Volunteer Intern from Biola University's School of Intercultural Studies

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We thanked Catlyn Bauman for her outstanding volunteer support at World Vision's Southern California Regional office in Los Angeles today. She is back to school next week after her volunteer work with us over Interterm.

Pictured: (left to right) Catlyn, Karen Hamilton, Liz Gregory; front: Loretta Randle.

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Participate in the 2007 Compensation & Benefits Survey for Nonprofits

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The Center for Nonprofit Management

invites you to participate in the
2007 COMPENSATION & BENEFITS SURVEY
of California Nonprofits!
What is the Compensation & Benefits Survey?

Available in a version for Northern California and a version for Southern California, The Survey is a comprehensive report of current salaries and benefits paid to nonprofit personnel. Hundreds of nonprofit organizations rely on the Compensation and Benefits Survey to set salaries and benefits for their employees, analyze their own jobs and wages, and evaluate industry compensation standards. The only one of its kind in California, the Survey has been published annually by the Center since 1990.

How Can My Organization Participate?

Participation is free. Please have your organization’s Executive Director or Human Resources staff fill out this simple, easy-to-use multi-page questionnaire (Excel).

· Download the 2007 Survey Questionnaire from our website at: http://www.cnmsocal.org/Services/SurveyParticipate.html

What Are the Benefits of Participating?

In return for your participation, your organization will be listed as a contributor to the 2007 Survey, and you would have had made a valuable contribution to the nonprofit sector! Participants can also purchase a copy of the 2007 Compensation & Benefits Survey at up to 70% off the regular price.

When are the Questionnaires due?
Questionnaires should be submitted by February 28, 2007.

· Northern California can be emailed to ncalsurvey@cnmsocal.org

· Southern California Surveys can be emailed to scalsurvey@cnmsocal.org.

What if I have questions?
If you have any questions about the survey or help completing The Survey, please contact us at ncalsurvey@cnmsocal.org, scalsurvey@cnmsocal.org or 213-346-3260. Visit our
Participation Page for free sample results from 2006!

We look forward to your participation in this year’s Compensation & Benefits Survey!



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Assemblymember Karen Bass to speak

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EXECUTIVE SUPPORT NETWORK
JOIN US
FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2007
9:00 TO 11:00 a.m.
GUEST SPEAKER:

Assembly Member, Karen Bass

Discussing Foster Care Issues on:
- Kinship Care
- Foster Care Youth Transitioning out of the system
- ESN members supporting Assembly Member Bass
in Sacramento and Los Angeles

Location: SOUTHEAST COMMUNITIES PREVENTION & INTERVENTION
4401 CRENSHAW Blvd., SUITE 315 L.A. 90043

IN THE WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK BUILDING

Please confirm your attendance
Contact Person Tina: 323) 290-3593



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Just Do It!

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"While an occasional disinclination to exercise is exhibited by all age cohorts, the likelhood of positive health outcomes makes even mildly strenuous physical activity all the more imperative"

If the Nike corporate slogan had been written by a nonprofit executive or consultant according to Cause Communication Toolkit.

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Cause Communications

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Benjamin Rodriguez did a presentation on Publicity for nonprofit organizations at the Tools for Transformation training this past week in Los Angeles and Pomona.

He suggested a free publication from Cause Communications, "COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT: A guide to navigating communications for the nonprofit world," that is available for free as a .pdf download here.

I have downloaded the document and started to read it. I believe that it will be a valuable resource to your nonprofit organization. This is what they say in the introduction:

We believe in the power of nonprofits to transform society. And we believe in the power of well-crafted communications to transform nonprofits. Effective communication can target the right message to the right audience at the right times. And an investment in appropriate, well-planned communications can increase rather than detract from the bottom line when resources and staffing are tight.

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New Information about QuickBooks

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A 2007 edition of QuickBooks Premier for Nonprofits is available on the Intuit website. Intuit is the manufacturer of QuickBooks. When I looked this morning, the price listed is $399. There is also a 2007 QuickBooks Pro for $199.95. Nonprofits with which I have worked have successfully used either one successfully to track the financial progress of their organizations. If you are planning to do your own payroll, I understand that the newest version may be worth the extra expense. For most of my clients, I recommend they use a payroll service to manage the withholding taxes, FICA and other payroll related functions. It is best to look to your own financial expert for the best solution for your organization.

QuickBooks Premier 2006 Edition is still available from Amazon.com for $334.99. That price is up substantially from one month ago.








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CCDA in Philadelphia--The Leadership Challenge

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I will speak to the Tools For Transforming Communities group at Pomona First Baptist Church in Pomona on Thursday, September 21, 2006; 6:30 - 9:30 PM. I'll give a 75 minute version of the same workshop in Philadelphia at the Christian Community Development Association confernce on Friday, September 29, 2006 at 2:45 PM. If you are going to be at the CCDA conference, come and see me at the workshop. I will arrive at CCDA in Philadelphia after 6 PM on Thursday, September 28. I leave early morning on Saturday. If you'd like to meet with me or talk about governance give me a call or leave me a message on this blog.

After I gave this talk to the Los Angeles T4TC group in Los Angeles last week, I got this message via email from one of the participants:

I wanted to mention that I really enjoyed your training on Thursday night. I thought it was one of the better ones and am hopeful that we can still get you for another board session. I went through my board hell back in 2001 and it struck me that it would probably have never happened had the board had a written set of policies.

My workshop in Philadelphia is titled: Board Leadership - Goverance Excellence

What does a real board do? A real board needs to know its job and have the right tools. Real governance is the highest level of organizational leadership. The job of governance is about values, vision, empowerment of both the board and staff, and the strategic ability to lead leaders.
Friday 29-Sep - 2:45-4:00

Please come by and see what we can learn together.

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Book Titles about Christian Community Transformation and Development

Welcome back! These titles are recomended in World Vision's internal literature about community transformation which are foundation to the Tools for Transforming Communities work that I do in Los Angeles and Pomona.



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Book Resources for the Christian Faith Based Community

Welcome back! The conversation was about the theological foundations for churches to be involved in community transformation and development. Someone mentioned Robert Linthicum's books.



I will put up some of the other publication links soon.

UPDATE: Amy Sherman was at our discussion group in Charlottesville.




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Daring to Lead by CompassPoint

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Daring to Lead study[links to a pdf]: A study by Compasspoint Nonprofit Services and The Meyer Foundation of executive leadership at community-based nonprofits might be of interest to you. It is "based on nearly 2,000 surveys ... [and] provides current data on executive turnover, compensation, career plans, and retirement. It also explores leading causes of executive burnout--in particular, widespread frustration with boards of directors and funders."

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Value of Volunteer Contribution

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According to Independent Sector, the average value of volunteer hours for non-profit organizations is $18.04 per hour in 2005. There is more detail

Further information on wages for specific functions and skill areas can be found at the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What can you do with this kind of information? Here is a start:

Charitable organizations most frequently use the value of volunteer time for recognition events or communications to show the amount of community support an organization receives from its volunteers.

According to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the value of volunteer services can also be used on financial statements-- including statements for internal and external purposes, grant proposals, and annual reports-- only if a volunteer is performing a specialized skill for a nonprofit. The general rule to follow when determining if contributed services meet the FASB criteria for financial forms is to determine whether the organization would have purchased the services if they had not been donated. Accounting specialists, may visit FASB's website for regulations on use of the value of volunteer time on financial forms: http://www.fasb.org/pdf/fas116.pdf.

You may need to give your accounting professional this kind of information, especially if they do not already specialize in nonprofit accounting.

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Some interesting books that I'd like to read

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I have clients who are all over this topic in a way that has immobilized them for some time.



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World Vision ad banned in England

Welcome back! Timely story about soccer as World Cup 2006 fires up in Germany on Friday.

If you are in the advert business (as the call it in the UK) you would be glad that your work gets attention. It is just hard to imagine what the British Advertising Clearance Centre's (BACC) ban on the airing of World Vision's new TV advert would accomplish. Apparently it was found to be "unfair to football." You can read about the advert here, and see it here.

It is good to work with the likes of these controversial people.


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Good to Great for nonprofits

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I had the opportunity to read Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don'tby Jim Collins with folks at MEDA a couple of years ago.

Now, on a recommendation from friend and fellow blogger Rudy, I will order and read Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great which addressess the nonprofit sector and addresses whether or not the business model is the solution for nonprofit sector organizations.



According to Collins, “…the inherent complexity [of nonprofit organizations] requires deeper, more penetrating insight and rigorous clarity than in your average business entity.”

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Comparing Accounting Software for Nonprofits

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I am often asked about entry level accounting or fiscal management software--either entry level or how to move to something more specialized to solve a special need or issue. This article, A Few Good Accounting Packages: Nonprofit consultants recommend accounting software packages, from techsoup.org, confirms what I have told many of our clients and expands the list of potential products and lists some features and benefits of the various products.

Most of the clients with whom I speak, choose QuickBooks as their entry level accounting software. 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.






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Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) Targeted Capacity Building Program

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The announcement for Targeted Capacity Building Grants for faith-based and community based organizations was released tody by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Organizations with the current group of sub-awardees, trainees, and coaching client organizations MAY qualify to apply for such a grant. Click on the title of this post to read the announcement and let's talk about the possibilities.

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What is Cultural Competency?

Welcome back! My own framework for what is cultural competence starts with this:

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

--Jesus

"…love your neighbor as yourself."

--Moses
In a world of may cultures that is shrunk by communication, travel and migration, in order to reach across cultural divides we need to understand the point of view of other cultures around us.

Often talked about in academic circles and health care fields cultural competency, from Georgetown University's National Center for Cultural Competence:

Community Engagement

• Cultural competence extends the concept of self-determination to the community.
• Cultural competence involves working in conjunction with natural, informal support and helping networks within culturally diverse communities (e.g. neighborhood, civic and advocacy associations; local/neighborhood merchants and alliance groups; ethnic, social, and religious organizations; and spiritual leaders and healers).
• Communities determine their own needs.
• Community members are full partners in decision making.
• Communities should economically benefit from collaboration.
• Community engagement should result in the reciprocal transfer of knowledge and skills among all collaborators and partners.

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Meeting the Collaboration Challenge

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