Register Now for Spring NYCON Webinars, Spots Filling Up!

Register for NYCON's Spring Webinars! Get to Know NYCON & Your Membership Benefits... February 22nd, 2013  10:00am - 10:45am Register Online Today In this session NYCON staff will tell you all you need to know about your membership benefits - and answer all the questions you have regarding our process, costs and what you get for FREE. No matter if you are a new member, a renewing member who would like more information or a non-member interested in joining, this session will be enlightening and helpful. We will be covering the following benefits:   Nonprofit Training, Education and Professional AssistanceNYCON empowers our members with the best practices, policies, and procedures as well as information on ever-changing regulations, funding, accountability and more Cost Savings Solutions for Nonprofits NYCON leverages the purchasing power of thousands of nonprofits to bring you economies of scale on everything fromOffice Supplies to Fundraising Software.   The Nonprofit Voice in New York State NYCON represents our members on the local, state and national level, giving voice to small and medium sized nonprofits everywhere

NYCON Member Benefit Spotlight: Budget & Cash Flow Toolkits! Every fiscal staff members best friend... Learn More on February 27th at 10:00am Just in time for budget and cash flow planning, NYCON has developed a new benefit for our member that will truly be the "best friend" of every fiscal person who uses it!  Designed with the needs and resources of the smaller to medium sized nonprofit in mind, NYCON's Chief Fiscal Officer and staff have designed a "fool proof" tool for developing a streamlined, compliant and easy to understand budget.   The features of the Budget Toolkit include:   Built in instructions on "Getting Started" and"How to Develop Your Budget" Built in formulas and linked spreadsheets Definitions & Glossary on types of budgets, frequently used budgeting terms & more Helpful notes that 'pop up' as you create your budget spreadsheet  Quick and easy allocations (for shared costs like space and supplies, etc.) Templates that your organization can utilize to customize for your own organization's budget and salary and fringe expenditures. And more! You have to see all the features to believe it!   Experience the Budget Toolkit for yourself. Learn More on February 27th at 10:00am  On this webinar we also featured the new "Cash Flow Toolkit" which, just like the Budget Toolkit, will be a great addition to any nonprofit fiscal office.

Free Tour of the GrantStation.com Website  Thursday, February 28th   10:00am to 11:00am  Register Today Join Ellen Mowrer, GrantStation's Business Development Advisor, for a free webinar that offers a short tour of the GrantStation website. This tour will provide tips on the most effective way to use all of the valuable resources the website offers; including the extensive funder databases that can help you identify the right grantmaker for any program or project. During this webinar we will also introduce GrantStation's new interactiveGrants2020 visioning tool! There will be plenty of time for questions.This webinar will be held Thursday, February 28, 2013.Did You Know? As a NEW Membership Benefit of NYCON, ourprogram now also allows a discount on Grantstation Membership - which gets you full access to GS.com - for only $75! Click here for more information.

Unemployment Insurance Bill to Impact NYS Employers

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

Bringing Comparison Shopping to the Doctor’s Office

The NY Times reported on the development of health care price comparison resources being developed.

As the article relates:

Even if a patient does want to comparison-shop, there is no easy way to obtain complete and useful information. It is a hole in the market that some companies see as an opportunity, especially because many Americans will soon have to pay more attention to what they are paying for, rather than count on insurance to cover everything.

But there has been no easy way for consumers to shop for the best deal on a colonoscopy or blood test. A start-up financed by prominent venture capitalists and the Cleveland Clinic, Castlight Health, aims to change that by building a search engine for health care prices. Patients using Castlight could search for doctors that offer a service nearby and find out how much they will charge, depending on their insurance coverage.

A few others are starting to publish health care prices, including Thomson Reuters, a Tennessee start-up called Change:healthcare, the New Hampshire government, which created a comparison shopping tool for residents, and health insurers. Aetna, for instance, has built tools to help patients estimate prices and may build more advanced tools, said Lonny Reisman, Aetna’s chief medical officer.

Price transparency could significantly change the way health care is bought in the United States. The notion “seems ridiculously simple and obvious, and in any other industry, you would say, ‘Duh, we already have that.’ But in health care, it’s revolutionary,” said Alan M. Garber, a professor of medicine and the director of the center for health policy at Stanford, as well as an investor in Castlight. Read more here.

Nonprofits and the HIRE Act

NYCON's national partner, the National Council of Nonprofits, has provided the following information for nonprofits:

On March 18, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act), a $17 billion jobs package that includes temporary tax incentives to encourage employers to hire new workers. The main job-creation incentive allows most employers, including nonprofits, to keep the 6.2 percent payroll taxes on certain new hires, thus lowering their cost. This payroll tax forgiveness provision expires at the end of the year, so nonprofits will save more the sooner they hire eligible unemployed workers.

What You Need To Know:

The IRS released a statement on their newswire and posted general answers on their website offering a brief outline of the credit. Here are answers to the five key questions that most nonprofits need to know:

1.Is my nonprofit eligible? Yes. All 501(c) nonprofits are eligible.

2.Who do I need to hire to get the credit? There are four criteria that apply to any person hired after February 3:
a.The individual must sign a new IRS Form W-11, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act Employee Affidavit, certifying that he/she has not worked more than 40 hours in the previous 60 days. (The IRS is currently developing a form employees can use to make the required statement.)
b.The new hire cannot replace an existing employee. It is okay to fill vacancies for individuals who left voluntarily or for cause. It is also permissible to rehire a laid-off employee who otherwise qualifies as an eligible employee.
c.The new hire is not related to a fiduciary of the organization.
d.The work the employee is doing must be in furtherance of the employer’s tax-exempt purpose.

3.How do you claim the credit? Employers claim the payroll tax exemption on their quarterly Form 941, beginning with the second quarter of 2010. The credit applies to the employer’s 6.2 percent share of social security tax on all wages paid to qualified employees. The employee’s 6.2 percent share of social security tax and both the employer’s and employee’s shares of Medicare taxes still apply to all wages. The IRS has posted a draft form 941 on its website and will release a final form next month along with the form’s instructions.

4.How long can I claim the credit? March 19 through December 31, 2010. As an example, for a person who starts work on April 1, the nonprofit keeps the payroll tax money that would otherwise be withheld, amounting to a savings of $1860 for someone with an annual salary of $40,000 (savings of 6.2% payroll taxes on $30,000 which is 9 months of salary).

5.Can I claim the $1000 bonus if the employee stays on the payroll for 52 weeks? Normally, no. The law includes a $1000 bonus credit that can only be applied to business income tax liability. Nonprofits are exempt from this liability, except in the area of unrelated business income.

For more info, click here.

Companies paying more in unemployment taxes

CNN Money featured the following article on rising unemployment expenses throughout the US. As the article relates:

Employers are getting hit with a massive tax hike at a time when they can least afford it.

Companies in at least 35 states will have to fork over more in unemployment insurance taxes this year, according to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

The median increase will be 27.5%. And employers in places such as Hawaii and Florida could see levies skyrocket more than ten-fold.

Many of these hikes happened automatically as prolonged joblessness triggered state laws governing their unemployment insurance systems. But at least seven states voted to raise their taxable wage bases, the level of income subject to unemployment tax. And another 10 are looking at upping the wage bases or tax rates.

The states are scrambling to restore their unemployment insurance trust funds, which cover claims.

State trust funds have been decimated by the Great Recession, forcing a record 26 states to borrow a total of more than $30 billion from the federal government. The numbers are expected to grow to 40 states borrowing $90 billion by 2012, said George Wentworth, policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. Read more here. The state by state unemployment rate listing is available here for 2009. NY's rate in 2008 was 6.3 and in 2009 increased to 8.6.

Looking for Unemployment Insurance assistance? Contact NYCON for information on our Unemployment Savings Program. You will receive a free cost savings analysis, which will tell you how much money you will save. We will advise you on your best option, including if you’re better off staying in the state tax system. Contact us with your questions.

NYS Comptroller Survey Results & More

Last week NYCON was asked to provide feedback to the Comptroller's Office on how late New York State contracts and payments were affecting real nonprofits in the community. NYCON has already collected almost 250 responses - and more nonprofits are responding every day.
• 66% of nonprofits responding said they currently have a line of credit
• 66% of nonprofits responding said that they had borrowed money because of delayed government contracts and/or payments in the last two years.

Well over 100 comments were also submitted to the Comptroller´s Office. Click here for a sampling of these comments (a full list will be posted soon on the NYCON website.) Still want to add your feedback? Click here for the survey.

Want to know what else you can do? The Comptroller's Office will be holding nonprofit forums around New York State soon. NYCON will inform our members when those forums are scheduled.

Membership Benefits Corner: Special Package Offers on Bylaws, Personnel Policy Reviews and more...
Bylaw & Personnel Policy Reviews
Whether you are a newly created organization or a long standing one, risk management is the keystone for good governance of your organization. Two important tools for protection of your organization from mission killing liability and litigation is the creation and annual review of corporate bylaws and personnel policies. Our attorneys and legal staff will dissect your corporate documents and review same for legal pitfalls, returning same to you with revision comments and "best practice" advice within 30 days.
A Bylaw Review is $500.
A Personnel Policy Review is $700.
A Package price for both is only $1,000.
Interested? Click here and let us know and we´ll have one of our legal staff get back to you to start the process!

Corporate Document Review
Another important element of risk management is the maintenance of the proper form of corporate existence. Our attorneys and legal staff will analyze your Certificate of Incorporation, and any Amendments for consistency between them and your internal corporate documents and Bylaws, returning the same to you with revision comments and "best practice" advice within 15 days.
A Corporate Document Review is $300.00.
Interested? Click here and let us know and we´ll have one of our legal staff get back to you to start the process!

Paterson wants to merge economic-development agencies

The Albany Business Review reported that Empire State Development Corp. (ESD) and the New York State Department of Economic Development would combine operations under a plan the governor's office announced today.

It's one of seven ideas for state agency mergers included in Gov. David Paterson's 2010-2011 state budget. The moves would result in total annual savings of nearly $15 million, according to the governor's office. Read more here.

NYCON Offers Your Nonprofit Savings and More!

Interested in Employee Benefits for Your Employees?

Take a look at three of NYCON's most popular programs. NYCON adminsters each of these programs, answers your questions, and gives you and your employees the customer service and value you deserve!

Save Time. Save Money. Stay Informed.

In Today's Economy, NYCON Membership is More Valuable Than Ever Before!

Thank you for being a member of NYCON in 2009! Reflecting on the challenges and changes that nonprofits have experienced this year, makes the fact that you maintained your membership in the New York Council of Nonprofits (formerly the Council of Community Services of NYS, Inc.) a real testament to your organization. We commend you on your continued dedication to sound board governance, best practices in management, organizational efficiencies and economies of scale.

What's Ahead?
In 2009 our 1,600 members helped shape a more promising future for our sector. For the first time ever we saw your stories being taken to Capitol Hill and the White House as our country's elected officials met with national nonprofit leaders to discuss issues such as capacity building and the inclusion of nonprofits in healthcare reform legislation.

On the home front, NYCON members saved valuable dollars that were reinvested into their missions. Nonprofits saved over $1 million in Unemployment costs and over $500,000 in other insurance premiums in 2008 and 2009. Members have also benefitted from purchasing programs in Dental insurance, Flexible Spending Accounts and Life Insurance.

New cost-savings programs this year from the National Council of Nonprofits, of which you are a member by virtue of your affiliation with NYCON, include discounts on background checks, a free color copier program and technology training through Idealware.

You may notice that for the first time in over 5 years, NYCON Membership dues are being raised...but by only $10! NYCON knows that in this economy membership must pay for itself and we are certain that it will continue to do so.

Renewing Your Membership Is Easy!
Steps to renew your NYCON Membership:
1. Click here to log into your account. Forgot your password? Click on "Forgot Password" button and enter your email.
1. Update Your Record. Do we have your correct Phone, Fax and Email Address? Do we have current contact information for your staff and board?
2. Pay 2010 Dues. You can pay easily online.
3. If you would prefer to renew via paper application, please send a check and an updated board list with your application.

Renew by January 15th, 2010 and be entered to win great prizes including a $100 credit to any NYCON Conference, a series of free Build a Better Nonprofit Trainings, and more!

Once again, thank you for all that you do for your community and for the nonprofit sector. If you have any questions about your memership renewal, please feel free to contact me at (800) 515-5012 ext 121 or via email at vvenezia@nycon.org.

Sincerely,

Valerie Venezia
Vice President of Membership & Marketing

NOT A MEMBER?
Join online or click here for a paper application.

What Can Nonprofit Groups Do To Save Money, Energy and the Environment?

The Schenectady ARC will host a FREE workshop entitled "What Can Nonprofit Groups Do to Save Money, Energy and the Environment?"

The workshop will be held in room 233 of Schenectady ARC's 214 State Street Offices.
The presentation will be conducted by Mark De Chiro Regional Coordinator for the Capital/Saratoga Region Energy $mart Communities Program c/o the New Your State Energy and Research and Development Authority. Information about NYSERDA program will be available. The event, which will be one hour in duration, will begin at 8:00 a.m. with registration at 7:30 a.m.

To Register, please contact Mark Sheehan, Schenectady ARC's Director of New Initiatives, at 518.372.1160, ext. 8217.

SPONSOR: Schenectady ARC
WHEN: 9/22/2009 at 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
WHERE: 214 State Street, Room 233, Schenectady, NY 12301
SPEAKER: Mark DeChiro
ADMISSION COST: FREE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Mark DeChiro or call 518.542.5175 or email mdechiro1@nycap.rr.com