Financial Reporting and QuickBooks for Nonprofits

Welcome back!

If your organization needs to develop a system for fiscal management, reporting you may want to consider whether QuickBooks Premier Non-Profit Edition 2006is right for you. Click through to the link and read some of the details. If you are a World Vision CCF organization, you may want to talk to your coach/mentor to help you make the right decision.



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Yahoo Group Now Available

Welcome back!

You may now sign up for the World Vision CCF Yahoo Group. The CCF sub-award application and financial survey documents are available there for download.

You have to sing up and be approved as a member to access the information there.

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Ten Questions about Public Funding

Welcome back! If you are thinking about competing for public funding, check out the article--click to link to it:

10 Questions to Determine Whether Your Congregation is Ready to Compete for Public Funding

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Correction to Los Angeles Zip Codes that qualify

Welcome back! 90047 in Los Angeles is qualified to apply in a competitive process along with the others for a subaward grant. Here are some other details:

World Vision plans to make

• 20 to 25 awards in Pomona (zip codes 91766 and 91768) and South Los Angeles (zip codes 90008, 90043, 90047, and 90062)
• The range of awards will be $5,000 to $15,000
• Proposal Deadline is July 14, 2006
• Announcements planned September 1, 2006
• The sub-award grant period is September 1, 2006 through February 28, 2007

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment.

World Vision Tools for Transforming Communities 2006 CCF Grantee Sub-Award Information

Welcome back! Theresa Lu was using information from this text in a handout that I used in the various orientation meetings in both Los Angeles and Pomona. This should help you conceptualize a project for the sub-award program.

World Vision in Los Angeles (WVLA) will provide several capacity-building grants to competitively selected grassroots organizations in parts of Pomona and South Los Angeles that participate in the Tools For Transformation project to help build their capacity to serve their communities.

The sub-awardees will be faith-based (FBO) and community-based (CBO) organizations that provide services including programs for the homeless, re-entering prisoners, children of prisoners, at-risk youth, addicts, elders in need, families transitioning from welfare to work, and healthy marriage programs. These sub-awards will increase capacity and sustainability by building infrastructure. Ideas for use of sub-award funds:

Capacity Areas and
Examples of Potential Sub–awards

• Leadership Development

Funds for board development training, volunteer training or development of standard operating procedures, succession plan development

• Community Engagement

Funds to support a process to develop cultural competency, community needs assessment or asset mapping

• Program/Service Development / Management

Funds to help set up evaluation / monitoring systems, training to enhance programs/services

• Organizational Development

Funds for a financial review or audit, assess financial/accounting systems, upgrade software and/or equipment, long range strategic planning, 501(c)(3) application, formal organizational audit

• Funding/Sustainability

Funds for a consultant to assess/recommend fund development strategies, to support a new communication / cooperative network among service providers

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment.

Coming Soon to your computer screen!

Welcome back!

Watch here for upcoming information about how to join a Yahoo list serve so you can communicate wiht other CCF beneficiaries.

From Yahoo groups I will be able to upload the handouts from session and the application for subaward document. Please feel free to communicate by leaving a comment here.

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Fundraising Training--More Information

Welcome back!

On Friday, May 5 (in Los Angeles) and Friday, May 12 (in Pomona), 2006 I am the trainer for the Tools for Transforming Communities program at World Vision, funded by the Compassion Capital Fund.

I have more information than can possibly be communicated in the 3 hour session, and there is plenty that can best be seen on the internet, rather than printed on paper.

This post will direct those interested in more information to the source of the material. After the session, I may post another entry with answers to questions that come up during the trainings. Please feel free to post a question here using the comments feature.

I found this interesting piece on running a successful carwash at the City of Los Angeles' website: HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL CAR WASH FUNDRAISER, By Lance Winslow III, February 1999, This edition is a product of
The City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works, Storm Water Management Program and The Car Wash Guys, For more information, please call the City of Los Angeles, Stormwater Hotline at: (800) 974-9794 Or visit us at: www.cityofla.org/san/swmd. You can download a 45 page document that helps you organize a carwash to raise funds. Interesting.

For more information on the California Nonprofit integrity Act of 2004 (SB ) you can read Charitable Trusts--California Department of Justice--Office of the Attorney General and you can download an informative summary from that website.

Information about getting a permit to do fundraising events and mailing in the City of Los Angeles is available from the Los Angeles Police Department. Interestingly, it took about 8 telephone calls to the mayor's office, city council districts 10 and 8, county supervisor's office, county public affairs office,several searches on the City's web site. None of these found the information that was needed. A google search with: "fundraising permit Los Angeles" is what got me to the Los Angeles Police Department's information here.

Information about nonprofit management and resources from the City of Los Angeles.

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Meeting the Collaboration Challenge

Welcome back! Collaboration is an important component of fundraising. These two books give excellent background and solid framework for how your nonprofit can partner with business to generate income: philanthropic, transactional, and integrated support.



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Community Reinvestment Act

Welcome back!

Go a call today from an agency who remembered something I had said in a conversation about why a financial institution, such as a bank, would have an interest in the work of a community development organization in the same community that the bank wants to do business.

In part the answer has to do with good business practice and maximizing profits. A secondary incentive might be the Community Reinvestment Act (1977) which is legislation that regulates the relationship between a financial institution and its community. For further information, click here.

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Vision in a village in Uganda

Welcome back!

The video about the football (soccer) player named Stone from Uganda is from this book:

The 8th Habit : From Effectiveness to Greatness, by Steven Covey.



If you'd like to read that book, I'd recommend you start with the foundational The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

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Quotations of note from my visioning workshop tonight in south Los Angeles

Welcome back! As promised, here are some of the quotations that I used in tonight's session at Lincoln Memorial Church in South Los Angeles for World Vision's Tools For Transforming Communities, funded by the Compassion Capital Fund:

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly proclaiming . . .
'Wow! What a ride!'

“…whenever there is emergence of the new we confront the recalcitrance of the old.”

--Dr. King

“If the leader’s vision is clearly articulated it will be most effectively realized by others who share it, and bring their own creativity to it.”

“There is nothing in the world that makes you feel more connected and more understood than having other people creatively enhance your own ideas with theirs.”

“People don’t need to be controlled and manipulated to commit themselves to a heartfelt vision, and being controlled and manipulated tends to destroy that commitment.”

Philip Slater, “Leading Yourself,” page 115
The Future of Leadership, Bennis, et al, 2001

From an article, "Why Vision Matters" by Robert Knowling

“In business, as in life, good intentions are often lost. Our everyday practices, not our espoused values, define who we are. To align good intentions with effective practice, leaders need to define a vision, articulate values, and infuse both into every aspect of the business.

Robert Knowling is chairman, CEO, and president of Covad Communications, a national provider of high-speed Internet access. Previously he led large-scale change efforts at U. S. West and at Ameritech. He also leads the Digital Opportunity Initiative to increase minority participation in the high-tech workplace. Knowling has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Business Week, and The Industry Standard. (9/2000)

Watch for more later on this. Thanks for the opportunity to learn with you.

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Multi-donors and cynicism

Welcome back!

A helpful article from the NonProfit Times can be found here that helps those who desire to keep individual donors over time. Thanks to one of my clients for the tip on the article.

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment.

Sabbatical Program from the California Wellness Foundation

Interestingly, the following was left as a comment to another post. I will be happy to post opportunities such as this. Just contact me through the contact form on my capacitypartership.com website. Thanks.

Applications are now available for The California Wellness Foundation Sabbatical Program. The program offers $30,000 grants to nonprofit health organizations, to provide their executive directors with a paid leave of up to six months. The organizations will also receive up to $5,000 each for the professional development of managers and staff who will assume extra responsibilities in the absence of the sabbatical awardees. Deadline for applications is March 24, 2006.

Based on a model established by the Durfee Foundation in Los Angeles, The California Wellness Foundation Sabbatical Program was founded in 2003 to keep burnout, stress and fatigue from undermining the effectiveness of the leaders of nonprofit organizations. Since the inception of the program, the Foundation has given 20 sabbatical awards.

To learn more about The California Wellness Foundation Sabbatical Program, or to receive an application, please visit the following sections on our website.

The California Wellness Foundation Sabbatical Program

Frequently Asked Questions

Application (a pdf)

All applications must be received at our office by March 24, 2006. If you have a question, please leave a message at (818) 702-1970, and you will receive a response within 48 hours. Or e-mail sabbaticalprogram@tcwf.org. Grant recipients of the 2006 TCWF Sabbatical Program will be announced in October 2006.

Opportunity for trainers and coaches in Los Angeles and Pomona

. . . for non-profit organizations. Welcome back! You belong here.

This informaiton is from World Vision's Tools for Transforming Communities Manager in Los Angeles.

The Tools for Transforming Communities Program is a new Compassion Capital Funding working to support and build capacity in organizations serving communities in zip codes 90008, 90043, 90047, and 90062 (South Los Angeles) and 91766 and 91768 (Pomona). Over the next year, the Tools for Transforming Communities Program will be providing small grants, and intensive training and technical assistance to a selected group of organizations.

Therefore, World Vision through the Tools for Transforming Communities Program is taking the lead in compiling an updated culturally competent consultants and trainers database. Through this database, we will invite consultants and trainers to be part of a group of professionals teaching and coaching selected organizations.

If you would like to be included in the list of individuals and firms in this database, please fill out the attached form as soon as possible and attend the orientation on February 14 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at 3055 Wilshire Blvd Conference Room in the 12 Floor. Resumes acceptable, however, if you could add the information from the form that may not be included it would be most appreciated.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this request.

If you'd like to put yourself on the list by completing the form, leave a comment here with your contact infromation. I will forward it to you.

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment.

Presentation Remote Control Device

Welcome back!

In the past week or two I have had the opportunity to use my own computer and a remote control device when using a Power Point presentation. Clearly some products are better than others. This Honeywell PowerPresenter is clearly the leader. What it does really well--two simple buttons: forward and back; rf technology means no aiming the hand held piece to the plugged in device; plug it in and it works! I recommend the thing. And, I am going to buy one soon.







Who would have guessed that you'd get this kind of value from visiting this blog today.

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment.

Community Economic Development 2006 Grant Applications for Operational Projects

The RFP for next year's operational grants has been published by HHS.

We are now considering client projects to develop for the Community Economic Development Discretionary Grant Program--Operational Projects. If you have some project ideas or would like to discuss some of those projects, please contact us imediately to schedule a consultation. We would like to talk with you. We are currently talking with prospective clients in Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA and Miami, FL.

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment--your comment is delivered directly to my email. We will contact you with further information is you provide your contact information. You can also use www.capacitypartnership.com to contact us.

Teaching Position in Bangladesh

Welcome back!

Are you:
a qualified teacher?
feeling called to overseas work?
looking for an opportunity to support the mission, aid and development community?
wanting to help the people of Bangladesh?

Friend Kevin Stout who works for Compassion International in Bangladesh has the information on his blog here.

"Please pass this on two any teacher friends you have. It is a great experience!!"

Grace International School
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Your ideas matter here! Please leave a comment.

Opportunity for Community and Faith-based Organizations in Los Angeles County

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNITY AND FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

INTRODUCTION – World Vision is proud to be one of the 14 organizations in the U.S. selected in 2006 to offer sub-award grants and technical assistance opportunities to community and faith-based organizations (CB/FBO) in Pomona and parts of South Los Angeles through the Compassion Capital Demonstration Fund Program. However, technical assistance and training is available to organizations throughout Los Angeles County.

PURPOSE – The Tools for Transforming Communities program was designed to build capacity in Pomona and South Los Angeles neighborhoods (see listing of eligible zip codes below) and community and faith-based organizations with:

• Technical assistance workshops to community and faith-based organizations; and
• Competitive grant opportunities to community and faith-based organizations.

AWARD AMOUNTS – The Tools for Transforming Communities sub-award fund for FY 2006-2007 is approximately $300,000. Awards will range from approximately $10,000 to $15,000 each, the amount not to exceed 20% of your organization’s annual budget.

APPLICATION PROCESS – Organizations interested in participating in this program, need to contact Martin Garcia before January 9 to receive additional information about the process to participate in the program. More information will be provided by the first week of January 2006.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information, please contact:
[Contact me using the comments section for the contact information]

Eligibility: Sub-awards available for CB/FBOs serving communities located in zip codes 91766 and 91768 (Pomona) and 90008, 90043, 90047, and 90062 (South Los Angeles). For more information regarding organizations outside of these zip codes, please contact me.

DISCLAIMER: This project is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration of Children & Families. Total cost of this project is $937,540.00. Federal funds awarded for this project total $750,000 (80% of the total project). Non-government funding for this project is $187,540.00 (20%).

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. We serve the world’s poor, regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.