Bookkeeping Fundamentals for Non-Profits Part One: Lining Up Your Bookkeeping Team

January 27, 2009

In all of my experience setting up bookkeeping and accounting systems for private business and non-profit entities, the most common mistakes I encounter occur most often due to a misunderstanding of the financial needs of the organization and how these needs translate to the bookkeeping system. It is quite a shame to find well-meaning directors [...]

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Creating a Blog for Your Nonprofit

January 27, 2009

With over one hundred million blogs in cyberspace, blogging has become a powerful communications tool, giving bloggers the ability to bypass traditional media and bring its message directly to readers. According to Kivi Leroux Miller, president of NonprofitMarktingGuide.com, blogging “brings the people behind the organization out front and center and lets supporters make more personal [...]

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Cheap and Dirty Prospect Research

January 24, 2009

It’s important to know a donor’s interests–donors are much more likely to fund (hopefully, well) projects they’re interested in versus projects they’re not. Also, you don’t want to ask them for too much money and scare them off, but you don’t want to commit them to too little when they could have given a lot [...]

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Beth Kanter's Birthday Campaign: How Beth Leveraged Her Online Network to Raise Thousands of Dollars

January 22, 2009

Getting kids involved with social causes helps them to shape lifelong values – and using tools like Facebook and Twitter is a great way for kids to have fun while “doing good”. Consider the case of 12-year old Beth Kanter. For her birthday, Beth decided to wanted to support The Sharing Foundation, an organization devtoed [...]

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Setting up a Successful Online Auction

January 22, 2009

Since many of your potential donors and supporters are online, it makes sense to hold a fundraising auction online. In fact, cMarket, one of the leading online auction tools, estimates that its auctions have more than $50 million for schools and nonprofit organizations. But how do you set up an online auction? And how should [...]

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Benefits of a Volunteer Internship

January 21, 2009

When I studied museum curatorship at university, I completed two volunteer internships at local museums. Each of these internships required a specific time commitment to complete assigned projects under the supervision of experienced museum staff. I learnt cataloguing software, budgeting and methods for conserving/displaying museum objects. And the museum benefited from my enthusiasm to complete [...]

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Deductions for Donations from Tax-Deferred IRAs

January 20, 2009

One potential source of contributions sometimes overlooked in charities’ fundraising campaigns is donations of assets from individual retirement accounts. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, eligible donors can get a tax break on these contributions if all the IRS rules are followed to a T. These tax breaks are available to owners of individual [...]

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Giving made easy with donor-advised funds

January 19, 2009

Individuals with a commitment to philanthropy and a significant capacity to give are increasingly opting for the ease and flexibility of donor-advised funds, instead of setting up a family foundation. Donor-advised funds are vehicles for individual giving that are administered by third party investment advisors. They typically can be established at no cost and require [...]

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5 Ways to Protect Yourself and Your Young Nonprofit From Legal Liability

January 16, 2009

In a perfect world, social entrepreneurs would be immune from lawsuits and left free to pursue their worthy goals. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Nonprofits are subject to most of the same laws that apply to regular companies. Nonprofits are also highly visible organizations, which makes them targets for criticism, regulation, and lawsuits. This [...]

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