Can you believe we’re halfway through September? We cannot. We are currently pretending we do not know what “half” means. But we have a full complement of Friday Five items from the web.
1) Black Lives Matter (BLM) was already a nonprofit, but it's now expanded to the point where the organization is officially partnering with the International Development Exchange (IDEX), a more established nonprofit charity. IDEX is now a legal, contracted partner of BLM, accepting donations and applying for grants on their behalf. IDEX has worked with those in need on several continents and has more experience handling financial matters for nonprofits, and so far the partnership seems like an excellent fit for both.This is a good read for anyone who wants to know how to handle sudden growth and the right steps to take for partnering with a more experienced organization:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-black-lives-matter-charity-20160906-snap-story.html
2) Bergman and Allderdice likes to use the “headline test” as a guideline when advising its clients: how would you feel if your actions were in a headline on the front page of your local paper the next morning? How would your donors feel? Nonprofit tax-exempt organizations can only participate in highly limited political activity. An argument can be made that board members, as individuals, are free to do so, as long as it's clear that they are not acting as representative of the organization, but it may not pass the “headline test." Nonprofit Quarterly reports that Melissa Crews, a board member for Hope for New Hampshire, had to resign after she chose to appear in an attack ad against Maggie Hassan, the current governor of New Hampshire. NPQ has the full story:
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/09/06/prominent-nonprofit-board-member-resigns-in-wake-of-attack-ad-against-candidate/
3) Unicorns may not be real, but the St. Paul-based Family Tree Clinic’s unicorn campaign is very real and very successful. The Family Tree Clinic had participated in Horizon Foundation's Give Out Day, a national day of LGBTQ giving, for the past few years. But after Horizons unexpectedly postponed Give Out Day, the Minnesota nonprofit had to come up with another way to collect donations. Nonprofit marketing coach Nancy Schwartz has an in-depth look at how The Family Tree Clinic turned what could have been a disaster into an inspiring moment:
http://www.networkforgood.com/nonprofitblog/unicorn-leads-record-breaking-campaign/
4) The reliable and industrious Beth Kanter (whom we’ve linked to before) is an expert on how nonprofits can help their people avoid burnout; she’s now developing a scale on how to identify and detect burnout, as it can be hard to spot. Want to detect burnout in your people? Find out more here:
http://www.bethkanter.org/hhnp-activist/
5) We suspect Philanthropy Journal’s blogger Sarah Choe only dropped Justin Bieber’s name into her post as a bright shiny object to get our attention, but you know what? It worked. Truth in advertising compels us to report what Ms. Choe did not—that Bieber is not specifically mentioned anywhere except the headline. But this is still a useful post about how to get famous celebrities and “influencers” on board with a specific cause:
http://philanthropyjournal.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-to-get-justin-bieber-on-board-with.html
That’s it for the Friday Five. Bergman and Allderdice cannot slow the passage of time, but we can help you with any and all of your nonprofit questions and needs. Drop us a line at info@b-alaw.com with any questions. See you next week!