Welcome to September!
Today is Sept. 2nd. It’s back to school season. Actually, it’s past that point—students now have to go back to school around August 17 or 18, which strikes as downright inhumane. Thank goodness we don’t have to do that anymore. Meanwhile, for your own continuing education, here’s the Friday Five:
1) Gene Wilder’s death was a major loss, but his legacy lives on. Slate has an article highlighting an important and inspiring part of that legacy, the nonprofit network Gilda’s Club NYC, which Wilder founded to support ovarian cancer survivors. In addition, Wilder founded the Gilda Radner Hereditary Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and testified before Congress to request increased funding to battle ovarian cancer. To understand the full impact of his support, click here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/08/30/gene_wilder_spent_decades_raising_awareness_for_the_ovarian_cancer_that.html
2) In 2004, 36% of all taxpayers took itemized deductions. By 2015, that number had dropped to 29%. What’s going on? The world of itemized deductions has a significant impact on nonprofit organizations. Tax Policy Center’s Chenxi Lu delivers some important analysis of the available data. See what she has to say and how it might affect you:
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/rise-and-fall-itemized-deductions
3) Marketwatch raises some important questions about the effectiveness of nonprofit donations and why so many people are resistant to treating their donations like investments. This is vital reading for any organization interested in donors . Marketwatch and GiveWell.org have crunched the numbers to find out how prospective donors can get the best bang for their buck. Get the full picture:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-we-resist-treating-charities-like-investments-2016-08-22
4)The Better Business Bureau does excellent work. And one of the services it’s currently providing is chasing down “red flag charities”—i.e., charities that haven’t disclosed requested information to the BBB’s Wise Giving Alliance (Among the charities they list is John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For shame!) Find out which charities should be doing a better job on transparency:
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-articles/charities-ignore-bbb-request-info/
5) Are you looking for a new, more meaningful job? Or are you a nonprofit that’s trying to attract dedicated employees? Net Impact and Shannon Houde from Walk of Life Consulting teamed up to create an hour-long webinar that’s available online. Of interest: current nonprofit employees are not always the most engaged (apparently, Monsanto employees are more excited about their jobs). Read the article and watch the webinar to learn how to create the most engaging work environment you can: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-horoszowski/how-to-land-an-impact-job_b_11661626.html
That’s the Friday Five for this week. Join us next week when we’ll have five more scintillating stories from around the web covering nonprofits. And remember: Don’t make the Better Bureau angry. You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry.
But if you do anger the BBB, you can always reach out to Bergman and Allderdice at info@b-alaw.com. We’re available for all your nonprofit needs.