure we do it in a deliberative and responsive way.”

The disclosures may not satisfy the critics, though.

Ruth McCambridge, editor of the Nonprofit Quarterly magazine, said that she may file a request for all the applications under the Freedom of Information Act. “This is supposed to be a learning process,” Ms. McCambridge said. “That’s the way the people at the fund have billed it, and applicants for the next round of funding, if there is one, might find it useful to see what didn’t work the first time around.”

She questioned why the fund would not release the names of the applicants or the peer reviewers and why it asked the reviewers to shred their work when it was finished. Read more here.

Bill to Halt Certain Sales of Artwork May Be Dead

2010-08-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

The NY Times reported that a bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in the New York State Legislature, in the face of opposition from major cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the withdrawal of support from the bill’s Senate sponsor.

“It looks like it is lost for this session and for the foreseeable future,” said Michael Botwinick, director of the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, who worked on the bill as a board member of the Museum Association of New York.

Some museums are already precluded from such sales by the state Board of Regents, but the bill would have made the practice illegal and expanded the prohibition to all museums.

“The problem is, we’ll have a two-tiered system,” said Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, who led the drafting of the bill and is running for attorney general.

Though museums sell artworks all the time, they generally direct the proceeds toward acquiring other works of art. Many in the museum world have deemed selling — or deaccessioning — artworks to pay expenses a misuse of funds that jeopardizes preserving cultural heritage as a public trust.

But some museums that would have been affected by the bill argued that it was overly broad and confining and that they were fully capable of governing themselves.

A spokesman for the Met called the legislation “impractical, unworkable and unneeded,” and the Met’s director, Thomas P. Campbell, wrote in an e-mail, “While we respect efforts to bring clarity to the deaccessioning process, we believe the Metropolitan Museum has maintained a scrupulously transparent process for more than three decades — tightly governed by its trustees, subject to review by the State Attorney General, and requiring that funds from deaccessioning be used only for the purpose of acquiring other works of art.”

The sense of urgency around deaccessioning has been spurred by several factors, including the National Academy Museum’s sale in 2008 of two Hudson River School paintings to cover operating costs, and by the fear that financially challenged institutions are coming to the view that, as Mr. Botwinick put it, “the Rembrandts in the collection are no different than the IBM stock.” Read more here.

Money still flowing to 'pork' projects in N.Y.

2010-08-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Poughkeepsie Journal reported that Gov. David Paterson's veto pen has yet to end spending for legislative earmarks, state records show.

The state in July signed off on $12.5 million in member items for lawmakers' hometown projects — including $438,000 for a senior center in Queens, $100,000 for a group opposed to a major power line in central New York and $7,500 for the Rochester crime stoppers program.

In all, 609 member items were signed off by the state Comptroller's Office in July, a review by the Journal's Albany bureau found. An additional 57 projects totaling nearly $1 million were approved in just the first few days of August.

The spending comes even after Paterson held marathon sessions last month to personally sign 6,709 vetoes of lawmakers' pork-barrel projects approved in last year's budget, a total of about $190 million. But the vetoes haven't shut off the spending spigot quite yet.

State law allows the money from last year's budget to flow until Sept. 15. So nonprofits and local governments, who were banking on the money before Paterson's surprising vetoes, are making a dash for the cash before it's too late.

"We're hearing from groups all over that they are scrambling right now to get all their vouchers in and work completed," said Ron Deutsch, who heads New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a group that works with non-profits. "Everyone's in scramble mode right now."

The stakes are high from some groups that rely on the member items to fund programs and, in some cases, to stay in business.

Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, R-Red Hook, said he doesn't oppose Paterson's vetoes of the member items, but the governor should have done it last year — before the groups were counting on the money.

"I have a concern about the governor vetoing dollars that have been awarded and, at the very least, were in the process of being contracted," he said.

Some groups said they have been waiting for reimbursements from member items pledged for their projects last year. Read more here.

GuideStar Offers: The Effect of the Economy on the Nonprofit Sector

2010-08-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

More than 7,000 people responded to our June 2010 economic survey, which measured the impact of these difficult economic times on the nonprofit sector. Among respondents, nearly half were CEOs, executive directors, or presidents—our leaders in the nonprofit industry. The results are compelling:

Some 40 percent of participants reported that contributions to their organizations dropped between January 1 and May 31, 2010, compared to the same period a year earlier.
Eight percent indicated that their organizations were in imminent danger of closing.
Sixty-three percent reported a total increase in demand for their organization's services between January 1, 2010 and May 31, 2010, compared to the same period a year prior.

Read all of the survey's findings here, for free:"The Effect of the Economy on the Nonprofit Sector."

2010 New York State Grand Rounds on the Abuse of Prescription Pain Relievers

2010-08-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

September 20, 2010
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Room MS169
Albany Medical College

Live, Video conference and/or webcast
The streaming link is:
http://streaming.aanet.org/ramgen/amc/AMC_PRC092010.smil

Dial in participants will dial
1-866-719-1998
Pass code 800285.

Your phones will be muted during the panel presentations and will turned on when the panel is open for discussion.

If you have Codecs and want to be active participants via ISDN or IP, that can be arranged as well.

Please contact Joyce Davis with any questions you might have at:
518-686-0221 or jnadine@roadrunner.com.

2010 New York State Grand Rounds on the Abuse of Prescription Pain Relievers
Panel Discussion

Non-medical use of prescription pain relievers rose 111 percent between 2004 and 2008, according to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations (SAMHSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In Rensselaer County 4 youth died between September 2009 and April 2010 from abusing prescription pain medications. This CME program is geared to assist medical personnel who prescribe prescription pain medications assure they are not abused by youth and adults.

The training will be offered in four venues: at the Medical College, by video conference and webcast live and an archive stream provided by the Adirondack Area Network. Participants in the webcast will be able to call in and ask questions during the presentation.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: 2010 Michael H. Urbach, CPA, Community Builder's Award

2010-07-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Sponsored by the New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA)

In recognition of the important role, talents and leadership that a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York State can provide as a board member for community-based charities, NYCON and NYSSCPA are pleased to announce the 7th Annual Michael H. Urbach, CPA, Community Builder's Award.

The award is named in honor of the late Michael H. Urbach, CPA, former partner of Urbach, Kahn and Werlin, former NYS Commissioner of Tax and Finance and Chair of the State Employees federated Appeal, and board leader of a number of charities.

Award Criteria & Submission
Candidates must:

Be a CPA in good standing and a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants;
Have served as an Officer on at least 3 different charitable 501(c)(3) community-based nonprofits with service as President/Chair at least once;
Have demonstrated exemplary board leadership resulting in significant and positive organizational impact including, but not limited to, financial turn-around, growth, and/or organizational re-structuring; and
Preference will be given to nominees whose board leadership accomplishments have been with community-based charities.

Deadline - August 30th, 2010
Nominations addressing the candidate's qualifications must be submitted in writing and received by August 30th, 2010. Nominators are strongly encouraged to include letters of support from the charities who have benefited from the candidate's volunteer leadership.

Send six (6) packets of nomination materials to:
Urbach Community Builder's Award Committee
New York Council of Nonprofits
272 Broadway
Albany NY 12204

Announcement & Presentation
The 2010 award will be formally presented at the Annual Member Meeting of NYCON slated for the afternoon of September 30th at Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York.

The Luncheon will take place during CAMP FINANCE, a two-day retreat that provides the very best in knowledge and skill development sessions for fiscal and management staff, as well as board members. New this year, it has expanded to include the popular "Money for Mission" tracks that will focus on fundraising, marketing, social media, grant making (both government and philanthropic) and more!

In honor of the late Harold Mandel, a certified public accountant who worked for Urbach, Kahn & Werlin in Albany, NY and retired in West Palm Beach, FL, the 2010 Urbach Honoree has the privilege to award three (3) nonprofit executives of their choice Camp Finance scholarships in Hal's name. In 2009, Mr. Mandel's family accepted a posthumous Michael H. Urbach, CPA Community Builder's Award in his tribute.

Grant Writing Classes

2010-07-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Community Grant Writers and Fundraisers of New York State is hosting a series of two-day grant writing classes in various locations and you are invited to send one or more participants. Attendees receive a manual, in both hard copy and on CD. All of our instructors are successful veteran grant writers.

Staff, administrators, grant managers and makers, consultants and board of directors are welcome. Beginners learn what they need to write successful proposals. Experienced attendees gain new insights, sharpen skills, affirm their knowledge, and leave with renewed confidence in their abilities and mission. Everyone will learn where to find grant funding today, with our present economic situation.

The cost of $250.00 includes both sessions, signed certificate (suitable for framing with letter confirming completion of training), manuals (hard copy and CD). For every three participants your organization sends a fourth may attend for free. Seating is limited. Payment in full must be received prior to the workshop – walk ins are not permitted.

Workshop Topics:

Ø How to write grant proposals start to finish and how to locate and track relevant grant opportunities. Federal, state, local and non-governmental, and private sector grants are covered. You'll learn everything you need to know to get started writing grants.

Ø Locate and track relevant grant opportunities from Federal, State and local government sources, private foundations and corporate giving programs.

Ø Developing your plan for grant evaluation, both subjective and objective; integrating your plan with the grant maker's required evaluation and reporting system. Summarizing your request for that impossibly small summary opportunity on the standard federal cover page or, the one/two page foundation request.

Ø Dissecting the RFP; researching enabling legislation; understanding the "spirit and intent" of the grant program; technical assistance contacts and the need for open and honest communication; developing a compelling problem statement; attachments; finishing touches.

Ø What is required after you receive the grant.

Feel free to contact our main office with any questions you may have or to make reservations for a workshop at any location. We can be reached by phone at 518-366-6183 or by email at address is: communitygrantwriters@gmail.com.

Grant Writing Class Schedule: Classes begin at 9:00 am sharp and end at 4:00 both days. There are two 15 minute breaks and one hour for lunch.

Location
Grant Writing Classes for 2010

Albany
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 24 and 25)

Oneonta
Wednesday and Thursday (August 25 and 26)

Binghamton
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 31 and September 1)

Utica
Tuesday and Thursday (August 24 and 26)

Syracuse
Wednesday and Thursday (September 1 and 2)

Watertown
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 31 and September 1)

Rochester
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 24 and 25)

Buffalo
Wednesday and Thursday (August 25 and 26)

Plattsburgh
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 31 and September 1)

Poughkeepsie
Wednesday and Thursday (September 1 and 2)

White Plains
Wednesday and Thursday (August 25 and 26)

Yonkers
Tuesday and Thursday (August 24 and 26)

Newburgh
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 24 and 25)

Manhattan
Wednesday and Thursday (September 1 and 2)

Queens
Wednesday and Thursday (August 25 and 26)

Bronx
Tuesday and Thursday (August 24 and 26)

Brooklyn
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 31 and September 1)

Staten Island
Wednesday and Thursday (September 1 and 2)

Long Island – Nassau County
Tuesday and Wednesday (August 24 and 25)

Long Island – Suffolk County
Wednesday and Thursday (August 25 and 26

The Community Grant Writers and Fundraisers of New York State is an association that serves organizations seeking funds, either through grants or other fundraising efforts, as well as the fundraisers and grant writers who assist to secure these funds. We have 42 State Chapters throughout the country and New York State has many local chapters.

Lawmakers Seeking Cuts Look at Nonprofit Salaries

2010-07-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

The NY Times reported that State and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups they do business with to help share the pain of tighter budgets.

A provision in New Jersey’s recently passed budget, for example, includes a limit on what nonprofit groups can pay their chief executives if they are providing social services under state contracts. The cap, based on a formula that also applies to for-profits providing such services on behalf of the state, is part of a broader effort by Gov. Chris Christie to rein in salaries on state workers.

In New Hampshire, Attorney General Michael A. Delaney is investigating compensation among nonprofit hospital executives. And Vermont legislators are trying various ways of curbing salaries paid by nonprofit groups that have contracts with the state.

On Capitol Hill, four senators this spring refused to approve a $425 million package of federal grants for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America after staff members looked at the organization’s tax forms as part of a routine vetting process and were surprised to learn that the organization paid its chief executive almost $1 million in 2008 — $510,774 in salary and bonus and $477,817 in retirement and other benefits.

“A nearly $1 million salary and benefit package for a nonprofit executive is not only questionable on its face but also raises questions about how the organization manages its finances in other areas,” said Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma.

Another senator, Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has told Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner that he is concerned that the Internal Revenue Service is not tough enough in policing pay in the nonprofit sector and that regulations governing compensation are too weak.

“I’ve asked him to review these regulations to see how they can be made effective,” Mr. Grassley said. “What’s there now doesn’t seem to be working.”

Mr. Grassley, who has used his seat on the Finance Committee to scrutinize a wide variety of nonprofit practices, noted that pay had been a “major issue” in his reviews over the last several years of universities, charitable hospitals and the Smithsonian Institution.

Compensation has long been a point of controversy among donors to nonprofits. By far the biggest category of complaints posted on the Web site of Charity Navigator, which offers research and analysis of nonprofit groups, involves complaints about pay. Read more here, especially for the other perspective offered by some nonprofit EDs.

New York CAN: Public Benefit Enrollment Training Launched

2010-07-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleague-

The NYS Community Action Association is pleased to announce the training schedule for FREE training for nonprofits to help raise awareness of the range of public benefits available to struggling New Yorkers. This training series is being done in partnership with the Empire Justice Center, Nutritution Consortium of NYS, Chautauqua Opportunities, and Single Stop USA.
NYSCAA recently received a grant from the NYS Department of State to develop this day-long training to familiarize staff on the range of public benefits available to struggling families as well as the online tool www.mybenefits.ny.gov, developed by the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. The funding for this project comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) through the Community Services Block Grant.

We are pleased to say the training launched this week and we have 30+ trainings being held statewide over the next 11 weeks. We hope you will pass this along to your staff, partners, members, colleagues and encourage them to attend. We hope to train 1,000 nonprofit staff over the next 2.5 months which is a big target to hit.

The training is FREE, would be useful for any staff that works with customers, and will run 9:30-4:30 in most places and in some locations will go 10:00-5:00 with a pizza lunch provided. All participants will receive a training binder that includes the Helping Hands Tool Kit. To download a one-page flyer for the training, go to http://www.nyscommunityaction.org/FirstPageNewsArticles/2010/BnefitBenefitsEnrollmentflier.pdf. Advanced topic webinars will be offered as well and we will let you know when they are scheduled.

We do ask folks pre-register; however, if you have a significant # attending, you can send me the list via email to dharlow@nyscommunityaction.org and we can register the group.

The schedule put in place thus far is as follows (click here for more info http://www.nyscommunityaction.org/events.cfm):

Upstate and Long Island (more to come)
· July 27 Benefits Enrollment Training, Utica
· July 27 Benefits Enrollment Training, Rochester
· July 29 Benefits Enrollment Training, Central Islip
· July 29 Benefits Enrollment Training, Dunkirk
· July 30 Benefits Enrollment Training, Fort Edward
· August 2 Benefits Enrollment Training, Syracuse
· August 3 Benefits Enrollment Training, Watertown
· August 4 Benefits Enrollment Training, Corning
· August 4 Benefits Enrollment Training, Patchogue
· August 5 Benefits Enrollment Training, Binghamton
· August 5 Benefits Enrollment Training, Central Islip
· August 13 Benefits Enrollment Training, Fonda
· August 27 Benefits Enrollment Training, Elmsford
· September 2 Benefits Enrollment Training, Batavia
· September 10 Benefits Enrollment Training, Salamanca
· September 13 Benefits Enrollment Training, Newburgh

New York City (more to come)
· July 22 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC
· July 29 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC
· July 30 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC
· August 5 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 8/5/10
· August 6 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC
· August 12 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 8/12/10
· August 13 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC 8/13/10
· August 27 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 8/27/10
· September 2 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 9/2/10
· September 3 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 9/3/10
· September 16 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 9/16/10
· September 17 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 9/17/10
· September 23 Benefits Enrollment Training, NYC, 9/23/10

The schedule is still not fully in place so keep an eye on http://www.nyscommunityaction.org/events.cfm for an updated calendar.

Thank you to our partners Empire Justice Center, Chautauqua Opportunities, Nutrition Consortium, and Single Stop (NYC) who have assisted in the development of curriculum and are conducting training across the state!

We hope these sessions appeal to you and your staff. Certificates will be provided to attendees for their records.

Thank you,

Denise

Denise Harlow, CEO
New York State Community Action Association, Inc.
2 Charles Blvd.
Guilderland, NY 12084
518-690-0491, ext. 24
FAX 518-690-0498
dharlow@nyscommunityaction.org
www.twitter.com/nyscaa

Two FREE Idealware Seminars

2010-07-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

NYCON endorsed vendor, Idealware, is pleased to announce three free seminars in the month of July!

Website Domains: Getting, Keeping and Working with a Website Address
Thursday, July 22, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Eastern. FREE!
In this free one-hour seminar, we'll talk through the important things you need to know about setting up and maintaining control over a website domain, as well as how to use it for your website and email needs. This seminar is funded by the Pierce Family Foundation.
Read more or register >

Raising Your Network's Technology IQ
Thursday, July 29, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern. FREE!
Are you a membership organization, grantmaker, or affiliate group? Are you trying to figure out affordable ways to help your network use technology more effectively? We'll talk through the types of technology support your network is most likely to need, and the methods -- from free to inexpensive to more comprehensive -- that are likely to help.
Read more or register >