I know this is just for folks in MA, but the next Non-Profit Toolbox Mini-conference is coming up in less than 2 weeks, and since we had some web server problems, and you might not have be able to access our site, we wanted to extend the early booking [...]]]>

Image by d.j.k. via Flickr

I know this is just for folks in MA, but the next Non-Profit Toolbox Mini-conference is coming up in less than 2 weeks, and since we had some web server problems, and you might not have be able to access our site, we wanted to extend the early booking discount to 3/15!!

Two (2) people can come to our 1/2 day conference for just $99 total!!

Join us for our Mini-Conference – Sign-up NOW!!

Lots of opportunities to learn and network with others!!

Learn about:  Verbal Branding from Stephen Melanson

Then choose

• What is the “New” website?
• How to speak to your Designer
• How to Create Raving Fans of your Organization
• How to Recruit, Qualify Directors
• Getting Grants-Relationships
• Liability Considerations

Thanks to our sponsors:

[Register here]

This new regulation going into affect March 1, 2010 is perhaps the most far-reaching personal information data security regulations in the country.  This new regulation will apply to all individuals, corporations, associations, partnerships and other legal entities (regardless of where they [...]]]>

MA Law 201 CMR 17.00 Affects Non-Profit Organizations Too

MASS 201 CMR 17.00 Includes Non-Profit Organizations

This new regulation going into affect March 1, 2010 is perhaps the most far-reaching personal information data security regulations in the country.  This new regulation will apply to all individuals, corporations, associations, partnerships and other legal entities (regardless of where they are located) that own, license, store or maintain personal information about a Massachusetts resident.  Yes this does include Non-Profit Organizations.

Personal information is can be any portion of someones name in conjuction with: a Social Security number; driver’s license number or state-issued identification card number; or financial account number, or credit or debit card number.  The regulation requires a written information security plan (WISP).

So if your organization takes any personal information it is required to have a written plan for the security of that information.  This could be as little as taking a check for a silent auction item at one of your fundraisers.  The plan needs to be specific to your organization and contain the following:

1. Designating an individual to be responsible for the program.
2. Minimizing the use, retention and access of and to personal information.
3. Protecting and restricting access to paper records and electronic records (including through password, encryption, and firewall technology)
4. Ensuring that third parties with access to personal information comply with the requirements.

For the full MA 201 CMR 17.00 click here.

Want to learn more about the legal issues that affect your organization? Join us at our next non-profit mini-conference.

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/mikeygottawa

We spend a lot of time on the web.  That just makes us normal.  In fact, 86% of all research for any product, service, or most anything else starts on the web.  We just take it [...]]]>

46 Percent of Small Businesses Don't Have A Website

Is Your Organization One Of The 46% That Doesn’t Have A Website?

We spend a lot of time on the web.  That just makes us normal.  In fact, 86% of all research for any product, service, or most anything else starts on the web.  We just take it for granted that any real business has a site.

That’s why we were stunned to see this post by Carol Tice Half of Small Businesses Don’t Have a Website, on Entrpreneur.com.  In her post she references a survey by Ad-ology study, that found that 46 percent of all small businesses surveyed did not have a website.  In fact that 46 percent thought it was a myth that they needed one.  We think differently.  If you don’t have a website for your organization, you are not a serious organization.  As Carol asks in her post, “How many big, successful companies don’t have a website?”

Here are common reasons we here for not having a website:

1. It’s not necessary – As we stated earlier, 86% of research for information is starting on the internet.  Without a site, you are missing out on being easily found and hearing about your mission and all the good that you do.

2. We are listed on the web with Merchant Circle (or equivalent) and you can find us with google maps. – Hopefully there are more references to you than that!  The only thing worse than people talking about you and your mission is people not talking about you.

3. They cost to much money – Having a website is extremely inexpensive and needs to be thought of as an investment, not an expense.  Outside of yourself, your website is your biggest marketing tool and needs to be recognized and treated that way.  Although we do not recommend template sites, you can get one for next to nothing.  Today, websites built with powerful open source software like wordpress can be built for very little money.  In fact you can build one yourself on wordpress.com for free.

4. A Website takes to much time and they are hard to maintain. – As we stated before, your site is your biggest marketing tool after yourself, so you should spend some time there.  How much is up to you.  We (TRB Design, Inc.) build all of our site with wordpress so you can completely manage the site yourself.  This eliminates the need and cost of a web master and you can update your information easily anytime, anywhere you have internet access.

Want to learn more about the web and Social Media? Join us at our next non-profit mini-conference.

A couple of weeks ago I got curious about some local charities, and went to GuideStar to check some of them out. By chance my daughter, who works for a large financial institution, called, and I mentioned to her what I was doing.  She says they use Guidestar all the time to [...]]]>

Guidestar list 501c3 Organizations

A couple of weeks ago I got curious about some local charities, and went to GuideStar to check some of them out. By chance my daughter, who works for a large financial institution, called, and I mentioned to her what I was doing.  She says they use Guidestar all the time to check non-profits. I thought, there’s a problem…because much of the information that I could see about some of the local non-profits were not up to date, or had almost no information, and donors are encouraged to use GuideStar to make “informed decisions.”

I was about to do a blog post about that when Nonprofit Tech 2.0 beat me to it with their post: What Your Nonprofit Needs to Know About GuideStar, Network for Good and Social Media Fundraising (read the post, it’s good, and the comments are also enlightening).

If you are a 501c 3, you are in the GuideStar database, and anyone can look you up, see a profile of your organization and your tax returns. The GuideStar database is used by Network for Good to provide organizations with online donations, and other social media fundraising tool partner with Network for Good. You can read more about Network for Good and some of their partners Give a Tweet, Change.org, Razoo and Facebook Causes on your own.

So what is GuideStar saying about your organization? Is the information outdated? Is your address correct?  As Nonprofit Tech 2.0 advises:

“If you have not updated your entry in Guidestar recently, please visit Guidestar’s Nonprofit Resources. If you are not sure whether your nonprofit is in Guidestar, please visit GuideStar.org and in the “Search” box enter your EIN number with the dash [XX-XXXXXXX]. If nothing comes up, then your organization is not in Guidestar. See GuideStar’s FAQ for more infomation or e-mail them at nposervices@guidestar.org. Good luck. The good news is you only have to update GuideStar once a year!”

With online donations on the rise, do you want to be left out?

Want to learn more about the web and Social Media? Join us at our next non-profit mini-conference.

Know Your Human Resources

Nadine Pfautz - C.H.A.R.T. Consulting

As a certified senior human resource professional with more than 20 years experience creating, developing, and managing the human resource function in both start-ups and more mature companies, within the profit, non-profit, [...]]]>

Guest Post by: Nadine Pfautz,  C.H.A.R.T. Consulting and Sponsor at the March 24th Non-profit Toolbox Mini-Conference

Know Your Human Resources

Nadine Pfautz - C.H.A.R.T. Consulting

As a certified senior human resource professional with more than 20 years experience creating, developing, and managing the human resource function in both start-ups and more mature companies, within the profit, non-profit, and public arenas, I have learned that most organizations don’t know what they don’t know and it is what they don’t know that will hurt them. And, with a rapidly changing employment law environment, most organizations are struggling to keep their knowledge, policies, and practices current.

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

• applications for employment must include a statement that it is illegal to require a lie detector test as a condition of employment?
• applications that request information about prior work experience must also offer the applicant an opportunity to include verifiable volunteer work?
• employers are required to verify within 3 days of employment any new employee’s eligibility to work in the U.S.?
• a written sexual harassment policy is required for companies employing 6 or more individuals?
• employees working 6 or more hours on any given day must be offered a meal break (paid or unpaid) of at least 30-minutes?
• employers are not required under the law to provide paid vacation to employees?
• employees reporting for jury duty must be paid their regular wages for their first three days of jury service?
• upon separation from employment, accrued and unused vacation time must be included in the final paycheck and that employees who are discharged must be paid all wages owed on the day of discharge?
• employers are required to distribute the Division of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) Form 590-A, “How to File for Unemployment Insurance Benefits,” to separated employees within 30 days of last day worked?

Imagine – this is only the tip of the iceberg. Changing priorities at both the Federal and State level in areas such as health care, paid medical leave, data security, immigration reform, and the Employee Free Choice Act will place an additional burden on organizations going forward and will expand the knowledge gap. Additionally, a lack of knowledge often leads to employee relations issues, fines, and lawsuits.

If your answer to any of the above was “I didn’t know that,” then consider contacting C.H.A.R.T. Consulting to learn how a human resource compliance assessment may benefit your company.

Want to learn more about Human Resources? Join us at our next non-profit mini-conference.

Customer Care is Important in the Medical Industry

As long as a patient receives the necessary medical care, does it really matter if her experience is a superior one?

I think it does.

Over the course of the past 15 years, I have observed the experiences with medical care providers of each of my parents, my step-Dad, and [...]]]>

ABSOLUTELY!

Customer Care is Important in the Medical Industry

As long as a patient receives the necessary medical care, does it really matter if her experience is a superior one?

I think it does.

Over the course of the past 15 years, I have observed the experiences with medical care providers of each of my parents, my step-Dad, and my sister, and I have had my own up-close and very personal experiences with a variety of medical providers.   It is through these observations, my own experiences, and discussions with a variety of individuals – each with their own stories about their experiences with the medical industry – that I draw this conclusion.

A brief medical history: My mother was diagnosed with a rare form of MS twelve years ago; my father died in a local hospital after spending one month in the CCU due to a ruptured aneurysm; my step-dad – who, among other procedures, had successful double bi-pass surgery; my sister has been in and out of hospitals and seen a variety of specialists in three different states, and for a variety of medical issues; and over the course of the past two months, I have had the great fortune – or misfortune – of being a patient in two different Emergency Rooms, four doctor’s offices, two different doctors within the same practice, one specialist, and the inpatient wards of two different hospitals.

My Observations and Conclusions:

• Some practices and some individual doctors are concerned with their patients’ experience.  As such, they are considerate of:
  • Their patient’s time.  They do not keep patients waiting more than 20 minutes beyond their scheduled appointments.
  • Their patient’s knowledge and understanding of their physical health, situation, options and progress.
  • Their patient’s overall mental well-being.  Before a patient leaves their office/care, they make certain they are okay mentally and emotionally.  Either the doctor herself, or someone from their office, follows up with and checks in with the patient.
  • Their patient’s complete health.  They coordinate and collaborate with colleagues, experts and other providers in order to insure that their patient’s complete health is considered.
    • If the provider refers the patient to another medical provider for tests or other expertise, they either schedule the appointments and place the ‘orders’, or they make certain the patient has all of the necessary documentation and understanding of what they need and why.
  • The patient’s family and loved ones.  The provider takes the time to include the family and loved ones when appropriate and where the necessary consent has been provided.
• As a rule, doctors could learn a thing or two about patient CARE from the nurses and their colleagues with fewer initials following their names.
• And, as a rule, male doctors need to get over themselves and could learn a thing or two about patient CARE from their female colleagues.

Above all other ‘clients’, patients deserve the best possible experience.  After all,  ‘Without health, there is no point.  To anything.’  ~Everett Mámor

Please share your thoughts and experiences.

Want to learn more about Customer Care Marketing? Join us at our next non-profit mini-conference.

Jane Ford - The Joy Path

When I mention planned giving as a component of resource development to smaller nonprofits, they generally shake their [...]]]>

Guest Post by: Jane B. Ford, The Joy Path and Speaker at the February 10th Non-profit Toolbox Mini-Conference, and author of Get Grants Now

Jane Ford - The Joy Path

Planned Giving is a Great Resource

When I mention planned giving as a component of resource development to smaller nonprofits, they generally shake their heads and say it is way too complicated for their limited staff. This may be true if they tried to offer opportunities such as a charitable remainder trust. However, any size nonprofit can create a bequest program with minimum staff time. Let me give you three reasons why your nonprofit should do this.

1. Nonprofits receive enormous sums of money from bequests. In the United States in 2008, more than $22 billion was given to charity through bequests. This fact looks even more impressive when you compare it with the fact that only $14.5 billion that was given to charities from the corporate sector.

2. The opportunity to get bequests is nearly unlimited. About 80% of people in the United States give annually to charities while less than 3% leave a bequest.

3. Recessions can be a good time to seek bequests. In difficult economic times, many donors feel that they cannot give as much as they have in the past. A bequest offers them the opportunity to feel that they are still helping your nonprofit without hurting themselves in financially challenging times.

Creating a bequest program is really simple. Once your board approves the establishment of a bequest program, you can begin advertising this in your newsletter, on your web site, and in every promotional piece you produce. That is all you need to do until someone dies and you actually receive the money. Then, it is up to your nonprofit to ensure that the bequest is used according to the wishes of the donor.

Want to learn more about Planned Giving? Join us at our next non-profit mini-conference.