Debunking Myths About the Affordable Care Act | 6 Quick Ways to Use Social Media for Branding| The Best Credit Card Processing For Small Business Owners

Debunking Myths About the Affordable Care Act As a business owner, it's important to understand how the Affordable Care Act may affect your business. As part of our ongoing blog series to clear up misconceptions, we're debunking another common myth: Business owners will be fined if they don't provide notification to their employees about the new Health Insurance Marketplace. > Read more http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/myth-vs-fact-myth-3-business-owners-will-be-fined-if-they-don%E2%80%99t-notify-their-employees-about-new-health-insurance-marketplace New Guidance on Information Reporting Requirements Under the Affordable Care Act Under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, employers that are subject to the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions must report certain information regarding the health coverage they offer their full-time employees. Here's what you need to know. > Read more http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/myth-vs-fact-myth-3-business-owners-will-be-fined-if-they-don%E2%80%99t-notify-their-employees-about-new-health-insurance-marketplace 3 Signs That Social Media Might Not Be the Right Fit for Your Small Business As a small business owner, do you sometimes wonder, “What should I be doing on social media?” It's a great opportunity to take a step back and consider whether it’s actually a good fit for your business. Here are some signs that social media may not be right for your small business. > Read more  http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/myth-vs-fact-myth-3-business-owners-will-be-fined-if-they-don%E2%80%99t-notify-their-employees-about-new-health-insurance-marketplace Hang out with SBA & Cover Oregon for Health Care Answers Not sure how the health care law may impact your business in Oregon? SBA and Cover Oregon are teaming up to bring you another Google+ Hangout so you can learn how to access health care coverage for your small business. When: September 17 | 12 -12:30pm PT Where: Watch from either SBA’s YouTube Channel or Google+ Page  > Read more  http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/myth-vs-fact-myth-3-business-owners-will-be-fined-if-they-don%E2%80%99t-notify-their-employees-about-new-health-insurance-marketplace 6 Quick Ways to Use Social Media for Branding While there’s no overnight success when it comes to converting social media followers to customers, some strategies can help you see results. Here’s how to make sure your social media efforts convey exactly what you want about your brand. > Read more Register for a Free Affordable Care Act Webinar Throughout September, SBA and Small Business Majority will hold a weekly Affordable Care Act 101 webinar. During each presentation, small business owners can learn about the law and what it means for their company and employees.     Thursday, September 19 at 2:00 PM ET: Click to Register Thursday, September 26 at 2:00 PM ET: Click to Register The Best Credit Card Processing For Small Business Owners Are you looking to accept credit cards from your customers? Is building your company's creditworthiness essential to you? Learn how to determine which merchant for credit card processing would be best for your small business. > Read more http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/myth-vs-fact-myth-3-business-owners-will-be-fined-if-they-don%E2%80%99t-notify-their-employees-about-new-health-insurance-marketplace Leveling the Playing Field for US Small Business Exporters This month, U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will bring together exporters around the country through a series of roundtables to help document trade barriers that disproportionately affect small business exporters in the European Union. > Read more  http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/myth-vs-fact-myth-3-business-owners-will-be-fined-if-they-don%E2%80%99t-notify-their-employees-about-new-health-insurance-marketplace

News from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli

View stories online: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/index.htm. For the week ending May 12, 2013  DiNapoli: IDA Performance Improves, But Concerns Remain New York’s Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) supported nearly 4,500 projects and provided $560 million in net tax exemptions in 2011, increasing estimated job gains by almost 36,000 from the previous year, according to areport issued Tuesday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. DiNapoli’s sixth annual report examining the performance of the state’s IDAs found improved reporting of data but recommended that IDAs do more to objectively weigh incentives against economic benefits to communities and evaluate projects receiving tax and other breaks. State Pension Fund Invests $568,000 In Fieldlens New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced a $568,000 investment in FieldLens, creator of a mobile and web application designed for the construction industry. The investment was made through High Peaks Venture Partners, SoftBank Capital and Contour Venture Partners. The New York State Common Retirement Fund is an investor in these funds through its In–State Private Equity Program. DiNapoli: Empire Continuing to Overpay for Special Medical Items New York State health insurance provider Empire BlueCross BlueShield overpaid hospitals by nearly $490,000 for special medical items such as implants, drugs and blood, including more than $77,000 to just one hospital, over a six month period, according to an audit of the New York State Health Insurance Program released Thursday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Municipal Audits New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli Wednesday announced his office completed the following audits: the Village of Arcade; the Town of Ballston; the Town of Eastchester; the Halfmoon–Waterford Fire District No. 1; the Village of Herrings; the Village of Lewiston; the Village/Town of Mount Kisco; the Town of Northampton; and, theTown of North East. New York comptroller calls for greater accountability for industrial development agencies Ex-fire official will get prison DiNapoli: $12 Billion in Unclaimed State Funds to Be Returned to New Yorkers

Business Plans for Nonprofits

From NYCON's national partner, National Council of Nonprofits:

True or False: “Business planning is for businesses, and strategic planning is for nonprofits." Be honest. When you first heard the phrase "business plans for nonprofits," did you think, "We don't do that"? Many people think that businesses do business planning, and nonprofits do strategic planning. Strategic planning remains a core element of capacity building. State Associations of nonprofits report that strategic planning is perennially one of the most popular educational programs they offer. Funders often want to see a strategic plan along with a grant proposal. But increasingly, we’re hearing executive directors say to one another, “Do you have a business plan?” Are business plans for nonprofits becoming the new hot thing? And are they replacing strategic plans – simply by adding dollar signs? Advertisement Business planning is not the same as strategic planning. Ideally business planning will inform and improve a strategic planning process that keeps evolving. Business planning provides a sound financial context for the planning process and forces us to look at our nonprofit in the context of a competitive environment. It is hard work because it grounds big picture ideas in reality. Understandably given the option we might prefer to paint a canvas with a broad vision and fill in the colors, rather than first determine what it costs to buy the paint and canvas, and how to price our painting. (It’s much more fun to paint the picture and let somebody else figure out whether it will sell and for how much!) The problem for enthusiastic and inspired artists (as with board and staff members) is that the canvas gets bigger and bigger – but when the masterpiece is finished, there might not be a market for it.     For us amateur artists, two recent books approach nonprofit business planning from a strategic planning perspective and explain it in a very accessible way, even for those not familiar with business terminology. The Nonprofit Business Plan: The Leader’s Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model , a new book by David La Piana and his distinguished colleagues at La Piana Consulting, may just change your attitude towards using the words “business” and “nonprofit” in the same sentence. Also take a look at Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability, by the terrific trio Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman. We think both books are masterful in helping to explain why nonprofits need to pause and take a look at, well…let’s just say it, their “business model.”   Your nonprofit is in the business of something, whether it’s recycling computers, helping veterans rejoin the workforce, or preserving open space from development. And in order to pay for talented employees, that new website you dream of, and the internet connection that makes it work, your nonprofit needs cash. The problem is, assuming your nonprofit is like many others, it’s tempting to continually add new projects or improve existing programs to meet changing needs in the community. Just before a nonprofit launches that new program or makes the necessary adjustments, that’s the time to stop and ask, “How much is this really going to cost? And how will it be paid for?” The question should even be asked for services that clients pay for -- or that are paid by third-parties: “Are all the costs of the program paid for?” What we’re hearing is that many nonprofits have not calculated the full cost of running their operations. Consequently, the revenue received, whether through donations or fees for services (or a combination) might not cover 100% of what it costs to deliver those programs. Private philanthropy is concerned about this funding gap and the strain it puts on charitable nonprofits. The Donors Forum has convened a community of practice on the subject of overhead, bringing together funders and nonprofits to recommend how nonprofits can more easily identify and articulate the true cost of their work, and how grantmakers can become educated about the failure to pay full costs, as well as help nonprofits understand how to calculate the true cost of delivering services.   In today’s challenging economy, the severe consequences of failing to engage in business planning is laid bare when cash stops flowing. The cash flow crunch is a concern for a huge number of charitable nonprofits. The Nonprofit Finance Fund’s 2012 survey found that only 43% of nonprofits surveyed had more than 3 months of cash reserves – and many had less than one month. Nonprofits that continue to focus exclusively on what they do, instead of also what it costs to do it, will find themselves at risk of closing their doors for good. Here is just one example of the need for nonprofits and board members to focus strategically on business models: a 30 year old charitable nonprofit, dependent on donations to pay the rent and stay afloat, is hit hard by the recession when donations dry up. If the nonprofit closes its doors the community’s poor and disabled will be without access to medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, walkers, and oxygen tanks. For 30 years the nonprofit has collected donated equipment, refurbished it, and trained its new owners how to use it. For free. Now at the brink of being forced to shut down, the group’s executive director, reflecting on what happened, explained his mind-shift towards being more business oriented: “We’re not about money, but we have to be right now.”   A solid business plan will take into consideration not only the “vision” and the strategy for how your nonprofit will address needs in the community, but also how everything your nonprofit does fits within a competitive landscape, and how it will fund its activities in a cost-effective way. Done well, business planning is very comprehensive – and requires time. An outside consultant may be helpful to move the process along. The CEO, key program staff, and a few board members are usually tapped for the business planning team so that multiple perspectives inform the analysis of all aspects of the nonprofit’s operations: from mission delivery (programs, services, advocacy) to physical and human resources infrastructure, and marketing, to communications and fundraising activities. A business plan might also include funding projections, and address risk mitigation as well as how outcomes will be evaluated (and the associated costs).   The advantage of having a business plan in place – especially when an attractive new idea presents itself - is that some ventures, partnerships, or projects may strategically fit the mission and perfectly support the vision – but may not be successful financially. With the discipline of a business plan as the “enforcer,” it makes it easier to prioritize the activities that make the most financial sense, and to make hard decisions, such as stopping a program that offers little ROI. As champions for our nonprofits’ missions it is no longer enough to know deep in our bones that “the mission is good.” Instead we need to help boards and staff ask hard questions about money, so that the ability of each charitable nonprofit to deliver its mission into the future is protected. We encourage your nonprofit to take a look at the resources highlighted in this newsletter and on the Council of Nonprofits’ website, and we hope that when your nonprofit engages in this process, business planning will feel much more like painting a masterpiece than counting pennies. Coming soon - a new look for this newsletter and the National Council of Nonprofits   Interested in learning more about business planning for nonprofits? Join us for a free webinar on October 18th with Heather Gowdy and Lester Olmstead-Rose, authors of The Nonprofit Business Plan: The Leader’s Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model. This webinar is an exclusive benefit for members of our network of State Associations. Contact your State Association for the registration link. Not a member? Find your State Association and join today!   This webinar is offered free of charge thanks to generous support from Resources on strategic and business planning (National Council of Nonprofits)    The Nonprofit Business Plan: The Leader’s Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model , by David La Piana, Heather Gowdy, Lester Olmstead-Rose, and Brent Copen   Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability, by Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman   Business Planning for Nonprofits: What It Is and Why It Matters  (Bridgespan)   Sample business plans for nonprofits (Bridgespan)   Tools for business planning, creating a theory of change, a case for support, and building a revenue plan (for purchase from Social Velocity)   Congratulations to Valerie Lies, President & CEO, Donors Forum, and Ann Silverberg Williamson, President & CEO, Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, as well as Tim Delaney, President & CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, for being named to the 2012 NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 list.   The National Council of Nonprofits provides information about the failure of government to pay the full costs of services both on our Government-Nonprofit Contracting website and in Nonprofit Advocacy Matters, our bi-weekly newsletter on public policy and advocacy matters affecting charitable nonprofits. An upcoming edition of Nonprofit Advocacy Matters will include an update on federal reforms affecting indirect cost reimbursements. Subscribe today so you won’t miss the latest on this important issue.

Copyright 2012 National Council of Nonprofits. All rights reserved 1200 New York Avenue, NW | Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20005 | www.councilofnonprofits.org

SBA, Microsoft create technology guide, online course

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

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.

Gov wants to extend power incentives for NY businesses including nonprofits

The Legislative Gazette reported that Gov. David A. Paterson is urging the Legislature to extend and reform the state's Power for Jobs and Energy Cost Savings Benefit programs to secure long-term funding for businesses and nonprofits before the programs expire on May 15.

Paterson wants to replace the two programs with a New York Power Authority program called Energize New York that would provide fixed-priced, long-term power contracts to existing and new qualifying businesses and institutions that agree to maintain minimum levels of employment or make investments in New York. Paterson sent his Energize New York reform plan to the Legislature in March.

"I am opposed to any further enabling legislation that does not make this a permanent program. … We need long-term decisions in the interest of promoting economic growth and to do that [we] need a program that's not going to be a political can that gets kicked down the road," Paterson said at a press conference last week.

The Power for Jobs program was established in 1997 to provide energy incentives to businesses and not-for-profits retaining or creating jobs in New York. Paterson had made reforming the program a priority in his State of the State address in January. "We cannot afford to let this critical job creating program lapse," said Paterson. Read more here.

NY releases tool to help companies hire unemployed workers

The Business Review (Albany) reported that employers in New York now have a new tool to help them assess the benefits of hiring unemployed workers, the state Department of Labor announced on Thursday.

The state unveiled a calculator that will tell companies the federal tax credits they’ll receive in 2010 and 2011 by hiring and retaining people who have been jobless for at least 60 days.

The tax credits were part of a law President Barack Obama signed last month.

Employers can qualify for a 6.2 percent payroll tax incentive, which, in effect, exempts them from paying Social Security taxes on that person’s wages. Companies also receive a $1,000 tax credit for each worker who stays on the job for at least a year.

The tax incentives are designed to push companies to hire full-time workers, and not temporary workers, as many will do while they remain unsure of the economy’s course.

Unemployment in the Albany metro area is 7.2 percent, the highest ever recorded for this time of year.

“Many businesses are still hesitant to add additional workers to their payrolls,” said Colleen Gardner, commissioner of the state labor department. “This online calculator shows New York’s businesses, clearly and simply, how hiring the unemployed can help their bottom line.”

The calculator can be found at http://www.labor.ny.gov/HireActCalculator.shtm.

Your Money New York: New Website for Businesses

A new website has been launched in NYS to support businesses and potential new businesses with information and resources. As the website, Your Money New York, relates:

Welcome to Your Money New York, part of a multi-faceted initiative at the Office of the State Comptroller to promote financial knowledge and education. This program is designed to give New Yorkers the information and tools they need to face the broad variety of money-related issues that may arise over the course of their lives -- whether it is getting out of debt, looking for a job, saving for college or retirement, or buying a car or home.

These are difficult economic times. Confidence in our financial system has been shaken. Fewer employers are offering traditional pension plans with guaranteed retirement income. Scams and frauds designed to separate you from your hard-earned money are on the rise. These things contribute to making our financial lives more complex, and make it more important than ever that we take steps to protect ourselves and secure our future.

New Yorkers need access to useful and reliable financial information. The goal of Your Money New York is to serve as a centralized, coordinated access point for this information, and to connect you with programs and resources to meet whatever financial challenges you may be facing. Please consider Your Money New York as your partner in pursuing your financial goals. Working together, we can make a strong, bright economic future a reality for all New Yorkers.

State tax collections drop 11% nationally

The Albany Business Journal reported that a new report reveals New York and states across the nation have suffered the worst decline in tax revenue in more than four decades.

State tax collections dropped 11 percent from July to September 2009, the latest data available, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The Albany-based research group is the public policy wing of the State University of New York system.

The first three quarters of 2009 marked the largest drop in state tax collections since at least 1963, the institute’s Jan. 7 report found. Early data for the fourth quarter of 2009 shows continued declines, though seemingly more moderate than what was experienced earlier in the recession.

New York is one of 28 state economies that, as of November, was continuing to decline, the report said. The findings were based on an index measuring unemployment, sales tax collections, private-sector employment and average weekly hours worked by manufacturing employees. Read more here.

New York Entrepreneur Week Launches the Most Encompassing Entrepreneurial Movement in New York State History

-- Today marks the official launch of New York Entrepreneur Week (www.nyew.org), the first and largest statewide movement unifying the most important entrepreneurial groups with the vastly diverse entrepreneurial community. Taking place from November 16-20, 2009, NYEW will feature 350 all-encompassing events including; keynote speeches from recognized business leaders, expert panels offering relevant mission-critical advice, third party events and the movement's flagship RELENTLESS business plan competition.

Unlike diluted start-up or small business events, NYEW is New York State's premier forum joining together founders, angel investors, venture capital firms and top connectors from around the world and across diverse industries. NYEW brings together groups ranging from enterprising young idea-stage innovators to hundred million dollar revenue generators. The NYEW movement provides the framework and catalyst for conquering New York's economic challenges by aggregating disparate entrepreneurial stakeholders from around the state with remarkable entrepreneurs from around the world.

NEWS FACTS:
-- Featured, confirmed speakers include:
- David S. Rose, Founder of Rose Tech Ventures, Chairman & CEO of Angelsoft
- Marc Ecko, Chairman & CEO of Marc Ecko Enterprises
- Steve Mariotti, Founder of the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
- Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Co-Founder & CMO of Gilt Groupe
- Barry Silbert, Co-Founder & CEO of SecondMarket
- Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder & CEO of Meetup.com

-- NYEW is a 501c(3) non-profit organization founded by 26-year-old serial entrepreneur Gary Whitehill. Inspired by the TED conference and Renaissance Weekend, Whitehill is empowering entrepreneurs from around the world to "Stand Up and Come Together" at the worldwide hub of business, commerce and innovation.

-- NYEW is the largest aggregator of entrepreneurial events in the world during Global Entrepreneurship Week, slated to have over 350 events throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Syracuse, Rochester, and Binghamton.

-- NYEW is the only event in New York State to unite entrepreneurs with real, local, regional and international funding sources. These groups include: angel investors, venture capital firms, banks as well as non-profit and public sector agencies.
Read more here.