Nonprofits are facing unprecedented challenges navigating COVID-19 and its impact on day-to-day operations. Our recent webinar was designed to provide some valuable insight into the latest unemployment legislation and its impact on your organization and its employees.
This informative webinar recording discusses how COVID-19 is impacting nonprofits nationwide, what alternatives there are to layoffs and/or workforce reductions and more. Watch now to discover:
For additional COVID-19 employer resources and FAQs, please visit our COVID-19 Resource Center today!
It’s natural to feel stressed or anxious when presented with unprecedented circumstances. The coronavirus or COVID-19 continues to present new and unique challenges that evolve every day. Nonprofit employers are navigating unchartered waters and their employees are along for the ride. Many are working from home for the first time, isolated from co-workers, friends and family while also home-schooling their children and or taking care of elderly family members. This disruption in our daily routines has caused added anxiety, stress and strain—physically, mentally and financially. All of this combined makes it more important than ever to find new ways to interact and communicate with others while also taking care of our mental health and physical well-being.
You can’t avoid stress completely but too much stress over long periods of time can be harmful to your health—ranging from headaches, decreased energy, irritability, body aches and pains, irregular sleep or insomnia, difficulty concentrating or worse, can contribute to serious health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease and mental health disorders. The good news is you can get ahead of stress by recognizing how you feel and practicing ways to find calmness.
Below are some ways to manage stress and anxiety through positive self-care and healthy social connections:
Be selective about how you consume COVID-19 information – while it’s good to be informed and aware of what’s going on around the world and in your community while we combat this virus, ensure you follow credible sources such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and limit how much time you spend absorbing that information.
Set boundaries on your work schedule – it’s easy to keep working when you have no reason to get up and leave the office but it’s important that you set a schedule with healthy boundaries and stick to it.
Maintain a routine – having some semblance of structure and consistency from your pre-Coronavirus life will help to keep a sense of control and normalcy while also making it a little easier to readjust to the outside world when it’s time to go back to work.
Limit your time online – set a timer, focus on positive things while you are online and divide your time between the different sites you like to browse. You can even install a website blocker to help temporarily force you off certain websites.
Stay connected – our greatest resource for alleviating stress is still connecting with our loved ones. Don’t just pick up the phone, use Skype, FaceTime or Google Hangouts to get some face to face time.
Leverage Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction – the practice of meditation can help relieve anxiety, boost your mood, improve sleep and promote mental and emotional health—the benefits are endless and you can do it anytime, anywhere.
Stay active – this isn’t just good for your physical health but also for your mental health so don’t let this time at home go to waste. It’s important to keep moving, whether it’s strenuous exercise, Yoga or even just light stretching. You can find an entire universe of free classes online right now with many instructors live-streaming classes from home.
Get outdoors – fresh air goes a long way in easing the feelings brought on by stress and anxiety. Take a long walk around your neighborhood or go for a bike ride and enjoy some new scenery—all while maintaining physical distance from others of course.
Embrace a hobby – partake in something you really enjoy doing just for the fun of doing it. Something that requires attention and physical movement like embroidery, scrap-booking, painting or sewing to name a few.
Learn a new skill – knowledge is power as the saying goes. There are an unlimited number of online classes you can partake at no or minimal cost that range from bread making and drawing to crochet and learning a new language. Skillshare and Udemy are great resources.
Take an adventure through a book – start a mini book club and invite your friends to participate via video so everyone can share their thoughts and interact as a group.
Get in the kitchen – if you enjoy cooking or baking, there’s no better time than now to try out some of those recipes you’ve been waiting to experiment with.
Do some Spring cleaning – it is Spring after all. Organize those drawers that have been begging for order, clean out your closets, and donate what you no longer need or use, or work on getting your filing cabinet in order.
Watch feel-good movies – musicals are a great way to lift your spirits if you’re into that or distract your mind with an old black and white classic.
Count your blessings – take a few moments to focus on all that you have. Be thoughtful and sincere about who and what you appreciate in your life and let them know.
Find an online support group – there are a plethora of websites out there that offer virtual or phone options for group or individual support as well as live chat rooms. Having others to talk to that share your same concerns can help alleviate the anxiety brought on by COVID-19.
As we protect ourselves against potential exposure to the coronavirus, keep in mind that social distancing does not mean social isolation and remember that you’re not alone. Look after yourself, get enough sleep, eat well, and reach out to your support network. Engage in activities that benefit your well-being, bring you happiness, and distract you from existing challenges. Set your sights on long-avoided tasks or projects and try something new. The above mentioned tips about self-care are meant to help you thrive in mind, body, and spirit. Coping with stress in positive ways will make you happier, healthier, and stronger.
While in the midst of a global emergency, the current COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofits are challenged with how to successfully continue managing their mission-driven brand. Going the extra mile to prepare your organization for handling such a feat, will help you and your team better tackle any challenges that arise.
This is an opportunity to align your messaging with what your community needs and/or might be seeking during this time. A crisis is temporary and taking the time to show your nonprofit in a new light by providing specific messaging can instill a sense of trust and value that will be long lasting. It’s important to maintain vigilance in protecting your staff and being an example of a model citizen by not participating in unsafe behavior. Above all else, nonprofits must remain diligent of their brand and visible by its community to ensure they come out of this stronger than before. Here are few objectives for your nonprofit to keep in mind:
When it comes to collaboration in times of a crisis, you’ll have to get creative. These strategies shouldn’t complicate your current workflow but rather benefit your organization—having these tools in place will be very beneficial when a crisis is upon us. Taking your staff into consideration and how they’ll continue to operate is vital to prevent interruptions with current business tasks. For example, if your employees are required to work from home for any duration of time, what logistics and tools should you have in place to ensure everything runs smoothly? Tools such as, GoToMeeting and Slack allow your team to stay connected with one another while still being able to conduct important meetings and to ensure your mission continues to move forward. With the access to technology, it can make it easy to work from anywhere.
In times of a global emergency, having a plan in place to manage your organization, brand and team through the crisis is just as important as the ability to remain flexible and creative.
Here at UST, we understand the importance for nonprofit leaders to remain informed and prepared as the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus continues to impact the communities you serve. Nonprofit organizations nationwide have had to react quickly to a rapidly evolving crisis and change their standard business practices to maintain critical operations.
Like so many of you, we have transitioned to remote work and are continuously gathering resources to stay on top of the quickly evolving legislative developments designed to mitigate the economic fallout triggered by the public health response. We’ve also been in close contact with our strategic partners nationwide to ensure that the unique needs of nonprofit employers are being prioritized by our elected representatives during this time.
In an effort to help keep nonprofits abreast of evolving information, we’ve created a dedicated COVID Resources Webpage on our website, which we’ll continuously update, provides:
We’ll continuously be updating this page so please check back regularly and bookmark the page above for easy reference. UST has been supporting nonprofit employers for over 35 years and understand the value of being informed during times of uncertainty and challenge. Please know our thoughts are with all who have been impacted by the recent outbreak of COVID-19 and we’re here to answer any questions you may have.
With the rapid spread of the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, we have taken appropriate precautions here at UST to do our part of social distancing by working remotely as we know many of you have as well. Here in our local communities we see fear and panic everywhere—empty shelves at the grocery store, people standing in line for hours to get paper products, schools scrambling to move to a virtual method of teaching, large department stores closing their doors and citizens pushing for cities to lockdown.
New details pour in every day and our inboxes are flooded with shared information from our partners and members across the states. Yesterday, there was an article shared by our partner, ThinkHR, “When Business Threats are Contagious: 10 Answers for Employers Navigating the Coronavirus” that shares questions they have been receiving from HR professionals across the country. They range from how to handle employees refusing to come to work, creating a telecommuting policy and the appropriateness of asking about symptoms. The answers come from their certified HR advisors and is a benefit of our UST HR Workplace product. If you are an HR professional in a business still considering how to navigate these challenging times, you may find some answers here.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial today.
Capacity building is an investment in the effectiveness and future sustainability of your nonprofit organization–does your nonprofit have the ability to deliver according to its mission effectively now and is it prepared to do so in the future?
Some examples of capacity building projects may include, identifying a new communications strategy, a different approach to volunteer recruitment, ensuring thoughtful leadership succession, and bringing your nonprofit up to speed with the latest technology. Each of these projects can help build a nonprofit’s capacity to deliver its mission. When capacity building is successful, it will strengthen your nonprofit’s ability to fulfill its mission and help to enhance the positive impact your nonprofit has on the lives and communities it serves.
Capacity building can be developed across multiple levels—individual (micro), organization (meso) or sector/network (macro) and often times, these levels are developed at the same time. For instance, at the individual micro level, programs may enhance people’s knowledge and behavior in ways that can strengthen culture, management practices and connections to other organizations (meso level) and then encourage overall participation in collective action networks (macro level). It can be helpful to look at capacity building from the perspective of who (e.g., people, organizations, networks), what (e.g., knowledge, skills, processes), and how (e.g., training, peer learning, technical assistance).
From a time management and impact on bandwidth perspective, capacity building initiatives fall into three categories; short-term planning and training, longer-term organizational effectiveness initiatives and sector-strengthening programs that encourage the exchange of information. Capacity building produces multiple benefits simultaneously, such as learning and peer interaction.
When looking at capacity building and nonprofit work in general, it can be difficult to not view capacity building, especially multiple forms of capital, as an additional task. However, when executing the program mindfully, building capital can occur through service delivery. A multiple-capitals approach to program design can help produce mission fulfillment and increase overall effectiveness of the organization. A multiple-capitals framework integrates planning, service delivery, evaluating, and reporting—in return, offering a smoother, integration of organizational activities and stakeholder accountability.
Capacity building is an important infrastructure that supports and shapes nonprofits success in helping the communities that serve. Capacity building enables nonprofit organizations and their leaders to develop competencies and skills that can make them more effective and sustainable, while increasing the potential for nonprofits to enrich lives and solve society’s most intractable problems.
Question: Is having different parental leave programs for women and men discriminatory?
Answer: Yes. Parental leave must be provided to similarly situated men and women on the same terms. For example, if an employer extends leave to new mothers beyond the period of disability from childbirth (for instance, to provide the mothers time to bond with and/or care for the baby), the employer cannot lawfully fail to provide an equivalent amount of leave to new fathers for the same purpose.
According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employer may not discriminate against an employee on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions must be treated the same as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work. It is important to note that for purposes of determining these Title VII requirements, employers should carefully distinguish between leave related to any physical limitations imposed by pregnancy or childbirth and leave for purposes of bonding with a child and/or providing care for a child (parental leave). Leave related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions can be limited to women affected by those conditions.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides the following examples of nondiscriminatory versus discriminatory leave policies as applied to men and women:
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial here.
Social media continues to prove to be an essential part of a nonprofit’s marketing strategy. A key benefit of social media is that it offers new forms of communication and the ability to engage with your organization’s stakeholders. Another benefit that can go unnoticed, but is a crucial and valuable resource is social media capital. Social media capital is a particular form of social capital that is accrued through an organization’s social media network. Nonprofits can look at social media capital as being an immediate outcome derived from their social media efforts, and as a resource that can be converted or used toward strategic organizational outcomes.
Social media capital is built around interests or causes rather than institutions, and this is where nonprofits have the upper hand over other types of organizations. Nonprofits have the opportunity to integrate their missions into their social media presence and strategy to take advantage of the capital that comes with advocacy and awareness efforts. Plus, any public events that relate to a nonprofit’s mission will likely be seen in the media and nonprofits can take advantage of this opportunity for exposure—building their online presence.
To dive deeper into social media capital, highlight its characteristics, and how nonprofits should be intentional when building out their strategy, here are five steps your nonprofit can take to get a better grasp on the benefits of social media capital:
1) Utilize resources and target audience strategy: In order to get your social media up and running you need resources—time, money, and staff. Unfortunately, these commitments are likely to be overlooked by nonprofit managers and passed off to another staff member to handle. Next, is your strategy—what is your organization’s communications role and what audience are you looking to target? The organization needs to develop a plan that shows a clear lay out of desired outcomes, defines the target audience, and communication efforts.
2) Strengthen connections and messaging on social media: To acquire social media capital, you need to utilize two essential tools; making connections and responding to messages in a timely manner. Connections are viewed as relationship building—these connections can be made through organization’s friending and/or following other users. This action shows your nonprofit’s interest in engaging with other users, in turn, creating an online community. Messaging is designed to provide content to your target audience and can be curated to meet the needs of the community you’re looking to reach and engage. And, can be done through any social channel (e.g., YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
3) Gain social media capital: This is the step where your organization should expect to see social media capital—these are the social resources in an organization’s social media network that can be used to achieve organizational outcomes. In order to attain any meaningful organizational outcome through social media activities, your organization must first obtain social media capital.
4) Turn your social media capital into organization resources: This is the step when you turn your followers into customers—converting social media capital into an organizational resource. For example, your organization asks followers to donate to a cause and it results into a success, this is social media capital converting into an organizational/social resource, i.e., financial capital.
5) Incorporate social media capital into your strategy: Nonprofits should look at social media capital the same way they look at financial capital. Financial capital is considered a convertible resource and needs both short-term and long-term planning. Similarly, social media capital is fluid and requires a thoughtful strategy to maximize its support of both short-term and long-term goals.
Social media capital is generated differently and more simply than capital accumulated offline. Social media capital is assembled on messages, connections, and having a trusted role in social networks where you want to start conversations. This can help convert capital into other resources or produce key organizational outcomes.
Terminating an employee is stressful for everyone involved and many managers and human resource professionals consider this responsibility the worst part of their job—whether as a layoff, a bad hire or for cause. With a little planning and preparation, you can make the experience less traumatic for everyone, maintain compliance with state and federal law, ensure your employee feels respected and avoid any bad publicity.
Organizations are under strict protocol when it comes to terminating employees and should therefore have written procedures in place to avoid negative repercussions such as fines and or lawsuits. Get ahead of issues as soon as possible by having open conversations on how to improve performance, attitude, or other matters so as not to blindside employees when the decision is made to let them go. Never take allegations as fact—conduct thorough investigations, secure findings and always document performance and behavioral issues as well as any disciplinary actions taken.
Following are some do’s and don’ts to consider when preparing to terminate an employee.
Tips on how to approach, conduct and communicate a termination:
Mistakes to avoid when terminating an employee:
Termination meetings are uncomfortable and come with risks but you can make the experience more palatable by preparing an effective and supportive approach to a hard conversation. The last 15 minutes you spend terminating an employee will likely be the most important of the employment relationship, so ensure you’ve covered your bases to avoid negative outcomes that could harm your organizations reputation.
For over three decades, UST has been providing nonprofits with workforce solutions that help manage unemployment funding, ensure compliance, and maximize employee bandwidth. By offering cost-effective services, reliable protection and significant savings, UST allows nonprofits nationwide to save valuable time and money.
As part of UST’s ongoing efforts to educate nonprofits we recently released our newest animated short video designed to provide a holistic overview of UST. About a minute long, this video reveals how nonprofit employers can streamline their day-to-day processes with simplified programs and dedicated support—including HR consultants, on-demand training modules, unemployment claims representatives, and career transition services.
UST already helps more than 2,200 participating nonprofits make the most of their resources to achieve their mission-driven initiatives. And, just last year, identified $2,707,750 in potential unemployment cost savings for 103 eligible nonprofit organizations. Watch the video today to discover how UST can benefit your nonprofit, your employees and the communities you serve.
For access to nonprofit specific how-to-guides, checklists and resources, sign up for UST’s monthly eNews today!
When marketing in the nonprofit sector, it can be a difficult road to navigate. With more than a million nonprofit organizations registered in the U.S., it can be challenging to earn the trust and support needed from donors to run a successful nonprofit. From grassroots groups to national organizations, local nonprofit marketing brings its own unique set of challenges. Even national nonprofits often struggle to implement cohesive campaigns across their many locations.
Here are five of the biggest obstacles nonprofit markers have to face on a daily basis:
1) Consistent Messaging: More often than not, nonprofits are faced with bandwidth restraints making it difficult to develop specific messaging that speaks to different marketing channels and constituents.
2) Communicating on a Personal Level: Since most nonprofits suffer from having a small team or budget restraints, marketers rely heavily on the success of email communications to their membership and supporters. While this form of communication can result in a positive response, it lacks personalization. The use of social media can be a great way to connect with your donors on a more personal level—allowing for more one-to-one communication.
3) Using Key Performance Indicators: Measuring success of marketing efforts is an area some nonprofit marketers lack expertise in or the time to devote to capturing this data. Marketing teams that have been able to incorporate the task of measuring their efforts, have more insight into performance and the ability to make data-driven decisions when creating an annual marketing plan.
4) Communication Across all Teams: In order for nonprofit marketers to gather accurate data and segment prospect lists, they have to collaborate with other departments and this can be a difficult task for some organizations. Passing information around the organization can lead to some restrictions or even tension amongst departments–competing for budget increases and donor attribution.
5) Dealing with Budget Restrictions: Nonprofit marketers deal with challenges from all directions, especially when it comes to budget restraints. Many nonprofits face challenges in reaching their marketing and engagement goals and this is primarily due to budgetary constraints. This is a consistent theme across most organizations, regardless of size or type of nonprofit.
With the needs of nonprofit communities constantly changing, we have to remember that the marketing strategies should change with them. To gain continual support, nonprofits need to keep consistent communication with donors, volunteers, and employees. They should attend council meetings, fundraisers, and other events to gain exposure and one-on-one face time with those they hope to serve.
Question: Can you provide some tips for developing and conducting an employee engagement survey?
Answer: An employee engagement survey can be a great tool to check the temperature of your culture. When done right, the survey can help you understand the needs of your employees, which in turn benefits productivity, job satisfaction, and supports employee retention. It is also an excellent tool to help you calibrate the quality of your leadership as well as your employee relations and talent management programs.
Before you start, however, ensure that the management team is ready to act on the critical feedback you’ll get. Then decide what it is you need to know. Do you want to better understand how your employees view their relationship with management, understand and support the company’s strategic direction, or learn what aspects of their work environment, compensation and benefits, work assignments, and opportunities for learning and advancement are working (or not working)?
Next, determine how you will create, disseminate, tabulate, and communicate the survey process and results. If you’re creating your own survey, consider gathering employees from different areas of the company to formulate the survey questions and include them in the employee communications process to encourage participation. This team can also be instrumental in reviewing the survey results and providing feedback about how those results should be communicated and acted upon.
Another option is to use one of the many online engagement survey tools available in the marketplace. While the questions may not be as personalized to your company issues, you can get the surveys, along with the tabulated results, done quickly.
If you do create the survey in-house, consider these best practice tips:
Encourage participation by using incentives or contests. With more feedback, you’ll have a better picture of your employees’ engagement level. Train your leaders so that they are prepared to use the survey feedback as a gift to improve performance and have productive feedback and performance improvement planning sessions.
Most importantly, don’t ask for employee feedback unless you are willing to do something with the results. Your employees will expect you to implement changes and take action. Let them know how much you value and respect them by listening and acting on their opinions and ideas.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial here.
Understanding the concept of the “business model” for your nonprofit has become a more integral component to maintaining organization sustainability within the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit leaders, grant makers and stakeholders want more insight behind the business and financial foundation of how a nonprofit organization is able to deliver according to their mission drive initiatives.
When discussing the nonprofit business model, often times it will include topics such as, cost to deliver services, mix of sources of funding, and key drives of financial results. Discussions around the financial stability and sustainability, more times than not, focus on the overall health of the balance sheet and operating results of a nonprofit. While each of these are essential components to have a better understanding of an organization’s finances and business model, these types of conversations can lose sight of a critical part of any business—the day-to-day operations. For example, the way a nonprofit organization does business can have a major impact on cash flow.
Cash flow is the net amount of cash and cash-equivalents being transferred into and out of a business. At the most fundamental level, a nonprofit’s ability to create value for shareholders in determined by its ability to generate positive cash flows, or more specifically, maximize long-term free cash flow. Managing cash flow is primarily consisted of questions: when will we pay our staff; when is this bill due and when will this grant payment come in? While there are variety of nonprofit business models, each one has a particular bearing on these types of questions.
A nonprofit business model has two main components: what kinds of programs and services nonprofits deliver, and how they are funded. Each of these components have implications on organizational cash flow that should be understood in order to have effective financial planning.
Below are a few helpful strategies to use when addressing cash flow issues:
1) Understand where funding is coming from: Each type of income stream can have certain implications and challenges for cash flow, so if a business model is built primarily around one type of funding, you will need to understand and plan for those implications and challenges.
2) How to balance cash going in and out: In order to meet operating cash needs in the absence of adequate cash reserves, a nonprofit can turn to a line of credit to meet the temporary imbalance between available cash and expenses due. Credit lines, when used responsibility, can be a useful and vital tool for cash flow management.
3) How to manage cash across your organization: While it may be impossible to ensure that cash is coming into the organization exactly on time and on target to keep things on autopilot, it is possible to plan for those times when it isn’t, and make decisions to be sure that bills and staff are paid on time.
Being informed, strategic, and collaborative in cash flow management can help to ensure that a nonprofit’s long-term strategy isn’t hindered by avoidable and short-term obstacles.
For more information on this topic, please reference this article: https://www.propelnonprofits.org/resources/managing-cash-flow/
It’s that time of year again when we can expect to experience some inclement weather conditions across the states. When severe weather interferes with the day-to-day operations of your nonprofit, having a plan in place for unexpected barriers to your workflow can help to keep your organization productive and or reestablish business operations sooner than later if you are forced to shut down.
Severe weather increases the risk of power outages—knocking out heat, power and communication services—and often for extended periods. Many employers find themselves dealing with a number of weather related inconveniences they hadn’t even considered until it happens to them. While there are no federal or state laws that define how a company should handle such things as notifying employees of office closures or how to handle pay for missed workdays, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a priority.
By taking a proactive approach now, you can avoid the headache later—scrambling to figure out what to do and where even to begin. You can start by creating a plan that includes policies for what to do before, during and after emergencies—ensuring that everyone in the organization has a role and understanding of the policies once finalized.
Below are some tips to help ensure your nonprofit and its employees are prepared:
Regardless of what weather incident you may experience, having a solid preparedness plan in place will help ensure your employees know what to expect and aid in keeping everyone informed. There are dozens of websites dedicated to helping businesses create successful preparedness plans so just remember—a little preparation now will go a long way should your nonprofit come face-to-face with Mother Nature.
In our world of online communication, nonprofits and charities are able to share and show how their organization is making a significant impact on the communities they serve through inspiring stories. This can be a challenging and overwhelming task for nonprofit professionals—they feel the pressure to create inspiring, unique and emotional stories that will set them apart from other nonprofits.
In the beginning stages of telling your nonprofit’s story, you should start by telling your organization’s “origin story.” This gives you an opportunity to explain how your nonprofit came to exist. Where and when did the idea of your nonprofit begin? How did you get to where you are today? Being able to emphatically and confidently tell your origin story will make a significant impact when connecting with your donors and volunteers.
Great storytelling is the best way to capture the attention, as well as the hearts and minds, of your supporters. While providing data on how a charity has impacted a community can be beneficial, people tend to give more when presented with a heartfelt story rather than data. Stories will help you express your mission to people who may know nothing about you or your cause. Statistics may offer some shock value, but statistics rarely get people to take action and donate to your cause.
If you and your nonprofit organization are doing things no one else is doing, it’s your job to make people aware by sharing your story. Tell your story in such a way that people won’t be able to forget it. Start by sharing how the community looked before your organization started and what the world looked like at the time. Then, touch on how the world looks now after you started this nonprofit journey. Maybe even share an example of how your nonprofit has positively impacted the community to help build your story. Using these types of examples makes your nonprofit more relatable—it allows for a more real connection and even empathy.
Empathy is also incredibly important when telling your organization’s story—there should be a moment when people see themselves or someone they know within your story. The more people can relate to your mission and your story to their own lives, the more likely they will be willing to engage and offer support to your organization.
Last year, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) released Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2018-08, which clarifies the accounting guidelines for contributions received and contributions made—focusing on the grants and contracts awarded by the government and other entities to nonprofit organizations.
You can now listen to the webinar on-demand to learn how to determine if an asset received should be accounting as a contribution or as revenue from customers.
This on-demand webinar will explore how to:
This webinar is part of UST’s efforts to educate the nonprofit sector. For more learning opportunities, tips and legal updates just for nonprofits, sign up for our monthly e-News today!
Giving in the U.S. in 2020 will be different in many ways than previously—mainly because of campaigns, economic conditions, and tax law implications. Don’t miss this deep dive into the trends and forecasts of giving in the United States presented by Melissa S. Brown, Principal of Melissa S. Brown & Associates.
This on-demand webinar shares insights into how tracking these trends can help identify future opportunities as well as insights into:
For access to more learning opportunities, tips and legal updates just for nonprofits, sign up for our monthly eNews today!
Question: Can an employer require its employees to use their accrued paid time off during an employer-required furlough? And, if salaried exempt employees work during the furlough, how is pay calculated for these employees?
Answer: Yes, an employer can require employees to use their accrued paid time off, for example vacation, for time not worked during a furlough. If an employee has no accrued time off, the employer can even put the employee into a negative paid leave balance.
Even while furloughed, however, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applies to employees. The FLSA mandates compliance with the salary basis requirements for salaried exempt personnel. Accordingly, if such an employee performs any work during that week, the employer may not dock the employee’s pay for the absence. When a furlough is for one or more full weeks, federal law generally does not require payment to an employee.
Employers must be mindful that employees on furlough continue to accrue vacation days, sick days, and personal days, and continue to receive other benefits such as health insurance.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial here.
Violence in the workplace was virtually unheard of until the 1970s but today, it is a national epidemic that affects everyone involved both physically and psychologically, and often, long term. Workplace violence as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs in the workplace. OSHA estimates that nearly two million U.S. workers report being victims to workplace violence every year. Workplace Violence takes many forms, including homicide, assault, stalking and bullying. Because this growing issue not only has a profound effect on employee morale, company reputation and overall productivity but also leaves employers to bear the burden of lost wages due to employee absences and increased benefit payments, damage repairs, liability lawsuits and higher insurance rates, employers need to be as prepared as possible.
Taking a proactive approach in implementing procedures that address potential incidents allows employees a work environment that provides protection from harassment, threats and violence. There are many ways to implement safety measures in the workplace that can help to eliminate the risk of workplace violence—ranging from criminal record checks, substance abuse testing, reference checks, secure entrances, security assessments and employee training. The most important, however, is having an Emergency Preparedness Plan. Since these incidents are nearly impossible to predict, the primary components should educate your staff on the early warning signs of potential violence as well as how to respond when a situation does arise. Your plan might also include internal and external communication procedures, exit routes, evacuation plans, training drill procedures and a media relations plan.
Some additional protections that align with an Emergency Preparedness Plan:
As a nonprofit leader, it’s your responsibility to provide a workplace free from harassment and bullying. Providing open and safe communication channels for discussing suspicious behavior, concerns and problems will go a long way in helping to prevent the unthinkable. Your main goal should be to reduce the probability of risk and ensure that any complaints that fall under the OSHA definition of workplace violence are handled promptly
For more information how to handle this growing epidemic, sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial to ThinkHR, powered by UST HR Workplace.
What is an executive director? An executive director is “responsible for overseeing the administration, the program and the strategic plan of a nonprofit organization. Other key duties may include fundraising, marketing, community outreach, and this position reports directly to the board of directors.” As we all know, an executive director is required to wear many hats and needs to wear them all equally. Leadership styles have a huge impact on how well an executive director can carry out their duties—committed executive directors can set themselves apart when they’re able to evaluate their own leadership styles and seek input from others.
In this role, you’re tasked with the responsibility of both leadership and management and each duty requires a distinct skill level in order to be fulfilled properly. Leaders offer visionary qualities that can provide an overall scope to the organization’s specific problems and future planning. They tend to be a charismatic communicator and have the ability to motivate the team in anticipation of achieving future goals for the organization. Managers are very hands on—they make sure things get done. Not only do they manage people but they also manage property and assets helping to fulfill the goals that management and the board of directors have set before them. They are the busy bees of the organization, who control, organize and monitor day-to-day activities of the operation. Think of an executive director of a nonprofit organization as being the “jack of all trades”.
Along with managing and overseeing everyday tasks, an executive director is responsible for monitoring the finances for an organization—they oversee the development and on-going maintenance of the business model. This ensures the organization produces exceptional mission impact and sustains financial health. To make sure this is done successfully, the executive director has to be aware of the necessary business concepts.
Here are a few key business principles that could help guide financial leadership practice for your nonprofit:
1) Remain high-level and thoughtful with your board.
2) Make sure you’re managing your risks the right way.
3) Be sure to plan for your nonprofit’s reserves.
Executive directors learn that leading a nonprofit requires a constant balancing of current needs, external demands, and planning for the future. Financial leadership is crucial to the role and can not be fully delegated. Certain principles can help executive directors become accustom to the demands of the changing environment and maintain the balance needed for the organization.
Thousands of nonprofits have registered with their states in order to legally solicit donations… do you know what state requirements extend to your organization?
Presented by Affinity Fundraising Registration and hosted by Maia Lee, President of Relations, this on-demand webinar explains the essentials of fundraising registration and what you must do to ensure that you’re registered before filing your next Form 990. With over a decade in nonprofit marketing and development experience, Maia understands the challenges nonprofits face in fulfilling their missions with limited resources and is committed to educating nonprofits about charitable solicitation registration requirements.
You’ll learn crucial details needed to raise funds legally in any state with key information surrounding possible exemptions and how you may be subject to fines and penalties.
Watch the webinar recording today!
Want access to more learning opportunities, tips and legal updates just for nonprofits, sign up for our monthly eNews today!
Nobody likes filing taxes or paying them for that matter but don’t let that put your nonprofit at risk. While your organization may be federally tax-exempt, you are still required to file Form 990 with the IRS. This is the only way the federal government can ensure exempt organizations are conducting business in a way that is consistent with their public responsibilities. It also ensures your compliance and evaluates how your nonprofit is doing financially while allowing the public to see information about a nonprofit mission and programs.
The 990 provides a transparent glance into the organization and its accomplishments. Allowing the public to see, not only, the gross revenue generated but where the revenue came from. When individuals, donors or job seekers are trying to find out as much as possible about a nonprofit through their own research efforts, this is an excellent source of information since it serves as a tool to evaluate the best charities to support.
It’s important that you file and file on time. Your 990 is due by the 15th of the 5th month after your accounting period ends. For example, if your fiscal year ends on December 31st, your 990 would be due by May 15th of the following year. Which form you file depends on your gross receipts—you can determine which 990 form to file by visiting the IRS website to see which form category your nonprofit falls under. Take the time to complete this form and avoid losing your exempt status with the IRS—there is no appeal process. If you’re unsure of your status, check the IRS website and get back on track, you will thank yourself later.
Understanding the journey, planning ahead and being proactive, will save you time and make the filing process much easier. Following the below guidelines can help with that preparation:
Since 990 forms are public documents and widely available, nonprofits should be diligent about filing them out correctly and filing them on time. Remember, a nonprofit’s 990 provides valuable information that speaks directly to your organizations status so the extra time spent preparing will pay off in the end. Don’t think of it as another menial task on your list of things to do but rather consider how it can affect those researching who you are—ultimately impacting the communities you serve.
Question: What should employers do to prepare for the anticipated January 1, 2020, effective date of new DOL white-collar exemptions?
Answer: On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed rule to update and revise Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) white collar exemptions by raising the salary level for an exemption from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $679 per week ($35,308 annually, among other changes.
The rule is expected to be adopted and become effective January 1, 2020. While it’s too early to make any actual changes in response to the proposal, it’s a good idea to start preparing now so you’ll be ready if it becomes law, as experts anticipate it will.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial here.
What is a KPI? A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is “a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a nonprofit (or another type of organization) is achieving its key organizational objectives.” Most nonprofits make their data-driven decisions with the help of KPIs – using them at multiple levels to evaluate success in reaching targets.
While KPIs provide important performance information that can allow nonprofits to understand whether or not they are on track toward certain objectives, they must fully grasp how the KPI’s work and how it’s benefiting the organization’s return on investment. The executive team and board members will be looking for stats and will have questions. Such as, how quick will we see a return? Are we seeing any patterns with our donor’s behavior? Can we see a comparison year over year? etc.
The use of KPIs can help correct an organization’s course of action efficiently and adapt to the changing conditions of the environment. When a nonprofit is looking for ways to succeed and achieve its mission in an ever growing and noisy space, they need a solution to measure progress and apply their course of action accordingly.
KPIs are essential when making informed decisions. Once a nonprofit gathers relevant and sufficient data, it’s much easier to make sound decisions that are going to push the organization in the right direction. It’s common that many nonprofit organizations measure generic KPIs that don’t offer any help in understanding whether they’re progressing towards achieving their mission and to what extent.
Being that it’s crucial and challenging to select the right KPIs for your organization, here’s a list of suggestions for KPIs that are specific to various areas of nonprofit management:
1) Donors & Growth of Donation
2) Donor Retention Rate
3) ROI for fundraising
4) Track donation conversions by channel
5) Website page views
6) Email click-through rate
Friendly reminder: Once your KPIs are set, the work isn’t over. Make sure you’re checking-in regularly, whether that’s weekly or monthly and use that data to your nonprofits benefit. Tracking these important KPIs affect donor relations, program delivery and most importantly, the ability to achieve your nonprofits mission.
Nonprofit employers have been dealing with employee burnout for some time now but knowing what factors to focus on can go a long way in prevention. It’s a crisis that can trigger a downward spiral in both the individual’s performance as well as the organizations’ and can end up costing thousands of wasted dollars.
Job burnout is a special type of work-related stress and one that has long been lacking official recognition even though it has nearly become an epidemic—until now. The World Health Organization (WHO), recently identified workplace burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” that may require medical attention. They state, that burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed and characterize by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.
Employees experiencing burnout at work are often physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted from the job. They are more likely to take frequent sick days, exude more negativity, reduce team moral and worse, start looking elsewhere for employment opportunities. They become fixated on problems rather than growth opportunities or development. Now, more than ever before, we’re doing more with less, working longer hours, taking fewer breaks and less vacation days. Burnout is a serious workplace concern and is detrimental to the health of everyone involved—managers, co-workers, loved ones and friends.
There are often many factors that cause job fatigue but managers play an important role in helping to avoid this occupational phenomenon. Employees who trust their managers are more likely to experience meaningful work. Below are some key strategies for building that relationship and reducing employee burnout:
1. Check-in daily – we’re not talking about a daily 30-minute meeting but a simple “Good Morning”, “How was the school play last night” or “Any plans for the weekend”. These brief interactions can make a huge impact on someone who may be struggling.
2. Listen actively – being a good listener when an employee comes to you with an issue is a critical step in earning their trust and developing a solid bond.
3. Make time for team-building – creating a team that is unified provides another line of emotional support for an employee who is struggling. Co-workers often understand better than anyone else the struggle of being burnt out.
4. Encourage break time – everyone needs to take a break to stay connected and focused so ensure your employees are taking the time to recharge.
5. Make work purposeful – being connected to your mission isn’t enough so give your employees more reasons for making their job feel important.
6. Always say please and thank you – two very simple terms that are extremely underused in the workplace. Showing appreciation and respect can go a long way.
7. Put the right people in the right place – make sure your employees have the opportunity to do what they do best so you get the best of what they have to offer and they feel fulfilled.
If you don’t address the causes of employee burnout in your nonprofit, you’re missing the opportunity to create a workplace environment that empowers employees to feel and perform their best. Employee burnout is no longer just an HR issue, it’s a public health issue and one that can be managed before it even hits. Develop healthy workplace habits that begin with managers who foster positive experiences and ensure you have policies in place that help recognize the triggers before they get out of control.
UST releases a new eBook focused on vital engagement practices to foster a desireable workplace.
Founded by nonprofits for nonprofits, UST publishes an eBook that reveals the latest retention best practices that can help nonprofits to better engage their dedicated staff. This resourceful eBook uncovers ideal strategies to withstand the ravages of financial, strategic and geopolitical uncertainties by overcoming retention barriers such as economic competition from other employees.
This eBook offers the top five strategies to employee engagement practices that help to foster a desirable workplace. You’ll also learn about:
The eBook, “Innovative Strategies That Overcome Nonprofit Retention Barriers,” reveals that “a surprising half to three-quarters of all turnover is actually preventable, if managers know how to implement all the tools and strategies available.”
Be sure to download your complimentary copy today!
For a limited time, UST opens registration to all 501(c)(3) nonprofit executives interested in learning more about their organization’s unique tax alternative.
UST, a program dedicated to providing nonprofits with dedicated HR support and educational tools, presents an exclusive 30-minute webinar to showcase some of the most common unemployment & HR risks that can cost your nonprofit thousands of dollars annually.
UST shares insights into their many service offerings as well as best practices that can help reduce costs and streamline workforce processes.
Nonprofit executives, finance directors, and HR staff should register to learn about:
Whether your primary focus is to protect your assets, ensure compliance, reduce unemployment costs or to simply allocate more time and money to your mission-driven initiatives, this webinar can provide invaluable insight and resources that can address many of your ongoing pain points – helping you to refocus your funding and employee bandwidth on the communities you serve.
If you work for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 10 or more full time employees, register for the August 20th or September 18th webinar before space runs out!
This educational webinar recording outlines some of the top employee benefits trends shaping the sector this year and presents practical takeaways to inform strategy around:
For access to more learning opportunities, tips and legal updates just for nonprofits, sign up for our monthly eNews today!
Here at UST, we’ve compiled some of our top unemployment guides for managing nonprofit unemployment risk and created the 2019 Nonprofit UI Toolkit. These tools provide valuable information that can help nonprofit organizations like yours better understand the ins and outs of unemployment from the employer’s perspective.
These tools offer exclusive access to unemployment claims management tips, how-to-guides and an informative webinar recording. Plus, you can learn about best practices for unemployment compensation and the ideal approach to take when dealing with unemployment hearings.
Want access to more nonprofit how-to guides, checklists and resources? Sign up for UST’s monthly eNews!
Question: We hire interns (generally students in their junior and senior years) to do professional work for clients alongside, and under the supervision of, our professionals. They earn at least twice the salary test wage of $455 per week and are paid on a salary basis. Are they eligible for overtime pay?
Answer: Maybe. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour laws exempt certain categories of employees from overtime. These interns may qualify as exempt employees under the “learned professional” employee exemption.
To meet for the learned professional employee exemption and be exempt from both minimum wage and overtime pay, all of the following criteria must be met:
See WHD Fact Sheet #17D: Exemption for Professional Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) for additional information explaining the learned professional exemption.
If the employees meet the exemption requirements, they would not be entitled to overtime. If the employees do not meet the requirements, it still may be possible that they qualify under one of the other white collar exemptions.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Get your free 30-day trial here.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
