Like many people, every year as I file my taxes I have an itchy feeling when I consider I might be audited by the Internal Revenue Service. I have always been squeaky clean honest in my filings, but the idea of being scrutinized by people portrayed as whimsical and unreasonable is nerve-wracking.

Imagine my surprise when in my new position as Director of Research, Behavioral Health and Wellness, I was subjected to audits by not one or two regulatory bodies, but by four: the Food and Drug Administration, the State, the County, and the Regional Behavioral Health Authority. While none of them are the IRS, my fear has greatly subsided after experiencing FOUR audits in the last six months.

I have learned several things that may help you:

PRIOR TO THE AUDITORS ARRIVING:

1. If possible, get as much advance information about what the regulatory body may be auditing.
2. Review any guidelines that have been provided in the past about the rules that govern the area being audited. For example, the auditors may review where files are kept and the security surrounding them.
3. Then, perform an internal analysis of the information to be audited.
4. If the analysis shows that there are holes or areas that will be a problem, fix anything that is fixable. DO NOT FALSIFY OR CHANGE ANYTHING THAT WOULD BE UNETHICAL TO CHANGE.
5. Create a…

Welcome to Research Friday! As part of a continuing weekly series, each Friday we invite a nonprofit expert to highlight current research reports or studies and discuss how they can inform and improve day-to-day nonprofit practice.

In celebration of the ASU Lodestar Center’s official expansion of programs into Southern Arizona, we have put together a fun 11-question quiz on Southern  Arizona’s nonprofit sector.  It is based on our newly released research report: Scope of the Nonprofit Sector: Southern Arizona.

Click here to take the short quiz.  At the end, you’ll find out your score and there will be a link back to this page. We’ll report the results in a future blog post.
Note: Southern Arizona, in this report and quiz, is defined as Pima, Cochise, and Santa Cruz counties. 

Scoring:
9-10 — Sector Sage - You are a nonprofit guru. Your wisdom is second to none!
7-8 — Sector Scholar - You are learned and knowledgeable about the AZ nonprofit sector.
5-6 — Sector Savvy - You know your nonprofit stuff!
3-4 — Sector Student - Aren't we all?
0-2 — Now you know!
…

During my time with a national nonprofit in Washington, D.C., I found myself assigned to projects that were already in process or rehashes of annual solicitations. This required some fast turnarounds, as we were on tight deadlines. But, we still had to make these donor requests lively and effective.

The section where all of the stories and marketing efforts came together was in the "check-off" area. Strangely, the top amount our pamphlet was requesting was a mere $2,500. I asked my director why.

 His answer was, "That's what we've always done."

With a little coaxing, I convinced him to increase the top amount to $5,000.

After the solicitations were disseminated, the results spoke for themselves. Four donors had upped their donations to the new top level, increasing our yield by over $12,000. With a few extra numbers and an underline, we made a difference to our bottom line.

Crush the box!

"Think outside of the box"— is so clichéd that I hope the world will invent some new catch phrase to indicate a refreshing approach to arriving at solutions.

Perhaps we should crush the box, dismantle the box, jump over the box, or invite others to join us in the box for a party.

In any case, we need to think about new ways to accomplish our tasks. But beware! The innovator must also be charismatic enough to convince people…

Welcome to Research Friday! As part of a continuing weekly series, each Friday we invite a nonprofit expert to highlight current research reports or studies and discuss how they can inform and improve day-to-day nonprofit practice.

Earlier this year Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) asked for a few minutes of your time to help us tell the collective story of the nonprofit sector. And that you did. Thanks to you, we received a record 4,607 responses nationwide to our 2012 State of the Sector Survey, more than doubling responses from last year. Notably, human services agencies that comprise our social safety net were represented quite well and the same held true for Arizona responses. With your help, we’ve amassed a wealth of current information on demand for services, trends in government support, board participation, and financial health. Using this data, we now have an opportunity to start some difficult but important conversations about the true state of our sector.

What are the big picture conversations about? As usual, increased demand with decreased or unreliable funding. The chart below highlights that upward trend. In 2011, 85% of respondents reported an…

In January of this year, nonprofit organization Invisible Children released “Kony 2012,” a video about Joseph Kony. In less than 2 months, the YouTube video has gained over 100 million views and educated millions about the crimes of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda.

In March, over 2 million people signed an online petition asking the city of Sanford, Florida to investigate the death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. Using Facebook and Twitter, signers have shared this petition with their followers and friends.

We have entered an age where silence and misinformation are no longer acceptable, and supporters are eager to rally around causes.

Is your organization using social media, or are you still trying to figure it all out? The time to wait has come and gone. Now is the time to act and give your cause the voice it needs. Here are some helpful tips that will get you organized and help build a strong community online.

1. Plan, plan, plan. By planning ahead and creating a content schedule, you will save your nonprofit time and money. Sit down with your marketing team (which could be just you and another volunteer), and list out all of your ideas. From there create a list of blog topics. Decide how often you would like to post and begin to delegate the work. If you…